Comparing Suspense In The Tell-Tale Heart And The Monkey's Paw

Edgar Allen Poe and W.W Jacobs create suspense throughout their short stories “The Tell-Tale Heart’’ and “The Monkey’s Paw”. Three techniques these authors use to create suspense are the unpredictability, the setting, and different methods to scare the readers. Suspense is “ a feeling of growing tension and excitement felt by a reader” (Beers et.al) without suspense it wouldn’t be fun to read scary stories. Edgar Allen Poe and W.W Jacobs create dark and dreary settings to enhance the suspense in their short stories. One of the most popular techniques that Edgar Allen Poe and W.W Jacob use is the unpredictability in their stories. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe the unpredictability in his story is very intense, in the story the killer waits for the old man to be off guard. The tension grows, the killer suddenly jumps out at the old man and kills him. In “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W Jacobs the unpredictability has a lot of tension, in the story as the man made his second wish there was an unexpected knocking at the door, as it gets intense the knocking grows louder. …show more content…
In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe the setting gives off a uneasy vibe, “His room was as black as pitch with thick darkness”(Poe, pg 90). This quote proves that Jacob creates suspense because when the reader feels a similar fear of the dark as the old man. In the “Monkey’s Paw” by W.W Jacob has a setting of a lonely, unknown present. “The streetlamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road”(Jacobs,116 pg). This quote creates suspense because Jacob has the protagonist describe in detail how lonely and dark the suspense is created when the reader feels a similar fear of not being safe as the