Tell Tale Heart Suspense Analysis

The story “Tell-tale Heart,” written by the amazing but possible insane, Edgar Allen Poe. Edgar instills a heavy sense of suspense and thrill through the story. Though it might not be noticeable at first glance but Edgar Allen Pow uses 3 major writing conventions; language, punctuation, and tone which in turn creates the feeling of suspense, not the setting or action. First of all, language is used to create and further intensify the suspense in “Tell-tale Heart.” When the protagonist is inside the Old Man’s room he states, “It was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel… to feel the presence of my head within the room” (Poe 2). The protagonists feelings have somehow caused the Old Man to feel his presence.

This leads to suspense being created and built up in terms of whether the Old Man will catch the protagonist.

When the protagonist states, “mournful influence of the unperceived shadow,” it further describes the protagonists feelings on the Old man and suspense is created on whether the protagonist will really kill the Old Man. Secondly, punctuation is used to further build up suspense in “Tell-tale Heart.” As the protagonist is in the Old Man’s room he says, “I resolved to open a little a very, very little crevice in the lantern… -- you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily – until at length a simple dim ray… fell upon the vulture eye” (Poe 2). The commas and dashes used in the text break up the train of thought at the perfect time to add suspense. Dashes are able to separate every little detail that could further instill suspense; commas are able to separate adjectives to add repetition which in turn also further instills suspense. Thirdly, the tone set by Edgar Allen Poe in “Tell-tale Heart” is paranoid and guilty, these factors into the protagonists thoughts and leaves him in suspense. While the police are chatting in the protagonists home, right above the Old Man’s remains, the protagonist thought, “They

heard! – they suspected! – they knew! – they were making a mockery of my horror!” (Poe 3). Directly after he says “I admit the deed! – tear up the planks! here, here!” (Poe 3). This builds suspense for the protagonist because he does not know if the police know or not. He also starts to feel guilty because he killed the Old Man and decides to reveal the deed he has done. Lastly, the story by Edgar Allen Poe created suspense through 3 major writing conventions; language (word choice), punctuation to build suspense, and tone which was set to the protagonist being paranoid and guilty.