.
Another characteristic is that the narrator is not just a murderer, but also a psychopathological murderer. We learn this about the narrator when in the second sentence he says that, "the disease had sharpened [his] senses- (2420). This lets us know that he has some sort of psychological disorder, which is obviously making him crazy. What is ironic is that the narrator feels that he can justify himself for not being crazy by how "wisely [he] proceeded "with what caution "with what foresight "with what dissimulation [he] went to work- (2420). He was the nicest to the old man during the week before he killed him and he even practiced the murder scene every night at midnight. He even tells us readers, "Ha! "would a madman have been so wise as this- (2420)? .
We see the aspect of a secret burial for the body in this story because the murderer dismembers the old man: the head, arms and the legs. He then proceeds to pull up the planks of the floor and puts the dismembered body between the floor beams, and replaces them so that nothing looks out of the ordinary.
The old man let out a shriek when he heard the murderer come in his room. A neighbor, who sent for the police, heard his shriek. In this part of the story we see the psychological uneasiness of the murderer. Even though the murderer made sure the old man was dead he became uneasy after the police came. The narrator went from having nothing to fear, to becoming very pale and nervous. This uneasiness was due to "a low, dull, quick sound- (2423). The sound grew louder, and louder, and louder until he cried, "Villains! dissemble no more! I admit the deed! "tear up the planks! here, here! "it is the beating of his heart- (2423). This sound is only in his imagination, and is due to his guilt.
This short story ends here. For this reason our intuitive minds know what happed next. the body is discovered, and the murderer goes to jail, or a mental institution.