Suspense In Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart
Have you ever watched a movie and sat at the edge of your seat? This is the human body’s response to suspenseful entertainment. How it is done you ask? Well I can for sure tell you that the writer definitely has a gift. There's much that is involved when creating a suspenseful atmosphere. The author must create an intense setting. For example, “I was alone or so I thought, in the dark cemetery. I could see my breath as I ran to get out, but I fell into a hollow grave, where I came eye to eye with a corpse!” Setting the reader up to the unknown and a little bit of fright, can definitely create this type of suspense. In the “Tell-Tale Heart” suspense has been generated by the author in a peculiar way. An unknown narrator opens the story in
the state of being nervous, he then says he is going to defend his sanity yet confess he murdered an old man out of fright of his “vulture eye.” The narrator takes us on the journey of how he stalked the man by watching him sleep at night for seven days and then kills him on the eighth day when he shows up late and accidentally wakes up the man. This unknown narrator seemed to create suspense throughout the majority of the story by specifically describing the murder, which sent chills down my spine.
Another way an author creates suspense is the thoughts of the character(s). Going back to the “Tell-Tale Heart” the narrator begins to worry and internally panic, as he begins to hear the old man's heartbeat again and that it is getting louder and louder. The narrator's thoughts overcome him and sends him to have an outburst and confess the murder he had committed. There are a lot of authors that use the thoughts of the character to make a situation more suspenseful or interesting.
Lastly, when authors give the main character a test/challenge. Referring to the “Tell-Tale Heart” the narrator is finding it very difficult to keep calm when he is in front of the police officers and starts hearing the old man's heartbeat. So like stated before, his thoughts sent him to have an outburst and to confess the murder. But remember “Writing suspense is all about how tight you can make the rope before you break it and send your audience plunging.”
the state of being nervous, he then says he is going to defend his sanity yet confess he murdered an old man out of fright of his “vulture eye.” The narrator takes us on the journey of how he stalked the man by watching him sleep at night for seven days and then kills him on the eighth day when he shows up late and accidentally wakes up the man. This unknown narrator seemed to create suspense throughout the majority of the story by specifically describing the murder, which sent chills down my spine.
Another way an author creates suspense is the thoughts of the character(s). Going back to the “Tell-Tale Heart” the narrator begins to worry and internally panic, as he begins to hear the old man's heartbeat again and that it is getting louder and louder. The narrator's thoughts overcome him and sends him to have an outburst and confess the murder he had committed. There are a lot of authors that use the thoughts of the character to make a situation more suspenseful or interesting.
Lastly, when authors give the main character a test/challenge. Referring to the “Tell-Tale Heart” the narrator is finding it very difficult to keep calm when he is in front of the police officers and starts hearing the old man's heartbeat. So like stated before, his thoughts sent him to have an outburst and to confess the murder. But remember “Writing suspense is all about how tight you can make the rope before you break it and send your audience plunging.”