Thomas Wheeler 11A1/11AR

How Does Edgar Allan Poe Create Suspense and

Tension in “The Tell-Tale Heart”.

This essay focuses on Edgar Allan Poe’s (1809-1849) short story, called, “The Tell-
Tale Heart”, written in 1843 for the Boston-based magazine, The Pioneer. We must
discover, where, how, and why Poe creates suspense and tension in the story. We
can accomplish this by looking and examining the many techniques used by Poe in
the story, and what effects they create in our minds.

Edgar Allan Poe was a famous author of horror novels, short stories, poems, essays
and plays, and today, many of his works have been adapted for screen, radio and
stage, including “The Tell-Tale Heart”.

The story is told from the point of view of the murderer (1 st person), who is a lodger
at the home of a kind, elderly man. However, the narrator soon believes that one of
the man’s eyes is evil, and resembles an eye of a vulture. Due to this belief, the
narrator decides to kill the old man, although the man had never wronged the
narrator. The man tries to convince us that he is not mad because he planned the
murder so thoroughly and carefully, but he only succeeds in further proving his
insanity. For a week before the murder, the narrator is the kindest he’s ever been to
the old man, and, each night, around midnight, the narrator would very slowly poke
his head into the old man’s room and shine a tiny ray of light onto the man’s evil eye.
He could not bring himself to murder the old man, however, as the eye was always
closed.

But on the eighth night, while entering the room, the narrator accidently wakes up the
old man. Still edging slowly into the room, not giving up, the narrator finally kills the
old man, who lets out a single cry. The narrator leaves no trace of the crime,
dismembering the body from its head, arms and legs, and hides the old man’s body
underneath the floorboards of the bedroom, which proves a wise precaution as three
policemen were sent to investigate a scream heard from the house. The narrator
invites them to search all over the house, telling them that the old man was out of the
town at the moment and that the scream heard was his own, when waking up from a
nightmare.

The narrator, after successfully lifting any suspicion off him, as all seems in order
and the narrator has a pleasant and calm nature, not one of a typical murderer,
invites the policemen to stay a while and to have a rest, and they all talk in the old
man’s room, with the narrator sitting above the body. They accept and all seems to
be going well, however, the narrator soon starts to hear a repeating sound coming
from somewhere close to him, although the policemen seem to not hear it. The
Thomas Wheeler 11A1/11AR

narrator starts becoming edgy and worried, also extremely paranoid that the
policemen have in fact heard the repeating noise and are just playing with him,
mocking his insanity. This shows us that the narrator is extremely paranoid and
insecure, as well as once more adding to the argument that he really is insane. As a
result, after not being able to take the pressure anymore, the narrator leaps up and
confesses to the murder, tearing away at the floorboards, showing them where the
body was hidden, also confirming to the reader that it was, it seems, the beating
heart of the dead old man that the narrator could hear.

We can tell from this that the narrator was definitely becoming stressed, impatient
and nervous the longer the policemen stayed. However, the exact cause for hearing
the beating heart of a dead old man and confessing to the murder have never been
revealed, although it has been debated that the noise heard was actually the
previously mentioned Death Watch Beetles in the walls, as they make a similar noise
to a beating heart. Although it is widely assumed and acknowledged/ agreed on that
the narrator was insane and that was the reason he heard the beating heart of a
dead man and confessed to the murder, it has been theorised that there might have
been another cause for it. One of these possible causes is that the narrator felt guilty,
pity, or remorse for the old man, and so confessed to the murder in order to begin
repenting for the murder, and possibly clear his conscience ever so slightly.

However, if that was the case, it is still entirely possible that the narrator is insane as
it is not normally considered sane to hear the beating heart of the old dead man that
you’ve worked so hard, precisely and dedicatedly to murder for the past eight days.

The use of first person is very important in “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Poe uses this
technique in order to make us feel closer and more involved in the story and to help
us get inside the head of the narrator, as we can see how, when he talks directly to
the reader, he mostly just states how, contrary to our own belief, he is not insane, but
just that he pays a lot of attention to details and is a very calculating person.

Three examples of where the narrator directly speaks to the reader are, “but why will
you say that I am mad?”, “You fancy me mad”, and, “if still you think me mad”.

Time is a very important part of Poe’s stories, and “The Tell-Tale Heart” is of no
exception. Poe once said that, for a successful, well-written, short story, as “The Tell-
Tale Heart” is, the story’s timeline must not extend over two days.

Watches are referenced a few times during the story, usually to give us a sense of
how much time has passed, although it can also be symbolised, as each tick of the
watch symbolizes a movement closer to the inevitable death that all humans face,
although in this case, the old man’s death. This is suggested through the line, “A
watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine”. As you can see, he
Thomas Wheeler 11A1/11AR

compares himself to a watch, suggesting it is he himself who is counting down until

the old man’s death, as he is the one in control.

