The Tell Tale Heart Suspense Essay
Edgar Allen Poe begins “The Tell-Tale Heart” with suspense. The narrator describes what his “disease” has done to him and claims that he is not mad. However, it becomes evident that the narrator is insane. As the narrator descends further into madness, Poe creates a feeling of suspense through the exploration of the narrator’s motivation to kill, revealing his attention to detail as the crime is committed, and climaxing as the narrator confesses his transgression. From the beginning of the story, Poe creates an apprehensive attitude towards the narrator. One way this feeling is conveyed is through the narrator’s alleged disease. The narrator states, “The disease had sharpened my senses—not destroyed—not dulled them.” This quote raises a lot
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As the narrator hears the heartbeat, his paranoia develops and the anticipation accumulates continuously. The narrator describes the effect the sound has on him, but it appears that he is the only one who can hear the noise. Suspense building all the more, the narrator says, “And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not?” Since the narrator seems to be the only one to hear the noise, readers are left to assume that it is all in his head and that the narrator has finally succumbed to the madness. Finally, the suspense climaxes as the narrator confesses his crime by shrieking, “Villains! Dissemble no more!” His paranoia had led him to believe that the police officers were concealing their motives, thus making them villains.
Poe’s creation, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” is a story filled with suspense until the very last word. The narrator’s insanity contributes to the suspense as he plots and commits the crime. However, “it is his [the narrator’s] own dissimulation that leads to his ungrounded suspicion of the policemen’s dissemblance, which in turn leads to his downfall” (Shen). Poe illustrates growing anticipation by creating a psychotic narrator with a motive to kill, a brutal murder of an innocent character, and a shocking revelation of the
As the narrator hears the heartbeat, his paranoia develops and the anticipation accumulates continuously. The narrator describes the effect the sound has on him, but it appears that he is the only one who can hear the noise. Suspense building all the more, the narrator says, “And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not?” Since the narrator seems to be the only one to hear the noise, readers are left to assume that it is all in his head and that the narrator has finally succumbed to the madness. Finally, the suspense climaxes as the narrator confesses his crime by shrieking, “Villains! Dissemble no more!” His paranoia had led him to believe that the police officers were concealing their motives, thus making them villains.
Poe’s creation, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” is a story filled with suspense until the very last word. The narrator’s insanity contributes to the suspense as he plots and commits the crime. However, “it is his [the narrator’s] own dissimulation that leads to his ungrounded suspicion of the policemen’s dissemblance, which in turn leads to his downfall” (Shen). Poe illustrates growing anticipation by creating a psychotic narrator with a motive to kill, a brutal murder of an innocent character, and a shocking revelation of the