In his narrative poem The Tell-Tale heart, Edgar Allen Poe tells the story of an insane madman who is in love with an old man’s eye. The story begins with the madman telling us how he loves the old man but wants to kill him because of his eye. The old man’s eye is like none other and resembles a vulture’s eye. And Poe instills his poem with the same despair experienced by the narrator by using characteristics that are typical of gothic literature such as, High Emotion, Mysterious Atmosphere’s, and Spooky Visions. One gothic element that Poe uses throughout The Tell-Tale Heart is high emotion. This is first apparent when the old man heard someone in the room. The old man sprung up terrified and said “Who is there?” alert as can be the old man stayed up and put out a terrified groan. The horrific groan of the old man contributes to the high emotion feel of the story. The other gothic element Poe uses throughout The Tell-Tale Heart is a mysterious atmosphere. This was first noticeable when the madman crept into the old man’s room and said “The room was black as pitch with thick darkness” And within the room the madman had to carry with him a lantern to see clearly. The pitch black room certainly contributes to the mysterious feel of the story. The fact that the old man is asleep and lives in a creepy place makes the story have a mysterious atmosphere.
More Gothic elements Poe uses throughout The Tell-Tale Heart are Omens, Portents, and Visions that the mad man haves. These first appeared at the beginning when the mad man said: “I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and rid myself of the eye forever.” The mad man was having vision of killing the old man. The mad man started hearing a loud unbearable ringing in his ears after he buried the body under the floor and the cops came in. All of these examples certainly contribute the omens, portents, and visions occurring in this narrative. Tell-Tale Heart is a classic story about a mad man who stalks and kills someone because of his eye. The madman was so in love with this eye that he would be willing to take the life of an innocent old man. Deep down inside the madman’s conscious wouldn’t let him live. The madman thought everything was going to be okay but the only person that wouldn’t let him go on was himself. As the cops where talking he got an annoying ring in his head and it wouldn’t stop until he came clean. It is not surprising that this narrative poem ends on such an unhappy note, because Poe places that tone throughout the poem. By using things that are typical of gothic literature like High emotion, Mysterious Atmospheres, and Crazy Visions, Poe creates a poem that is wrapped in Mystery.
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