The reason time is used so frequently in the story is mostly due to the need of
showing just how precise, obsessed and calculated the narrator is, as it shows us
that, at the same time each night, for eight days, the narrator would very slowly move
his head into the old man’s bedroom, then slowly direct a tiny ray of light from the
lantern into the old man’s eye. Then, the pace of the story changes as the narrator
murders the old man, but slows down as the old man’s heart stops beating,
continuing throughout the policemen’s search of the house. However, the pace
quickens once again when the policemen start relaxing in the home and they and the
narrator are sitting and talking in the old man’s bedroom, as the narrator starts
hearing the old man’s beating heart once more, this time steadily rising, growing
stronger, louder and faster.

Time is shown moving slowly when the sentences are longer and they include more
commas, however, when the pace of the story increases and time appears to move
faster, the sentences are much shorter, normally including two or three words.

Here are some examples of time moving slowly, “It took me an hour to place my
whole head within the opening”, “A watch’s minute hand moves more quickly than
did mine”, and, “For a whole hour, I did not move a muscle”. On the other hand, here
are two quotations about time picking up speed, “I threw open the lantern and leaped
into the room”, and, “They heard. They suspected. They knew”.

Edgar Allan Poe uses repetition many times in the story, and the technique is used
as each use of repetition helps contribute to adding more atmosphere to the story,
adding to the suspense and fear that we already feel. When they are used, the story
slows down slightly, which makes our anticipation for finding out what happens next
grow, and this pulls us further into the story, making us read on. As the story is a 1 st
person account of the event, thinking solely about its use in the plot, it helps
underline how detailed the narrator is in his details and how much he obsessed over
the murder.

Three examples of repetition in the story are “With what caution -- With what
foresight -- With what dissimulation”, “How stealthily, stealthily”, and, “Louder!
Louder! Louder! Louder!”, although there are many more that can be easily spotted.

The language used in “The Tell-Tale Heart” is very important in keeping the
atmosphere alive while also making sure the reader stays interested in the story. As
a horror story, that focuses on the subject on insanity, murder, and obsession, it only
makes sense for Poe to use certain words and phrases that give off the sense of
being evil, dark, or even just full-on horrific.
Thomas Wheeler 11A1/11AR

Some of the evil words that Poe uses in his descriptions of various things in the story
are, “disease”, “destroyed”, “hell”, “haunted”, “terror”, “dreadful”, “shrieked”, and,
“hideous”. These words, and the many others that are used throughout the story,
have a very powerful effect, both in the story and on the reader. For instance, the
first four examples create a strong sense of mental illness, which it seems is
something the narrator suffers from. On the other hand, from the reader’s point of
view, the last four words create an atmosphere that is filled with fear and horror, as
all four words are words that are not used lightly when describing something.

Poe makes the eye sound disgusting by saying, “the eye of a vulture --a pale blue
eye, with a film over it”, “whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold”, “Evil Eye”, “all
a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones”,
“damned spot”, “that no human eye - not even his”.

Poe makes the death sound disgusting by describing the scene as having a,
“dreadful silence”. He also goes into some detail about how the corpse was treated
after the death, by telling us, “first of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head
and the arms and the legs”, “deposited all between the scantlings”, “a tub had caught
all - ha! ha!”.

As well as what is seen in the story, what is heard is equally, if not more, important to
the story, and here are a few examples of how so.

During the early part of the story, when the narrator is entering the old man’s
bedroom, the narrator notes that the “hinges creaked”. Poe used this in order to put
us in that state of mind, but also to give that sense of impending doom and terror as
the narrator silently enters the bedroom. This effects the reader as the “hinges
creaked” is commonly associated with haunted or old houses, so we are
automatically put in a “horror” genre frame of mind, also adding suspense, as we are
not sure if the old man will hear something and wake up (as he does).

When sitting awake on the eighth night, the old man lets out a "groan of mortal
terror". This makes us feel for the old man, and becoming increasingly worried about
the narrator’s intentions. Poe uses this as he knows we have all felt this groan, or
something similar, ourselves, making the old man’s terror more personal to us, so we
are drawn in more.

At two points in the story, the narrator hears the beating heart of the old man, which
he describes as a, "low, dull, quick sound". This was used in order to quicken the
pace of the story, by matching our reading-speed with the rhythm of the sound. This
creates tension for us, as the reader, as we can feel the story’s pace quickening, and
so we are drawn in to find out what happens, as we can tell we are nearing an
important part of the story.
Thomas Wheeler 11A1/11AR

After the policemen have stopped investigating the disturbance in the home, and
they are talking with the narrator in the old man’s bedroom, the narrator starts
becoming anxious, and, as such, starts talking in a “heightened voice”. Poe uses
this to show the increased fear in the narrator’s voice, as the narrator is under
pressure. This is used to tell us that the narrator is starting to lose control of his calm
demeanour, and as such, we read on to find out if the narrator succeeds in getting
away with the old man’s murder, even with the added stress on the narrator.

