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Obligatory Elements In Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart

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Gothic literature is a blend of horror and romance. The genre of gothic novels has been around for centuries, and therefore can be seen as indispensable in the literature world. Due to the dark sides and supernatural occurrences in these kind of books, reading these story can be quiet thrilling. The question that easily can cross our mind is what are the significant elements, so obligatory elements in order to create a gothic atmosphere? For this purpose, Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” will be analyzed, as well as the use of Gothic motives. The genre Gothic became one of the most popular ones in the late 18th and early 19th century. At the very beginning Gothic literature was not considered a serious issue. After becoming …show more content…

A. Poe was also fascinated by writing about dark issues and considered different Gothic motifs in a psychological way. He was attracted by fear as an element in his stories. “In his hands Gothic was becoming ‘horror’, a term properly applied to the most famous late-Victorian example of Gothic.” (Mullan 2014) Taking a look at Poe’s personal story of life, he might needed some space to assimilate his hard times. As he studied at the University of Virginia, he joined the military service and married his cousin. After her death, Poe was alone and died in 1849. It can be assumed, that the mental illness of the narrator reflects the issues of the author. It is also possible that it was written from a personal perspective (Bullis p.5). The narrator, who directly tells the reader that he was nervous, insists on that he is not mad. He relates to a story of an old man whom he dearly loves. The eye of this man observes him and he considers to kill this man in order to destroy his eye. Some nights pass by until the old man is finally awake at night and the “eye of a vulture” is haunting the narrator again. He chokes the scared man because of a loud scream. Afterwards the police comes and scans the apartment. The “narrative I” is unwounded and they sit down in the room where the murder just happened. After a while, he hears a noise that no one else seems to recognize until he goes crazy and admits his depravation (Poe

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