ipl-logo

The Use Of Suspense In Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart

107 Words1 Page

In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” suspense is created through the reoccurring use of repetition which, conjures up feelings of unease in the readers. The speaker is clearly unstable. The speaker who is “nervous-very,very dreadfully nervous”(1) throughout the story repeatedly asks the reader “How, then, am I mad?”(1), then goes on to justify his actions. The reader understands that the fear in the speaker is building up, but do not know the reason why. With an unstable speaker the readers are not certain if what is being told is true or just in the speaker’s mind. The reader remains in anticipation of the speakers next move.

Show More
Related

  • Suspense In The Tell Tale Heart

    1162 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Tell Tale Heart During life, it’s inevitable that there will be some things that bother us. Whether it be a mild annoyance or a pure frustration over something, it brings discomfort that at some point, we find a way to get rid of it from our lives. In“The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, it is unknown when this story takes place in, or even much about what the characters do in their daily lives. However, what it mainly focuses on is the narrator displaying an usual amount effort and displeasure toward an old man, specifically his eye.

    Read More

  • How Does Poe Create Suspense In The Tell Tale Heart

    936 Words  | 4 Pages

    A murder over a eye? It seems like a silly idea but that is exactly what happens in the thrilling story The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. In The Tell-Tale Heart, The main character(the narrator) is trying to prove his point of not being mad by describing in great detail the murder he committed. The narrator wants to kill the old man because of his eye and for seven nights he watches the old man in hopes of seeing the eye to give him the rage he needs to kill him. On the eighth night, the narrator accidentally wakes the old man and finally sees the old man’s vulture eye.

    Read More

  • How Does Poe Create Tension In The Tell Tale Heart

    941 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Tell Tale Heart Imagine every night, having to deal with a horrible eye looking at you, how would you deal with it? This is the issue that the main character faces in The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe. In the story the main character wants to get rid of an ugly eye that gives him negative vibes. However he can't do it because the man with the eye stays awake most of the night. The main character has to be quiet and when he kills the old man and puts his body under the floor, but soon after the police arrived at his house because there was a complaint about a yell from the neighbors.

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe's Suspense

    265 Words  | 2 Pages

    Authors create suspense by making the reader feel something wrong is going to happen in their novel. Some authors that do that are Edgar Allan Poe and Cathy Crawford in their stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart¨, and “The Pedestrian¨. Edgar Allan Poe uses suspense in his story, “The Tell-Tale Heart¨ when the old man the narrator is trying to kill wakes up and does not go back to sleep. “I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in the bed, crying out-¨Who 's there?¨ (Poe, 356). This tells you how he adds suspense because after this happened, they were just staying still for a while waiting for another sound to be made.

    Read More

  • The Argumentative Paragraph In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

    558 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Tell-Tale Heart Argumentative Paragraph In the story, “ The Tell-Tale Heart ,” Poe gives ideas which could prove that the narrator is criminally insane. The narrator could be named mad for some of his many actions and thoughts. The facts supporting this include: the defendant killed the old man over his “evil eye”, he brutally murdered the man and dismembered his body, he has to remind himself that he isn’t mad even though he committed murder, and states that he hears the dead man's heartbeat get louder and louder until he confesses murder. To begin with, the defendant kills the old man he lived with over his “evil” eye. He states that it gets to him, and drives him to eventually, after the 8th night, kill him.

    Read More

  • A Literary Analysis Of The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

    560 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Style of Poe Analysis In “The Tell-tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe, the demented, arrogant and dark tones reflect the man’s guilt and insanity that eventually leds him to admit to the crime he committed. Poe’s diction heightens the arrogant tones which is seen as the man plans the murder and carries it out in a careful, organized way. He goes “boldly” into the chamber, “cunningly” sticks his head in the doorway and feels “the extent of his own power”. Poe’s use of diction shows how cocky the man actually is.

