Throughout Poe’s stories he relentlessly creates an intriguing atmosphere of fear and horror through the symbolic use of details, an evil narrator, and the proficient ability to draw the reader in to the point where they could fall into the paper. Poe’s readers are drawn into the story on account of his use of the reader’s feelings for the victims and an engaging storyline to vividly paint a portrait of the narrator’s thoughts. Poe’s stories contain numerous bold details that retain the reader’s interest till the end. For example “…there stood against the western wall, a gigantic clock of ebony….there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical.”(Masque of red death, Poe 2). When
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Antagonistic narrators help bring life to the story from the point of view behind the crime. The killer’s point of view can invoke feelings of empathy, and a sense of revenge against the narrator. “I felt that I must scream or die!-and now-again!-hark! Louder! Louder! Louder! Louder! –“(The Tell-Tale heart, Poe 306) At this point in the story he is about to confess for his crimes and the reader gets his satisfaction of revenge but, more important is the viewpoint from the killer where he becomes an unreliable narrator due to his insanity. The unreliable narrator adds depth to the story to makes the reader wonder, “What else happened or didn’t happen?” and “What is the other side of the story”. These questions create that atmosphere of fear since the reader becomes uncertain as to what the truth is and whom we should believe. The point of view also comes into play where the narrator thinks it’s the perfect crime and he’ll never get caught for instance “…for what had I to fear? I bade the gentleman welcome….I brought chairs into the room, and desired for them here to rest from their fatigues”(The Tell-Tale Heart, Poe 306”. The point of view from this excerpt is coming from the narrator where he brings chairs above the body of the old man and has them rest, while in reality of the story he could be immensely nervous and jittery all is unknown due to the unreliable
Antagonistic narrators help bring life to the story from the point of view behind the crime. The killer’s point of view can invoke feelings of empathy, and a sense of revenge against the narrator. “I felt that I must scream or die!-and now-again!-hark! Louder! Louder! Louder! Louder! –“(The Tell-Tale heart, Poe 306) At this point in the story he is about to confess for his crimes and the reader gets his satisfaction of revenge but, more important is the viewpoint from the killer where he becomes an unreliable narrator due to his insanity. The unreliable narrator adds depth to the story to makes the reader wonder, “What else happened or didn’t happen?” and “What is the other side of the story”. These questions create that atmosphere of fear since the reader becomes uncertain as to what the truth is and whom we should believe. The point of view also comes into play where the narrator thinks it’s the perfect crime and he’ll never get caught for instance “…for what had I to fear? I bade the gentleman welcome….I brought chairs into the room, and desired for them here to rest from their fatigues”(The Tell-Tale Heart, Poe 306”. The point of view from this excerpt is coming from the narrator where he brings chairs above the body of the old man and has them rest, while in reality of the story he could be immensely nervous and jittery all is unknown due to the unreliable