Fear and Dread are two prominent themes in the horrific short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart.” The narrator exemplifies fear throughout the story in a multitude of ways. The narrator is consistently trying to convince the reader that he is not a mad man, which causes the reader to believe that he is indeed, insane. This is easily noticed when the narrator says, “Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded (Poe 303).” Another way the narrator displays fear and dread is within the descriptions of all of the sounds he hears. He claims to hear the heartbeat of the old man, but this is not physically possible, so the reader can assume that he is hearing sounds
