How Does Poe Create Suspense

The Tell-Tale Heart suspense paragraphs Imagine being called insane but you yourself know that you are far from it. This is the issue that the character in The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe faces. In the story the main character wants to prove that he is not insane so he shares an event from his past. Rather the character has a “disease” which makes his senses especially his hearing very sensitive. He truly loves the old man but cannot deal with the old man's “evil eye” so to be free from it he kills the old man. The character slips into the old man's bedroom every night until it's the right moment for him ti kill the old man. When he finally finds the right time to kill the old man does something absurd with the

Poe uses the words “vulture” and “pale” to create suspense when he says ¨He had the eye of a vulture -a pale blue eye, with a film over it¨ (Poe 89). The words “vulture” and “pale” give the reader a brief description on what this eye looks like so they can imagine what it would be like to stare at one. The words are also giving the reader's suspicion on what type of eye this is and why it was apparently so unbearable for the character to look at. In addition Poe creates suspense for the reader when he portrayals how the character acts when he is hiding in the old man's room. The author explains, “So I opened it -you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily -until, at length, a single dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out of the crevice and fell upon the vulture eye¨ (Poe 91). The reader can practically picture how the character is acting in this situation and it gives them suspense because they want to know what will go down after “...a single dim ray ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from the crevice and fell upon the vulture eye”, Will the character attack, freakout, or scream? They don't know

For example, Poe writes “True! -nervous -very, very dreadfully nervous¨ (Poe 89). The repetition cause the reader to wonder why the character is feeling nervous, therefore, it builds suspense. The repetition notifies the reader that the character seems jumpy and scared about something and that something is bad. The reader will be suspenseful thus causing them to want to know that bad something is. Poe further builds suspense through repetition when he writes, ¨The ringing became more distinct; -It continued and became more distinct¨ (Poe 94). The readers are now suspenseful. They wonder what that ringing is and where it's coming from. They wonder when that ringing will stop or what the ringing will cause the character to