Edgar Allen Poe creates an atmosphere of dread and trepidation within his story “The Tell-Tale Heart” through the strategic use of irony and an encompassing first-person narration. One way Poe evokes a sense of foreboding is by introducing the conflict through the use of verbal irony. He displays this when he writes, “I loved the old man… I made up my mind to take the life of the old man” (Poe 303). The contradiction emphasizes the inner twistedness of the narrator. He claims to love the old man, yet the narrator chooses to kill the old man due to paranoia. The unstable thoughts create disorientation, which, in turn, produces consternation within the first lines of the short story. In addition to using irony, Poe also creates fear by using
