How Does Edgar Allan Poe's Use Of Suspense

The author engages the reader through the use of excess throughout the story, building suspense and over exaggerating, making things seem more important and shocking than they really are. The narrator in the story displays excessive worrying at the faint noise of the old man’s heart, when such concern is not needed for a sound that no one would realistically be able to hear. While the protagonist hallucinates at the beating of the old man's heart, they grow fearful, as they “thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me -- the sound would be heard by a neighbour!” (Poe 2). The exaggeration that Edgar Allen Poe portrays in the fear of the protagonist makes the situation seem very trivial and builds up mystery, creating suspense and adding more unknown factors, which are obviously implausible. This ultimately peaks the reader’s interest, enveloping them more in the plot of the story. After

In the very beginning of the short story, when the protagonist is giving an introduction of himself to the reader, they make a claim that they have a very keen hearing ability. In fact, they make the bold claim that “I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell.” (Poe 1). This quote shows the excess prevalent throughout the story within the first few sentences, when the protagonist makes the ludicrous claim that they can hear they can hear things in heaven, which is impossible as the sheer size of this Earth alone is too large for anyone to hear everything on the planet. This exaggeration once again relates back to the author’s goal of making the reader become more engaged in the book, by using such excess and showing the protagonist’s crazy nature and unpredictability from the very start of the story wanting to keep the reader wanting to know