One of the themes in "The Tell-Tale Heart" is the theme of guilt and conscience. The narrator constantly feels haunted by the old man's eye and is driven to kill him in order to rid himself of this guilt, stating, "I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture..." This theme is further emphasized when the narrator hears the sound of the old man's heart beating even after he is dead, symbolizing his guilty conscience. Additionally, the theme of madness is also evident in the passage, as the narrator's obsession with the old man's eye and his deteriorating mental state gradually lead him to commit the murder.
