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Pre-Assessment Of Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart'

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Year 8 Accelerated English Reading the World Term 2 Pre-Assessment The Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allen Poe (1843). True! I am a sassy! nervous — very, very dreadfully nervous I have been and am; but why would you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses — not destroyed — not dulled them. Above all was the sense of acute hearing. I heard all things in the heavens and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! I am a naylor! and observe how healthy — how calmly — I can tell you the whole story. It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object. There was none. Passion. There was none. I love the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me an insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was a snare! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture — a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees — very gradually — I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever. Now this is the point. You fancy me mad? Madmen know nothing about this. But you should have seen me. You should have …show more content…

The story goes in chronological order and has descriptive words. It has action in the story, too. The reason I think this may be an autobiography is because of how well the story shows the characters emotions and thinking. The wording is very descriptive, but also written in a way that makes it sound like the character is fully talking to you. Like in “For his gold I had no desire”. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this!”.The writing has a specific tone too, in some sentences you can feel his excitement and in others you can tell the regret he holds. Edgar Allen Poe also had bipolar disorder, so he most likely was able to describe emotions very

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In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” suspense is created through the reoccurring use of repetition which, conjures up feelings of unease in the readers. The speaker is clearly unstable. The speaker who is “nervous-very,very dreadfully nervous”(1) throughout the story repeatedly asks the reader “How, then, am I mad?”(1), then goes on to justify his actions. The reader understands that the fear in the speaker is building up, but do not know the reason why. With an unstable speaker the readers are not certain if what is being told is true or just in the speaker’s mind.

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So the eye caused the young man to kill the old man. It makes you wonder why take the life of a man that

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Because of its unreliable narrator and arrogant perpetrator, I believe “The Telltale Heart” is the most suspenseful of Edgar Allen Poe’s stories, a feeling that Alfred Hitchcock shares

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But since the main character tries to kill him in his sleep, the vulture’s eye cannot be seen for he closes his eyes. Then one night the main character decides to spy on the old man once again when suddenly his hand slips and awakes the old man. Upon awaking the old man the main character sees the eye and is immediately infused with fury. Then the story takes off and the story becomes more suspenseful with every turn of the way. Suspense is the sense of

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His intention was not to kill the old man, but to “rid myself of the eye forever... He had the eye of a vulture-- a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold” (Poe, 1843). The madman had the impression that he was doing something beneficial by getting rid of the evil eye. He thought that this justified the fact the he was going to kill the old man.

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In the story, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe uses character anxiety and fear to show suspense. When the author states,” True-nervous-very-very dreadfully nervous, I had been and am!”(Poe 89). This tells us that the narrator does feel anxious, but we do not know why, it leaves us wondering why he feels nervous, it builds suspense. It also states,”Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold,”(Poe 89).

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I believe you once met the old man with whom I lived. The polite, old man, who had never wronged me, never had given insult to me and who I had even loved. But it was not the old man who burdened me of grief. It was that terrible, terrible vulture-like eye. They tell me I am insane for what I did, but could a madman have executed a plot of murder so perfectly?

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The man says, “You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing.” Tying in with the arrogant tones as well, the man has a very dark mind and the readers get a glimpse of his thought train through first person. He explains he needs to “take the life of the old man and thus rid myself of the eye forever.” No sane person would kill over a color of an eye, but as he describes the old man’s eye, the audience begins to understand why he takes the life of the old man.

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“One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture- a pale blue eye, with a film over it” (Poe 174-175), Poe describes the old man’s eye. This characterization creates a scary picture in your head about the old man's eye and how it looks, but also makes you feel there is something wrong with the man. “...- you cannot imagine how stealthily” Poe conveys how he is shining light on the eye, until at length, a single dim ray like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and full upon the vulture eye”, he finishes (Poe 177-178). The author illustrates how he is shedding light on the old man’s eye in a extreme stalkerish way that leaves you with a weird feeling. Once Poe decides he can not bear the eye he describes his process, “He shrieked once- only once.

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The narrator illustrates, “I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth”. He creates a magical mindset that he is able to hear both in the existence of earth and the afterlife where no individual is able to do. He also presents himself as a God-like figure possessing God’s power of communication between both the living and dead in which to inflate his significance and his capabilities. Furthermore, an individual under the disorder idealizes his or her persecution from others intentionally wanting to inflict any harm to the individual. The narrator emphasizes, “They heard! --they suspected!

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As some may know, not being able to see what is heard in the night may lead to an over exaggeration what may be causing it. Thus, causing suspense and a connection between them and the story, as many fear the unknown. Next, the descriptions used to describe the old man’s eye were extremely unsettling. The eye was said to “represent that of a vulture, a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever I fell upon it my blood ran cold” (Poe 303).

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While this may be the case, many people may think he was fully aware of what he was doing. This can be proven wrong because the narrator states, “I loved the old man. He had never wronged me... I think it was his eye yes, it was this!”(2).This quote reveals that it was not the old man at all that had made him want to murder him, it was his eye that was his motivation.

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I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?’’ He pronounces at once that he suffers from a ‘‘disease,’’ but still implies that because it has not dulled his senses, he cannot be called mad.- The narrator explains that his mental disorder has actually caused his hearing, to become more sharp. When he claims to have heard

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Suspense by Edgar Allen Poe Suspense is a writing style that authors use to make it so a reader is ahead of the characters in the story. Edgar Allen Poe profoundly used this technique in his story “Tell Tale Heart”. The narrator is psychotic and is particularly tormented by an old man’s ‘evil’ glass eye. He was willing to do close to anything to be rid of the eye, including murder.

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It made the man a lunatic, in other words it drove him mad even murderous . “Whenever it fell upon me,my blood ran cold: and so by degrees-very gradually- I made up my mind to take the life of the old man and thus rid myself of the eye forever.”, 538:1. Geography also had a major impact on this story because there was no life in the room.

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