Creating Suspense in Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart

Creating Suspense in Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart

In the gothic genre there are numerous techniques the author can use

to add interest and suspense to a story, such as the choice of words,

the time of day and pathetic fallacy, to name but a few. In the Tell

Tale- Heart Poe uses psychosis, detail, and appeal to the reader to

keep us on the edge of our seats. These are just some examples of what

makes the story so thrilling.

The story is written in the first person in the style of a confession,

an example of this would be when the narrator says, ‘I foamed- I

raved- I swore.’ During the story the narrator is telling us of the

terrible deed he has done, in the style of a confession. The reader

feels that they are being allowed to find out something, but only they

are being told, they feel that the story is exclusive to them. This

creates a lot of tension throughout the play because the reader is

feeling things that the narrator feels and is trying to fathom out

what his next move will be.

The very first word in the story creates a lot of the atmosphere

because it is in capital letters and has an exclamation mark after it.

This instantaneously awakens the reader and captures their interest.

The word itself, ‘true,’ is also important because the narrator is

replying to a question that the reader has supposedly asked before the

story has even begun. This simple technique makes the reader want to

read on, if only to find out what the question was.

One of the first things the narrator says is ‘but why will you say I’m

mad?’ It is an accusation that the reader is condemning him as mad. Of

course Poe then goes on to prove that the narrator is mad through his

feigned innocence: the more the narrato...

... middle of paper ...

...ell- Tale Heart’ as well.

The narrator believes that he can hear anything, and takes pride in

this, almost as though it was a gift. However this ‘gift’ proves to be

a major downfall, when the narrator starts hearing the old mans heart

beating. It drives the narrator even more insane to the point where he

confesses the murder to the police.

In conclusion it appears that Poe uses many gothic styles throughout

the story to increase tension. He uses punctuation, repetition,

psychosis and imagery. This makes a very effect gothic story, and

keeps the reader tense throughout. This is effective because as the

pace of the story changes the reader feels differently towards

characters. In fact not only does the pace of the story change but so

does the actual nature of the narrator. He becomes unpredictable and

irrational, creating a greater tension for the reader.