Imagine having to kill someone, but at the cost of your life too. This is the issue that the main character faces in The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. In this story, the main character wants to kill the old man because of his eye. However, if he kills the old man, the police might be called. He decides to flip a heavy bed over the old man. A few hours later the police knocks on the door. The Tell-Tale Heart becomes more suspenseful with every heart beat. Suspense is the sense of growing tension, fear, and excitement felt by the reader. Poe builds suspense by describing the character’s fear, using vivid words, repeating words and phrases, and describing a suspenseful setting. In the story, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe describes the …show more content…
In addition, Poe creates suspense for the reader in his description of sounds. “It was the low,stifled sound the arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe”[Poe 91]. The reader can practically hear in his mind what this sounds like.In addition, the author also builds suspense through his use of repetition. For example Poe writes “And every night,about midnight,I turned the latch of his door and opened it--oh,so gently”[Poe 90]! The repetition causes the reader to wonder why the man is creeping into the old mans house at midnight, every night. This builds suspense by giving the reader a picture in their mind by using vivid words, this creates a picture in the reader’s mind. Poe further builds suspense through repetition when he writes, “And this I did for seven long nights--every night just at midnight”[Poe 90]. This shows repetition by telling the reader he does this for seven long nights. It is suspenseful because the repetition of the man’s return to the house at midnight every night. Furthermore, suspense can also be built through setting. In The Tell-Tale Heart Poe sets the