In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story The Tell-Tale Heart, the “vulture eye” refers to the eye of the old man whom the narrator decides to kill. The narrator describes the old man’s eye as being pale blue with a film over it, resembling the eye of a vulture. This eye becomes an obsession for the narrator, who is driven to madness by its constant gaze.
The vulture eye symbolizes the narrator’s own guilt and paranoia. It is not just the physical eye that disturbs him, but what it represents—his own inner turmoil and the fear of being watched or judged. The narrator’s fixation on the eye leads him to commit the murder, but it is also the reason he eventually confesses, as he believes he can still hear the beating of the old man’s heart, which he associates with the eye.
In summary, the vulture eye in The Tell-Tale Heart is a powerful symbol of the narrator’s guilt and madness, driving the plot and leading to his eventual downfall.