Tell Tale Heart Essay
The Tell Tale Heart Gavin Nicoll
By Edgar Allan Poe
Task: Edgar Allan Poe’ story "The Tell Tale heart" is a classic from a horror genre. Show clearly how the horror is achieved through the author's stylish and skilful characterisation of the narrator.
"The Tell Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe was written in 1843 and is about a man that ultimately goes insane over an old man’s eye in which they were friends. The old man’s eye tortures the narrator and drives him to kill the eye and in doing so the old man to. He watches the older man for nights whilst he is asleep waiting for the right moment to strike, he does this even though he is convinced he is not a mad man. I will show the way that Edgar Allan …show more content…
Poe uses stylish and skilful characterisation of the narrator :
"You fancy me mad.
Mad men know nothing. But you should have seen me."
The writer is convinced that he did the plan that he set out to and that it was executed very well. Towards the end of the short story the narrator goes mad from hearing what he thinks is the beating of a heart from under the floor boards which is where the old mans body was hidden, and he finally confesses. The story is written in first person narrative in which there are some advantages plus some disadvantages. Advantages of "The Tell tale Heart" been written this way is that we get all of the narrators emotions and feelings. you also obtain a more biased story on the event. We find this out when the narrator tells us how he killed the old man:
"In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him.
I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done."
Here the reader gets an accurate telling of this part of the story where he kills the old man as it is first hand information. This helps us to easily identify the fact that the narrator is a mad man. I feel that the narrator has written his short story in this form as he can put the true events and his feelings of the events that took place that night. Disadvantages of the short story being written in first person narrative are that the narrator can change the events to make himself sound better than he actually was. Edgar Allan Poe does this when he is talking about how warily the narrator opened the old mans bedroom door the night he went to kill
him:
“It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! Would a madman have been so wise as this.”
The narrator here could have taken the length of time out of proportion and made it longer to make it look like he was much more cautious on entering the man’s bedroom. I feel that the narrator may have done this as it makes him sound like he was very careful and calm but he might not have been. The effect of the murder being told by the murderer himself makes it more personal and makes the reader have more into an insight of the reasons why he committed the murder. You also get the reasons and fact from the murderer of how and why he killed the old man. This adds humour into the story because it allows the reader to know how sick and wrong the killer is. In the story the narrator sees himself as being very calm and to be in complete control of his mind and actions, he feels that his hearing is acute and that he can hear things that other people can’t:
“I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth.
I heard many things in hell.”
This proves to us that he is slightly insane as he thinks that he can hear voice and noises from heaven. The narrator goes against human kindness here when he says this. The author’s word choice in paragraph three makes the mad man very crafty when he describes how he went about watching the old man:
“with what foresight, with what dissimulation”
The word “dissimulation” which means to conceal one’s feelings and intentions. The narrator imagines he is very crafty. makes you think that the narrator has thought long and hard about what to write. Some of the narrator’s actions are slightly sinister “I turned the latch on my door and opened it so carefully” is creepy because he describes how carefully he opened the lock the man’s room. The narrator only hates the “Evil Eye” but doesn’t realise that by killing the evil eye he will also kill his old friend. When the narrator moves slowly into the old mans bedroom is creates a feel of suspense and horror, it also makes you feel quite anxious as you don’t know when he is going to strike. The narrator is lead to confession from what he thinks is the beating of the old man’s heart from under the floor boards, which makes him go crazy, he gets nervous and worried as he thinks the police men who came round to the old man’s home because a neighbour had complained about hearing a shriek during the night, could hear it too. He shouted:
“ “Villains!” I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed!” ”
The narrator here is shouting out that he has killed the old man because he thinks that they already know that he’s dead too. I feel that this shows to the reader that the man is going insane because if the old man was dead then his heart could not be beating! Therefore it is in his imagination. Throughout the poem the writer uses a lot of different word choice which clearly shows the narrator’s madness, arrogance and fake superiority. The writer uses a good range of word choice when he describes how cautiously he made his way to kill the old man:
“You should have seen how wisely I proceeded.”
The narrator is pig headed about how carefully and well he advanced even though he was doing it when he was the only person awake in the house. I feel that the narrator is giving himself more credit than required for what he has done so far. The writer uses good word choice when the narrator is explaining about how the old man’s eye is driving him to go insane:
“It was not the old man who vexed, me but his Evil Eye”
This explains to us that the old man was not the person that irritated the narrator but it was his eye! I feel that the narrator isn’t annoyed at the old man at all as they have been friend for years, but the eye is driving him crazy and made him want to kill him. The author employs repetition deliberately to make his portrayal of the narrator’s character more vivid. The author uses a good range of repetition throughout the story but uses an exceptional example at the very start of the story, when he is describing how nervous he was about killing the old man:
“nervous very, very dreadfully nervous”
The author is emphasising how nervous and scared he was throughout the whole ordeal by repeating the word “very“ and “nervous“. I feel that the writer was so nervous as he still liked the old man but he couldn’t live with the “Evil Eye” as it was driving him insane, so he had to kill the eye which also killed the old man too. Another incident when the narrator uses good repetition is when he is boasting about how he entered the old man’s bedroom:
“you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded…”
The author is telling us how big headed, but also anxious the narrator is at this point as if he had woken the old man he would have been caught. The author repeats “you should have seen me” this gives us the effect that he wishes the reader were there to witness the murder. I feel that the narrator is worried in case everything that he has planned goes all wrong which imitates his mental state. In Conclusion I feel that Edgar Allan Poe has created a good sense of horror in the “Tell Tale Heart” by using a sense of imagery and word choice. I feel that the best technique used to create this emotion was the narrators word choice due to its thrilling content.
