Question

Why did the main character confess to the police of his murder in the story 'The Tell-tale heart'?

A) he wanted to go to jail
B) he heard the old man's heart
C) the police already knew
D) he was being forced to confess

Answer 1

B) he heard the old man's heart

Step-by-step explanation:

The narrator heard his heartbeat but thought that it was the old man's heart beating. He thought that the police would figure out there was a body around them so he confessed.

''He couldn't stand the horror any longer because he knew that "they were making a mockery of my horror . . . [and] anything was better than this agony!" Thus, as the beating of the heart becomes intolerable, he screams out to the police: "I admit the deed! — tear up the planks! here, here! — it is the beating of his hideous heart!" ''

'' His heart rate was so fast to the point that his heartbeat was pounding in his ears so loudly that he could not stand the psychological pressure any longer. Thus he confesses to his horrible deed. The narrator's "tell-tale" heart causes him to convict himself.''

Answer 2

B: he heard the old man's heart.

Step-by-step explanation:

After the main character killed the old man, he shoved his body under the house from the wooden planks. The police knocked on the door and told the main character that they had reports of someone screaming for help. The killer denied knowing about this, of course and invited the police to stay and chat for a while so they didn't suspect that the main character was, in fact, guilty. The killer started going pale after hearing the old man's heart beating from underneath the planks and worried that the cops had heard it, too. The cops, though, kept having a normal and friendly conversation with the main character until the killer couldn't handle the loud beating of the old man's heart anymore and confessed.