What would you say is the climax of "The Tell Tale Heart"? Why?

In literature, the climax is the name given to the most dramatic and intense moment of a story. If we relate this to "The Tell-Tale Heart," then we see that the climax happens when the narrator breaks into the old man's bedroom and murders him.

All of the events preceding the murder have been used by Poe to build tension in the story. The narrator tells us that he has to murder the old man...

In literature, the climax is the name given to the most dramatic and intense moment of a story. If we relate this to "The Tell-Tale Heart," then we see that the climax happens when the narrator breaks into the old man's bedroom and murders him.

All of the events preceding the murder have been used by Poe to build tension in the story. The narrator tells us that he has to murder the old man because of the "evil eye," for example, and that he has spent seven nights waiting for the moment to strike. Finally, on the eighth night, he seizes the moment and successfully carries out his murderous plan. The tension in the story has, therefore, reached its peak.

After the murder, Poe sets the scene for the falling action (when the narrator tries to cover up the murder) and the resolution (when he lifts the floorboards to reveal his crime).

Alternately, we might interpret the narrator's confession as the climax of the story; the moments leading up to it are full of tension as the narrator imagines he hears the old man's heartbeat and begins to act increasingly suspicious in front of the police officers. In this interpretation, the story cuts off before any kind of resolution or falling action; we are left to infer from the beginning of the story that the narrator has most likely been arrested (after which he recounts his story).