Poe tells the story of a nervous character, alleged to be “crazy” refusing all claims. He believes that his disposition arises from a heightening of the senses: "Above all was the sense of hearing acute" (74). The narrator takes care of a rich old man whose diseased eye he becomes obsessed with. He becomes so obsessed with this EvilEye that eventually, he decides to kill the old man.

But what and how he will do it, is a mystery for you to find out.