<P> Poe was likely paid $10 for the story . Its original publication included an epigraph which quoted Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "A Psalm of Life". The story was slightly revised when republished in the August 23, 1845, edition of the Broadway Journal . This edition omitted Longfellow's poem because Poe believed it was plagiarized . "The Tell - Tale Heart" was reprinted several additional times during Poe's lifetime . </P> <P> "The Tell - Tale Heart" uses an unreliable narrator . The exactness with which the narrator recounts murdering the old man, as if the stealthy way in which he executed the crime were evidence of his sanity, reveals his monomania and paranoia . The focus of the story is the perverse scheme to commit the perfect crime . </P> <P> The narrator of "The Tell - Tale Heart" is generally assumed to be male . However, some critics have suggested a woman may be narrating; no pronouns are used to clarify one way or the other . The story starts in medias res . The story opens with a conversation already in progress between the narrator and another person who is not identified in any way . It has been speculated that the narrator is confessing to a prison warden, a judge, a reporter, a doctor or (anachronistically) a psychiatrist . In any case, the narrator explains himself in great detail . What follows is a study of terror but, more specifically, the memory of terror, as the narrator is relating events from the past . The first word of the story, "True!", is an admission of his guilt, as well as an assurance of reliability . This introduction also serves to gain the reader's attention . Every word contributes to the purpose of moving the story forward, exemplifying Poe's theories about the writing of short stories . </P> <P> The story is driven not by the narrator's insistence upon his "innocence", but by his insistence on his sanity . This, however, is self - destructive, because in attempting to prove his sanity he fully admits that he is guilty of murder . His denial of insanity is based on his systematic actions and his precision, as he provides a rational explanation for irrational behavior . This rationality, however, is undermined by his lack of motive ("Object there was none . Passion there was none ."). Despite this, he says, the idea of murder "haunted me day and night ." </P>

What is the gender of the narrator in the tell tale heart
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