How Does Poe Create Tension In The Tell Tale Heart

Edgar Allan Poe creates an atmosphere of fear and dread in his short story, The Tell Tale Heart, when he writes the narrator himself falling into a bout of insanity. Throughout the story, Poe elicits concern from the reader as the narrator describes himself having the desire to kill an old, innocent man. However, the narrator is unreliable in that he recounts the relationship that he shares with the old man as amicable: “I was never kinder than during the whole week before I killed him (Poe 303). The narrator shows obvious signs of insanity because he believes the manner in which he premeditates the old man’s murder contributes to his intelligence rather than to his insanity. The narrator’s only apparent motive for killing the old man is his eye: “for it

Upon describing the days leading up to the murder of the old man, the narrator utilizes suspense and absence of sound in his writing. The reader worriedly follows the narrator as he describes himself stalking the old man: “And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it–oh, so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient enough for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed...It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed” (Poe 303). By describing the act of stalking the old man in such an elaborate and drawn out manner, the narrator instills fear in the reader herself. He also utilizes the absence of sound throughout the scenario so that the reader feels that they are also being watched in the silence and darkness of the old house. The final factor that contributes to the narrator’s deliverance of fear and dread to the reader is the tell tale heart itself. In the beginning of the story, the narrator speaks with ease and confidence, describing himself cleverly planning the murder of his housemate, the old