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Suspense In The Tell Tale Heart Analysis

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Suspense is an integral part of storytelling. Without suspense, certain stories would not create their intended effect. Edgar Allen Poe wrote many books and poems, which were all under a gothic theme. His writings were very dark and mysterious, and they all contained suspense. Poe’s novel “The Tell-Tale Heart” and his poem “The Raven” contain suspense, which is created through point-of-view, irony, and diction. The Tell-Tale Heart contained suspense created through point-of-view, irony, and diction. Point-of-view is the how the story is being observed. The Tell-Tale Heart is told in an unreliable first person point-of-view, meaning that the reader only knows the thoughts of the narrator. Throughout the Tell-Tale Heart, the reader is never sure what the narrator will do next. The story started with the narrator trying to …show more content…

For example, in the beginning of the story, the narrator tries to prove to the reader that he is sane. “How, then, am I mad?” Later on in the story, he tells the reader “I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him.” This is verbal irony since right after he said that he is sane, he confesses to the reader that he killed the old man. After the narrator asked how he was mad, suspense kept building, making the reader question if he was really sane and going to kill the man, until he actually killed the man. Another example of irony in this text is dramatic irony. The reader knows that the narrator is planning to kill the man very soon, while the man has no clue that he is about to be killed, and he is just sleeping. “To think that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts.” The readers know that the narrator is stalking the old man, while the old man is just sleeping. Suspense is created since the reader does not know what the old man will do, whether he will be killed, or whether he will notice the

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Suspense is something the author of a story can use to keep the story interesting and exciting. Poe uses suspense to keep the reader interested in the story and to keep them reading on. In the story The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe describes the anxiety and fear of the characters to create

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Suspense by Edgar Allen Poe Suspense is a writing style that authors use to make people think about when something will happen. Edgar Allen Poe profoundly used this technique in his story “Tell Tale Heart”. He made the reader constantly question what was going to happen. It makes the reader think and sparks a certain interest.

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Without the use of irony, the story wouldn't be as suspenseful and there would be no build up to the

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With his usage of situational irony and dramatic irony Jacobs creates high amounts of suspense in his readers. Through the story Jacobs adds constant twists and turns of irony that he uses in order to create suspense. Everyday people constantly have unexpected twists and turns thrown into their lives, and even if it is for the best it can still leave them hanging in suspense for the future.

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Verbal irony in literature occurs when one thing is said but means something else, situational irony is present when the reader’s expectations of what is going to happen differs from what actually happens, and dramatic irony is when the reader knows more than the characters. Throughout the story “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allen Poe uses irony to prefigure Fortunato’s imminent death. “The Cask of Amontillado” is a dark story involving two men, Montresor and Fortunato, who were at one point friends. Fortunato wronged Montresor many times, but when he made an unknown insult towards him it sets Montresor on a path of revenge and murder (Poe 108).

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Verbal irony is when a person says something other than what they mean. Situational irony is when one thing is expected, but the exact opposite happens, and dramatic irony is when the audience knows something that the characters do not. Both The Interlopers, and The Story of an Hour make use of situational irony. The Story of an Hour is when the husband is said to have died, but at the end, the wife dies when the husband walks in the door alive and well. (Chopin 1, 2.)

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Situational Irony A reader is often surprised by a change in a story, good or bad. An author uses a tool called situational irony to create plot twists in the story, and surprise the reader. Situational irony also creates a variety of emotions, other than just the element of surprise. For instance, the author of “Ransom of Red Chief,” O. Henry, uses situational irony to set a tone of humor in the story.

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The novel, Ruined by Paula Morris and the short story, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe contain similar and different characteristics throughout. In the book, the main character, Rebecca, is initially from the Big Apple. She is forced to move to New Orleans with a “relative” once her father traveled to China for work. Little did Rebecca know what was in store for her in the upcoming months that she would be staying in the old-fashioned city. The snobby children, with a rich history, practically rule everywhere they go in the area, from the school to the streets.

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The Tell-Tale Heart was told in the first person point of view. The narrator (also the main character) was paranoid and admitting he is nervous yet still sane creating a sad and sinister, slightly intense mood for the reader. This foreshadows that the narrator must have done something deviant and that others attribute him to have gotten insane. The narrator then tells the whole story to justify his sanity. The different conflicts in the story can already be determined—both internal and external: firstly, that the protagonist’s own conscience is haunting him (man vs. self); secondly, that the protagonist needs to prove his sanity (man vs. society); and that the protagonist wants to get rid of the eye of the old man (man vs. eye).

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The narrator from “Tell Tale Heart” is insane because he literally stalks a man for seven nights. On the last night, he was done stalking. He finally made his move. He wanted to get rid of an old man who he stayed with majority of his life.

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Without irony an author’s story will not be as interesting and will not keep the reader or audience’s attention for too long. Above dramatic irony was very sufficient because the reader knew about John’s affair, although Reverend Hale was unaware. This may have grabbed the reader’s attention more and lead them to suspension as to how or if Hale would find out. In my example of verbal irony, it was used in a form of sarcasm when it almost seems as if the outcome was backwards. For instance the innocents should live while the accused should be the one to die.

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Suspense was profound in “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe. Throughout the entirety of the book, he left the reader with multiple questions. It is a story completely based off of not knowing exactly what will happen next. but knowing something will happen. Whether it had been in the beginning when one could have been asking themselves what makes him so crazy, or at the end when one could have been asking themselves what happened after the cops were made aware of the situation, suspense was always there.

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