Along with the raising of his voice, the narrator also started making “heavy strides”
across the old man’s bedroom. Poe uses this in order to show an increase in the
amount of pressure on the narrator, but also to represent the heavy weight of the
guilt of the murder that the narrator committed. This shows us that the pressure is
still building on the narrator’s conscience, which makes us wonder even more if he
will get away with the murder, although it’s extremely unlikely at this point.

I think that, at the time that “The Tell-Tale Heart” was written, back in 1843, this short
story would have been very effective as a first person horror narrative, as it explores
many themes, like obsession and insanity. However, I do not feel that, in today’s
world, this story would have the same, powerful, effect. This is because things like
insanity and murder is very common in this day and age, so those themes which are
used in “The Tell-Tale Heart” will not be as much as a scare or shock to us. However,
I think that people nowadays would still be able to feel a part of the story, as the
techniques used are foolproof and won’t change their amount of effect no matter how
many years go on.

After watching, and loving, Frasier, the American sitcom about a radio-psychiatrist, I
have become interested in the psychological side of things, even thinking about
studying the subject in college or/and university. So, when reading through The Tell-
Tale Heart, I became interested in the narrator himself, and the reason he found the
old man’s eye so repulsive, eventually driving him to murder.

It is more commonly assumed that the narrator is a man and, since it has been often
thought, the man is a servant or son of the old man. As such, the “vulture eye”
represents the parental surveillance and the paternal principles of right and wrong.
The murder of the eye, therefore, is a removal of conscience. The eye may also
represent secrecy, again playing on the ambiguous lack of detail about the old man
or the narrator. Only when the eye is finally found open on the final night, penetrating
the veil of secrecy, the murder is carried out.

He also states that he suffers from highly acute senses, although it is never revealed
if it is true, despite the fact that knowing the answer changes the view of the narrator
Thomas Wheeler 11A1/11AR

greatly, as, if he does suffer from it, the repeated noise he was hearing could have
been his own heart beating, or “death watch beetles”, which are referenced in the
story and are commonly associated with death, in superstition, and they make a
noise similar to a beating heart. Whereas, if he doesn’t suffer from the disease, it
was only the beating of his own nervous, guilty, heart and/or his own
imagination/insanity that led to his downfall.

I felt the story itself, however, doesn’t really grip my imagination or grab my attention,
although that might just be because this is not the first time I’ve read it in school, and
I’m getting bored of the story, or, more likely the bigger reason, as I’ve done this
piece of coursework already, although on a different story (Frankenstein). As such,
my heart and imagination just doesn’t care anymore about the story or as much as I
usually would for this coursework, as it seems there is no motive or use for
(re-)completing this coursework.

The reason for the fact we’re doing it twice comes down to one pivotal change in the
English class structure that I myself was against as there seemed no apparent need
to change the structure, as why replace an already perfectly working idea with a new
idea that was just in its “beta”/ testing stage, as it were. I am of course talking about
the idea of separating the boys and girls of 9S (although we would become 10A1)
into separate classes (the official reason was trying to teach the boys and girls
differently, as we apparently learn in different ways). That meant that, as the classes
were now half the size, the two separate-gender classes would be merged with the
next class down, 9I.

This would be fine, but 9S had already started work on and completed their first draft
of the poem-comparison of Cousin Kate and The Seduction, before the boys and
girls were separated for year 10. During the first four months of year 10, we
completed first drafts of all our coursework, including the coursework which focused
on how the writer of a story (Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, in this case) creates and
maintains a certain atmosphere and effect in the story (for Frankenstein, it was the
tension created in chapter five, along with how Victor’s disappointment was
displayed), with the exception of the ex-9I boys who hadn’t started their Cousin
Kate/Seduction comparison.

So, after Christmas, when Mrs. Jarvis, the boys’ English teacher, left on maternity
leave, she left us with Miss. Allan, who, under, I presume, Mrs. Jarvis’ instructions,
had us all (both ex-9S and ex-9I boys) start work on the poem-comparison
coursework, this time focused on two different views of London, the two poems
being, “London”, by William Blake, and, “(Composed Upon) Westminster Bridge”, by
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William Wordsworth. This meant that the people who had already did that piece of
coursework in 9S had to also do this coursework, instead of just working, and, if
need be, reworking as many times as possible, on their final draft of their Cousin
Kate/Seduction poem-comparison coursework.

Now, at the start of year 11, we have been told we are to complete the Frankenstein
coursework again, although this time focusing on Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale
Heart”, and how he keeps the reader in suspense. The reason, apparently, for this
same piece of coursework needed to be completed again, is because not everyone
completed the Frankenstein coursework, although we have all the same boys in our
class now as when we completed the first draft of our Frankenstein coursework back
in December.

So, you can see why I might not be very interested or imaginative when it come to
The Tell-Tale Heart, especially when I predicted that this sort of thing would happen,
where separating the class that were already working well and had already
completed a piece of coursework (albeit, first draft), would create problems in the
future. Please see my London poem-comparison coursework to see my answer for
an alternative plan for going about coursework, while avoiding this, now twice-
occurring, situation where half the class, if not more, have already completed a first
draft of the coursework we have been told we have to work on.