The Tell-Tale Heart Comparison

While there are many genres Edgar Allan Poe's, "The Tell-Tale Heart", can fall into, one genre stands out the best: horror. Poe's, "The Tell-Tale Heart", was published in January of 1843. He is well-known for his gothic, horror style of writing. Many of Poe's horror stories that have been made into film adaptations. For example, "The Tell-Tale Heart" has many film adaptations based on Poe's short story of the same name. The horror elements from his story make the readers feel anxious, fear, dread, and many other emotions. Based on assumptions from his style of writing readers are most likely left on edge because of the tension of conflict.

"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a good example of a horror story. "In literature, horror is a genre of fiction

Strangely, the story starts off with the narrator admitting, "It's true; yes, I have been ill, very ill" and justifying himself whether or not he is actually mad (Poe). The writer then walks you through the story, in a flashback, trying to convince the reader that he is sane. He tries very hard to convince the readers that his mind is healthy. He starts off by explaining how it all started. The narrator never hated the old man, and at one point, he had even loved him. One thing he loathed was the way this old, helpless man looked at him. The story does not tell you much about the old man's history, who happen to fall prey to the narrator's vile crime. The writer then says that the old man's eye was like that of a vulture, and every time the old man looked at him with his vulture eye, an eerie feeling would go through him. He decided to "kill the old man and close that eye forever" (Poe)! The story now unveils the dreadful steps taken leading up to the old man's demise. He spends the next seven nights going into the old man's room, watching him sleep, around the same time every night: twelve o'clock. He wanted to find this man awake, "For it was not the old man I felt I had to kill; it was his eye, his Evil Eye" (Poe). On the eighth night, he felt an unusual power surging through him which convinced him of success. He first frightens the old, vulnerable man, then slowly moves

For example, he uses repetition in the story to produce intensity and build up anxiety. "I pointed at the boards and cried, "Yes! Yes, I killed him ("Literary Devices in The Tell-Tale Heart"). Repetition also increases the insanity in his tone. "Listen! Listen, and I will tellyou how it happened" ("Literary Devices in The Tell-Tale Heart"). These repetitions emphasize his insanity.

The last main device used throughout the story is symbolization. For example, the narrator mentions the word vulture a lot. "His eye was like the eye of a vulture, the eye of one of those terrible birds that watch and wait while an animal slowly dies, and then fall upon the dead body and pull it to pieces to eat it" ("Literary Devices in The Tell-Tale Heart"). The vulture, in this story, becomes a beacon of death.

Even though "The Tell-Tale Heart" can be classified as a mystery, it is mostly a horror story. The narrator mainly kills the old man because he thinks the old man has an Evil Eye. Poe uses personification, repetition, and symbolization in the