Aside from a common theoretical basis, there is a psychological intensity that is characteristic of Poe’s writings, especially the tales of horror that comprise his best and best known works. These stories “The Tell-Tale Heart” are often told by a first-person narrator, and through this voice Poe probes the workings of a character’s psyche. … The narrator used repetition to build suspense. The narrator is disturbed by the cataract in the old man’s eye and sneaks into his room to kill him. According to the text, “I undid the lantern cautiously - - oh so cautiously - - cautiously…” (1). This repetition makes the reader slow down because he is trying to be as quiet as possible and acting slowly. The reader will reflect back on this repetition of caution and predict what the next moments hold. Another example to backup this statement is, “It was open - - wide, wide open,” (3). At this moment, the narrator is in the room and sees the old man. The scary eye that the man hates is now open, which the narrator repeats. This makes the reader feel the surprise or shock that the narrator felt at that moment. It gives the feeling of being unpredictable. There is anticipation of what could happen at a moment's notice. Thus, the suspense created through repetition builds up to …show more content…
For example, “Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers - - of my sagacity,”(2). The narrator was showing off acting arrogant and expressing how the narrator felt in that moment to paint a painting in the reader's head. The narrator expressed tone more than once, here is another example. “First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs,”(4). All of that will show any reader that the narrator was heartless and confident in the narrator's actions that the narrator did to another man. I, the reader, really saw there was no sympathy in the heartless