First of all, one should examine the nature of Gothic literature, a genre popular in the late eighteenth century in England. Many scholars say that Poe single-handedly brought the Gothic genre to America. Gothic literature explores the dark side of human experiences: death, alienation, nightmares, ghosts, and haunted landscapes. American Gothic literature dramatizes a culture plagued by poverty and slavery through characters afflicted with various forms of insanity and melancholy. Poe created his take on the Gothic genre from his own experiences in Virginia and other slaveholding territories. The black and white imagery in his stories reflects a growing national anxiety over the issue of slavery.
However, this is not all that influenced the work of Edgar Allen Poe. The often tragic circumstances of Poe’s life haunt his writings. A tendency to cast blame on others, without admitting his own faults, characterized Poe’s relationship with many people. There are echoes of Poe’s upbringing in his works, as sick mothers and guilty fathers appear in many of his tales, like the sick father in "The Tell-Tale Heart."
“The Tell-Tale Heart” is a psychological thriller in which we get a peek into the mind of a man driven mad after murdering another man by what he thinks is the victim’s relentless heartbeat. As to the purpose of the piece, Poe himself thought that in order for literature to be considered good it should evoke emotions from the reader and create a feeling of unity between the two. ‘‘The Tell-Tale Heart’’ is a perfect example of Poe’s ability to reach the dark side that exists in all humans, and it would seem that it is with that purpose in mind that this story was written.
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