By Edgar Allan Poe
Task: Edgar Allan Poe’ story "The Tell Tale heart" is a classic from a horror genre. Show clearly how the horror is achieved through the author's stylish and skilful characterisation of the narrator.
"The Tell Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe was written in 1843 and is about a man that ultimately goes insane over an old man’s eye in which they were friends. The old man’s eye tortures the narrator and drives him to kill the eye and in doing so the old man to. He watches the older man for nights whilst he is asleep waiting for the right moment to strike, he does this even though he is convinced he is not a mad man. I will show the way that Edgar Allan …show more content…
Poe uses stylish and skilful characterisation of the narrator :
"You fancy me mad.
Mad men know nothing. But you should have seen me."
The writer is convinced that he did the plan that he set out to and that it was executed very well. Towards the end of the short story the narrator goes mad from hearing what he thinks is the beating of a heart from under the floor boards which is where the old mans body was hidden, and he finally confesses. The story is written in first person narrative in which there are some advantages plus some disadvantages. Advantages of "The Tell tale Heart" been written this way is that we get all of the narrators emotions and feelings. you also obtain a more biased story on the event. We find this out when the narrator tells us how he killed the old man:
"In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him.
I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done."
Here the reader gets an accurate telling of this part of the story where he kills the old man as it is first hand information. This helps us to easily identify the fact that the narrator is a mad man. I feel that the narrator has written his short story in this form as he can put the true events and his feelings of the events that took place that night. Disadvantages of the short story being written in first person narrative are that the narrator can change the events to make himself sound better than he actually was. Edgar Allan Poe does this when he is talking about how warily the narrator opened the old mans bedroom door the night he went to kill
him:
“It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! Would a madman have been so wise as this.”
The narrator here could have taken the length of time out of proportion and made it longer to make it look like he was much more cautious on entering the man’s bedroom. I feel that the narrator may have done this as it makes him sound like he was very careful and calm but he might not have been. The effect of the murder being told by the murderer himself makes it more personal and makes the reader have more into an insight of the reasons why he committed the murder. You also get the reasons and fact from the murderer of how and why he killed the old man. This adds humour into the story because it allows the reader to know how sick and wrong the killer is. In the story the narrator sees himself as being very calm and to be in complete control of his mind and actions, he feels that his hearing is acute and that he can hear things that other people can’t:
“I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth.
I heard many things in hell.”
This proves to us that he is slightly insane as he thinks that he can hear voice and noises from heaven. The narrator goes against human kindness here when he says this. The author’s word choice in paragraph three makes the mad man very crafty when he describes how he went about watching the old man:
“with what foresight, with what dissimulation”
The word “dissimulation” which means to conceal one’s feelings and intentions. The narrator imagines he is very crafty. makes you think that the narrator has thought long and hard about what to write. Some of the narrator’s actions are slightly sinister “I turned the latch on my door and opened it so carefully” is creepy because he describes how carefully he opened the lock the man’s room. The narrator only hates the “Evil Eye” but doesn’t realise that by killing the evil eye he will also kill his old friend. When the narrator moves slowly into the old mans bedroom is creates a feel of suspense and horror, it also makes you feel quite anxious as you don’t know when he is going to strike. The narrator is lead to confession from what he thinks is the beating of the old man’s heart from under the floor boards, which makes him go crazy, he gets nervous and worried as he thinks the police men who came round to the old man’s home because a neighbour had complained about hearing a shriek during the night, could hear it too. He shouted:
“ “Villains!” I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed!” ”
The narrator here is shouting out that he has killed the old man because he thinks that they already know that he’s dead too. I feel that this shows to the reader that the man is going insane because if the old man was dead then his heart could not be beating! Therefore it is in his imagination. Throughout the poem the writer uses a lot of different word choice which clearly shows the narrator’s madness, arrogance and fake superiority. The writer uses a good range of word choice when he describes how cautiously he made his way to kill the old man:
“You should have seen how wisely I proceeded.”
The narrator is pig headed about how carefully and well he advanced even though he was doing it when he was the only person awake in the house. I feel that the narrator is giving himself more credit than required for what he has done so far. The writer uses good word choice when the narrator is explaining about how the old man’s eye is driving him to go insane:
“It was not the old man who vexed, me but his Evil Eye”
This explains to us that the old man was not the person that irritated the narrator but it was his eye! I feel that the narrator isn’t annoyed at the old man at all as they have been friend for years, but the eye is driving him crazy and made him want to kill him. The author employs repetition deliberately to make his portrayal of the narrator’s character more vivid. The author uses a good range of repetition throughout the story but uses an exceptional example at the very start of the story, when he is describing how nervous he was about killing the old man:
“nervous very, very dreadfully nervous”
The author is emphasising how nervous and scared he was throughout the whole ordeal by repeating the word “very“ and “nervous“. I feel that the writer was so nervous as he still liked the old man but he couldn’t live with the “Evil Eye” as it was driving him insane, so he had to kill the eye which also killed the old man too. Another incident when the narrator uses good repetition is when he is boasting about how he entered the old man’s bedroom:
“you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded…”
The author is telling us how big headed, but also anxious the narrator is at this point as if he had woken the old man he would have been caught. The author repeats “you should have seen me” this gives us the effect that he wishes the reader were there to witness the murder. I feel that the narrator is worried in case everything that he has planned goes all wrong which imitates his mental state. In Conclusion I feel that Edgar Allan Poe has created a good sense of horror in the “Tell Tale Heart” by using a sense of imagery and word choice. I feel that the best technique used to create this emotion was the narrators word choice due to its thrilling content.