How Does Poe Create Fear In The Tell Tale Heart

Poe creates the feeling of fear and dread in his story in many ways. Even though it can’t always be seen it is always there. Poe creates fear and dread in many of his stories and it is definitely a common theme for him. Edgar Allen Poe’s, “Tell Tale heart” encompasses this theme very well. For example, an old man with a vulture eye haunts the narrator in the story and he does anything he can to rid himself of it even if that means murdering the old man. Poe creates fear and dread through characters, suspense, and violence.
Poe creates fear and dread in the story through the characters. For one, he shows fear through the narrator. First the narrator is insane and unreliable. The narrator is constantly saying he isn’t insane his actions say

First he shows fear through foreshadowing. One aspect of this is that we know that the narrator is going to kill the old man. The narrator says in the beginning of the story that he is going to kill the old man. The reader feels a feeling of fear or suspense as to when the narrator is going to kill him and waits for it to happen throughout the story. Foreshadowing is also shown because the narrator was super nice to the old man. The narrator was nice to the old man for eight days before he kills him. This is hard for the reader knowing that he is really planning to kill the man and that his actions were not sincere. Lastly, foreshadowing is seen because the narrator stalks the old man while he slept. Every night the narrator stalks the old man and watches him while he slept for an hour. “Indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I look upon him while he slept” (Poe 303). This adds to the suspense because it leads up to the murder and sets a feeling of fear and dread because of what the reader knows is going to happen. Not only does foreshadowing create fear and dread in the story, but also so does the sounds. For one the creaking of the door adds suspense. The creaking of the door adds to the feeling of fear because the reader isn’t sure whether or not the old man will hear it and find out he is there. The suspense in this adds to the feeling of fear and dread because the reader doesn’t know what is going

First he shows fear and dread through external conflicts. For example, how the narrator kills the old man. The narrator kills the old man by throwing the bed on top of him and suffocating him. This shows conflict because he is murdering him, but the narrator sees nothing wrong with it, he thinks that the old man’s eye is enough of a reason to kill him. Conflict is also seen in the concealment of the body. The narrator tries to make up for his actions by how well he concealed the body. “I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye-not even his-could have detected anything wrong” (Poe 305). The narrator made sure there was no evidence that he killed the old man so that he didn’t feel guilty about it. The irony in this creates the feeling of fear and dread because the narrator is trying to not feel guilty about his actions. Lastly conflict is evident by where the narrator puts his chair. When the police come into the house the narrator puts his chair right over where the old man’s body is in the floorboards. This shows how the narrator has a conflict because even though he said he hid the body so well he still isn’t confident enough that he did an acceptable job to not put his chair there. Not only does external conflict create fear and dread, but so does internal conflict. For one, the narrator’s anger creates conflict. The narrator is so angry at the eye that he feels he needs to kill the old