<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> <P> The specific motivation for murder (aside from the narrator's dislike of the old man's eye), the relationship between narrator and old man, the gender of the narrator and other details are left unclear . The narrator denies having any feelings of hatred or resentment for the man who had, as stated, never wronged them . The narrator also denies having killed for greed . </P> <P> It has been speculated that the old man is a father figure, the narrator's landlord, or that the narrator works for the old man as a servant, and that perhaps his "vulture - eye" represents some sort of veiled secret, or power . The ambiguity and lack of details about the two main characters stand in stark contrast to the specific plot details leading up to the murder . </P> <P> "The Tell - Tale Heart" is a first - person narrative of an unnamed narrator, who insists he or she is sane but is suffering from a disease (nervousness) which causes "over-acuteness of the senses". Due to the ambiguity surrounding the identity of the story's narrator, the narrator's gender is uncertain . </P>

Where did the tell tale heart take place