The narrator talks about spying on the old man every night at midnight watching over him in his sleep to see if he can see the Evil eye open so he can get rid of it, and then talk about how nicely he is to the old man during the day which is rather cold and makes you sense what he is capable of and that creates suspense on the reader.
He makes every thing very slowly and carefully as not to make it sound like just one big accident but rather a serious and premeditated murder “I turned the latch of his door and opened it- oh, so gently!” “I moved it so slowly-very very slowly” ”I undid the lantern cautiously- oh so cautiously” “for a whole hour I did not move a muscle” so slowing down the pace plus the way he describes darkness in the room creates a lot of suspense “I put in a dark lantern, all closed, so that no light shone out,” “His room was as black as pitch with thick darkness”.
For a writer at that time Poe didn’t seem to use many archaic words but he used some Archaic words and sentences; Very dreadfully nervous I had been and am, Was it possible they heard not?, Chamber, hearken.
Poe’s description of sound is also very strong he uses metaphors and similes to make his description of sound more powerful “it increased my fury as the beating of the drum stimulates the soldier in to courage.” “it was four o’clock, still dark as midnight.”
Poe ability to describe things (again) makes the story interesting ”a pale blue eye with a film over it” “His eye resembles that of a vulture” which makes you believe that the old man did have a very horrible eye and haunted the narrator.
Poe uses a lot of repetitions in his sentences to slow down the pace of the story and to set a scene of creepiness ”..it was open –wide, wide open” “I moved in slowly – very,
very slowly” “I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, so that no light shone out” “but he had found all in vain. All in vain” “nervous-very, very dreadfully nervous I had been..”.
All the action happens in midnight when; everyone sleeps, it is very dark and soundless. I think Edgar chose this dead hour of the night to create a very creepy atmosphere.
After making every thing slow, soundless and dark. Poe picks the pace of the story up at the end by using short, dramatic sentences with Exclamation marks “The sound will be heard by neighbour!” “ But the beating grew louder, I say louder!” “The old man’s hour had come!”
In the last two paragraphs you can see how by telling the story from the first person’s perspective Poe takes the tension to it’s climax by giving you an insight of the murderers guilty conscious mind. He uses very short sentences with a lot of question marks, dashes and exclamation marks, ”Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! No, no! They heard! They suspected! They Knew! They were making mockery of my horror!” “But any thing was better than this agony!” “Villians,” I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed! Tear up the planks! Here! Here! It is the beating of his hideous heart!”
I like short stories and the Tell-Tale Heart story fascinated me a lot. The genre of the story might be horror. But to me chopping the old man’s limbs in to pieces was too ferocious to be scary. The most fascinating thing about Tell-Tale Heart is when you finish reading it you still have puzzles in your mind that need to be solved like; Does the narrator have any reason to fear the old man or his eye? Is it this phobia that evokes the dark side? was the narrator really mad?. Since it is widely believed that mad people don’t feel guilt. How could it be possible for the narrator to feel guilty conscience at the end and admit to the murder if he was mad? Could he have been not mad but the old man’s Evil eye haunted him to commit this crime? Well-it is an open debate, and that’s the mystery of this story, you can guess the motive but you will never be sure what made the narrator commit this horrible crime.
