Use Of Suspense In Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart

Edgar Allen Poe uses suspense as a major weapon to create fear and dread in The Tell- Tale Heart. One was he use suspense is through Foreshadowing. In the second paragraph in the story the narrator declares “I made up my mind to take the life of the old man” (Poe, 303). The statement creates suspense straight away in the story. The reader will know the old man will die; It is just a matter of how and when. This keeps the reader guessing and on the edge of their seat through the rest of the story. The deathwatch beetles also foreshadow the old man’s death. While the two were in a Mexican standoff like situation waiting for each other to make a sound the deathwatch beetles were sounding. It is said that when a deathwatch beetle is heard death is near. So …show more content…
The narrator’s voice made it seem like he was pleading his case or telling his story in court. He constantly was pleading his sanity and saying he is not crazy and explaining his case. At the end of the story he admitted his guilt to the officials so the way he was pleading his case may have foreshadowed that he was going to get caught. Another way Edgar Allen Poe added suspense to the story was the constant fluctuating intensity. Straight away he declared that he was going to kill the old man. The intensity started off strong then he slowed it down going into detail. Throughout the story the intensity got faster and faster as the seven nights passed. This created anxiety within the reader. On the eighth night the narrator slowed it down because the reader knew that was when the old man was going to die. Poe wanted to build the intensity up from nothing. As the narrator stalked the old man his heart beated faster and faster as the moment got faster and faster than he was killed. Poe slowed the story down once again. The narrator was very calm until the guilt ate at him as he tried to cover up the death of the old