How Does Poe Create Suspense In The Tell Tale Heart

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Imagine being a madman, and you hate this old guys eye. This is the issue that the main character faces in the Tell-Tale Heart. In the story, the main character wants the old man dead, However, he watches the old man for a couple days while he sleeps. The previous week before Poe killed the man he was nice. The problem is that the old man knows something is watching and he can't find the right time to kill him. He then decides to go in the room, take the bed mattress and smuggle him to death. Suspenses are within fear of the old man and what might happen. It is creepy when Poe just stares at the old man while he sleeps. Poe repeats words, uses vivid words, and shows a great amount of vivid words.

In the story, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe, Poe describes the anxiety suspense when he writes. The narrator is a mad man, and does not like the old man’s replacement eye that he lives with. It is grey and he can't see with it. so the narrator is nice to him the whole week before he murders the old man. In the story The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. Poe greatly describes the terror of the old man and the madness of the narrator to create suspense. In the story you can feel the terror and suspense in the …show more content…

For example, Poe writes “I undid the lantern cautiously-oh, so cautiously-cautiously.” (Poe 90) This repetition makes the readers know how quiet and stealthy Poe actually was. Therefore, it builds suspense. Poe needs to be very stealthy when trying to kill the old man or else he will get caught. Poe builds more suspense by writing “Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, louder and louder every instant. The old man’s terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment!” (Poe 92) This shows repetition because Poe's heart began to get quicker and quicker by the second. He couldn't take it anymore, got mad and killed the old

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