    Read More

  • The Guilt Of Murder In Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell Tale Heart

    745 Words  | 3 Pages

    “It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” ( Voltaire) This quote helps explain the main idea of The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe , a story about a narrator who is the caregiver of the old man who explains his reasons and his exact ways for killing the old man he was taking care of. Out of spite for the victims vulture-like cataract eye, he plots this plan to kill for weeks to rid of the eye. He finally succeeds until a nosy neighbor foils the scheme. These are 3 reasons why the narrator is guilty of murder.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Edgar Allan Poe And The Tell Tale Heart

    1470 Words  | 6 Pages

    Throughout history, we have came across many authors with different writing styles, word choice,or unique ways of interpretations. Edgar Allen Poe is one author who stands out to me the most. He has a unique and dark way of writing his stories and it appeals to the readers emotion and drama. He has a recurring theme of death and lost love, and in “The Tell-Tale Heart” Poe writes about murder, insanity, obsession and guilt. His use of symbolism and point of view is another reason what makes Poe one of the greatest.

    Read More

  • Interprettive Essay: The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

    728 Words  | 3 Pages

    “ The Tell-Tale Heart” Interpretive Essay Is the complex character created by Edgar Allan Poe a calculated killer or a delusional madman. In the short story “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the main character has a mental condition which causes him to kill a neighbor. He believes that his neighbor has a “vulture eye” which is the reason why he killed him. Night after night, he watches the man and plans how to kill him. Then one night, he puts his plan into action.

    Read More

  • The Unreliable Narrator In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

    882 Words  | 4 Pages

    A narrator: defined as a person who guides or tells the story of events through one’s own experience. As far as we are told, the narrator tells the story precisely and can make the words of the page come to life. Yet, is it possible for the narrator to tell the story incorrectly through their own perspective? This well-written horror shows us anything is possible in the art of literature. From reading “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, readers learn that the narrator is unreliable and therefore cannot be trusted to tell the story completely accurately.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Suspense In The Tell Tale Heart

    940 Words  | 4 Pages

    There is always something that bothers us in life, whether it’s others or even our own conscious. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator has a difficult time following through with his cruel acts because a part of him knows it’s truly wrong. Throughout the story, his crimes bring more tension between him and the old man. Suspense is created with his every move, leaving readers hanging on the edge of their seats. In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Poe builds suspense by using symbolism, inner thinking, and revealing information to the reader that a character doesn’t know about.

    Read More

  • Suspense In The Tell Tale Heart Analysis

    765 Words  | 4 Pages

    Suspense is an integral part of storytelling. Without suspense, certain stories would not create their intended effect. Edgar Allen Poe wrote many books and poems, which were all under a gothic theme. His writings were very dark and mysterious, and they all contained suspense. Poe’s novel “The Tell-Tale Heart” and his poem “The Raven” contain suspense, which is created through point-of-view, irony, and diction.

    Read More

  • Comparing Tell-Tale Heart And The Monkey's Paw By W. Jacobs

    810 Words  | 4 Pages

    Have you ever wondered what it would like through the eyes of a killer? In each of the story’s they have examples of cause and effect, for example from the killer 's perspective he went crazy because he killed the old man. From the victim’s perspective in monkey’s paw after using this paw it costed them their son and losing their son made them depressed. The-Tell-Tale-Heart by Edgar Allan Poe and The Monkey’s Paw by W. W. Jacobs have cause and effect relationships that create suspense.

    Read More

  • How Does Poe Create Suspense In The Tell Tale Heart

    678 Words  | 3 Pages

    Suspense was profound in “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe. Throughout the entirety of the book, he left the reader with multiple questions. It is a story completely based off of not knowing exactly what will happen next. but knowing something will happen. Whether it had been in the beginning when one could have been asking themselves what makes him so crazy, or at the end when one could have been asking themselves what happened after the cops were made aware of the situation, suspense was always there.

    Read More

  • Human Nature In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

    591 Words  | 3 Pages

    Human nature is the feelings, attributes, and behavioral traits that all humans share. Many works of fiction use multiple ways to convey messages that readers can relate to, to help them have an extensive understanding of the story. Since human nature is found all throughout society, authors incorporate actions that the characters take, which teaches people to think before they act. Different fictional books often reveal elements of human nature through a conflict between the characters during a certain event in a story. In “The Possibility of Evil, the main character, Miss Strangeworth, gave people her opinions on different topics by writing mean letters to the townspeople because she thought “there was so much evil in people”, eventually

    Read More

More about The Use Of Suspense In Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart

Open Document