In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," the beating heart serves as a powerful symbol of guilt and madness. Throughout the story, the narrator insists on his sanity while simultaneously revealing his unstable mental state. The heart symbolizes the narrator's overwhelming guilt for committing murder, specifically the act of killing the old man.
As the story progresses, the sound of the beating heart grows louder, reflecting the narrator's escalating anxiety and paranoia. This auditory hallucination ultimately leads to his confession. The heart represents the inescapable nature of guilt—the psychological torment that can follow wrongdoing. Its persistent presence underscores the theme of the conflict between rationality and irrationality, as well as the consequences of moral transgressions. Thus, the beating heart is significant as it encapsulates the central themes of guilt, madness, and the struggle between conscience and denial.