<Tr> <Th> Media type </Th> <Td> Print (periodical) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Publication date </Th> <Td> January 1843 </Td> </Tr> <P> "The Tell - Tale Heart" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1843 . It is relayed by an unnamed narrator who endeavors to convince the reader of the narrator's sanity while simultaneously describing a murder they committed . The victim was an old man with a filmy "vulture - eye", as the narrator calls it . The narrator emphasizes the careful calculation of the murder, attempting the perfect crime, complete with dismembering and hiding the body under the floorboards . Ultimately, the narrator's feelings of guilt, or a mental disturbance, result in hearing a thumping sound, which the narrator interprets as the dead man's beating heart . </P> <P> The story was first published in James Russell Lowell's The Pioneer in January 1843 . "The Tell - Tale Heart" is widely considered a classic of the Gothic fiction genre and is one of Poe's most famous short stories . </P>

Who are the main characters in the tell tale heart