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Critical essay of The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe
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Many authors use suspense in order to keep their audiences interested in the story. Edgar Allan Poe in The Masque of the Red Death created suspense by using literary devices. In The Masque of the Red Death Poe, established suspense throughout the story using a clock which symbolizes the passing of time. The first hint the readers are given is that the clock freezes people when it strikes half an hour. Understanding the foreshadowing of the clock allows the readers to comprehend the suspense in the story.
It is clear from all three texts that we have read, that they each used literary devices in order to create suspense in their own unique way. These texts would include “The Tell Tale Heart,” by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Landlady,” by Roald Dahl and “All Summer in a Day.” by Ray Bradbury. For instance, it is apparent that the element of suspense is elevated via the use of various literary devices in the short story, “The Tell Tale Heart,” by Edgar Allan Poe. Poe uses repetition to great effect in order to further the feeling of suspense throughout the story.
The Raven crafts the idea of suspense by using a range of different types of literary features. The use of hyperboles creates more suspense because the more exaggeration used grips the reader in more. Describing the Raven as “Ghastly, Grim and ancient” (8) makes the idea that the author is trying to get through, more coherent as Poe is offering more description. The way Poe repeats his “Sorrow for the lost Lenore” (2) helps embed the idea that he misses Lenore but it also makes the reader wonder where she went, why she left and why she is so important, which creates suspense. The way Poe uses repetition and pathos when he is trying to get an idea through is very prominent.
What gives the reader that feeling of being on the edge of their seat? Why would he want the reader to anticipate what’s going to happen next? That is how the author expresses tension. The author does this by using literary devices. Edgar Allen Poe builds suspense in “The Black Cat” by using specific literary devices—foreshadowing, allusion, and slow pace.
The setting and pacing created suspense because the narrator was telling the story at a fast pace. He was being very careful while placing the lantern. He would use words such as cautiously and very slowly, which creates suspense (Poe 1). When he would use the word “cautiously” he would usually refer to undoing the lantern. When the narrator would use the word “very slowly” , he would so what he was doing very slowly and careful so he wouldn't wake up the old man.
The repetition of the word “Nevermore” throughout the poem “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe contributes to the single effect of suspense because it means never again. By this word being written, it gives off the feeling of defeat or loss of hope. It is told to the readers that the narrator lost his loved one, Lenore, in the past and regularly thinks about her. As he reads forgotten stories at midnight, he starts to doze off until he hears a knock at the door. First, he opens the door to see nothing there, then he opens the window to see a raven above him and lets it inside.
Suspense in “The Black Cat” Why do people choose to go into haunted houses? It is because they want to know what happens inside. Haunted houses maintain this mystery and intrigue in order to create an element of suspense. Edgar Allan Poe uses this same element in “The Black Cat” to keep the reader interested. Poe develops suspense through three events: the hanging of his black cat, Pluto; the finding of the second black cat; and the killing of his wife, Virginia.
Have you ever read one of Edgar Allan Poe’s works, such as “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” or “The Fall of the House of Usher”? These horror stories utilize specific literary elements to evoke suspense within the reader’s mind. There are several ways an author can do this- the main methods being foreshadowing, reverse dramatic irony, a sadistic choice, and sudden reversals. In “August Heat,” author W.F. Harvey withholds information from the reader and uses foreshadowing and sudden reversals/reveals to get the reader to feel suspense. One of the first techniques Harvey uses is a sudden reveal.
Authors create suspense in stories by using time,distance,setting,and different thoughts. They also make the danger feel real and they hide what characters are feeling. This story is about a unknown named man who killed an elderly that lives with him because he thinks that the man 's eye is evil. Towards the end of the story it seems like he 's gonna get away with murder because he put the body under the floorboards and sat on it while the cops were there talking to him. Poe builds a lot of suspense towards the end of the book because he leaves the characters feelings out and he leaves us wondering if the narrator will actually kill the man, and then over whether he will be caught.
Many authors use many different mystery elements to create suspense in a variety of short stories. Edgar Allen Poe and Sir Conan Doyle keep readers on the edge of their seats through the use of foreshadowing and the use of red herrings. In the short story, “Tell-Tale Heart” Edgar Allen Poe creates suspense through the foreshadowing of the old man’s death. Likewise in, “Adventure of a Speckled Band,” a short story, Sir Conan Doyle creates suspense through the use of a red herring which is the gypsies in the lawn.
In these two stories Poe uses foreshadowing in way that if the reader spots the small details or Poes “word playing “ he/she can predict what will happen or get a hint of what will happen. In Black Cat there are few foreshadows. One foreshadow is when the narrator sees a cat in the wall and Pluto`s color being black is believed to be unlucky and in this story the narrator is unhappy and unlucky. The narrator gets gouth because of a cat being inside a wall.
Also, when reading “ The Black Cat”, Poe will not keep the reader up-to-date with the natural world. He likes to keep his readers guessing. This alone makes the narrator unreliable. When the Black Cat came back after the narrator killed it, both he and the reader were very shocked.
The Black cat is a perfect example of a American gothic story, is a highly emotional stories, the plot of the story is all over the place. The supertious was him, beliving that the cat was a witch, because he’d believed it’ he’d took matter into his own hands, killing the
The Never Dying Beast There had always been a fine line between sanity and insanity. Without fail, a person’s mental stability is always questioned and the thought of them being sick and twisted weighs them down like anchors and drown them out at sea. this is especially true in Edgar Allan Poe’s works. In the ending of his short story, “The Black Cat”, to leaves the reader questioning the narrator’s sanity.
Edgar Allan Poe addresses the dark and gruesome side of human nature in his writing “The Black Cat”, which during that time and even now are perceived as radical ideas. This dark human nature is displayed in Poe’s writing as the narrator recalls the happenings of a most erratic event. The narrator, a pet lover with a sweet disposition, in this story succumbs to the most challenging aspects of human nature including that of addiction, anger, and perverseness. To the Christian believer, human’s sinful flesh leads people to do wrong because that is their natural tendency.
