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An unnamed narrator opens the story by addressing the reader and claiming that he is nervous but not mad. He says that he is going to tell a story in which he will defend his sanity yet confess to having killed an old man. His motivation was neither passion nor desire for money, but rather a fear of the man’s pale blue eye. Again, he insists that he is not crazy because his cool and measured actions, though criminal, are not those of a madman. Every night, he goes to the old man’s apartment and secretly observes the man sleeping. Using a lantern, he carefully illuminates the old man’s eye. However, because the eye is always closed, he cannot commit the murder. In the morning, he behaves as if everything were normal.
When the narrator arrives late on the eighth night, though, the old man wakes up and cries out. The narrator remains still, stalking the old man as he sits awake and frightened. The narrator understands how frightened the old man is, having also experienced the lonely terrors of the night. Slowly, the narrator uncovers his lantern, illuminating the old man’s eye once more. This time, it is open. Soon, the narrator hears a dull pounding that he interprets as the old man’s terrified heartbeat. Worried that a neighbor might hear the loud thumping, he attacks and kills the old man.
