Compare the ways in which Poe creates suspense for the reader in The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado.

by justin147e (student)

22/10/12 Justin Oh 9S

Unit B931 Analysing Texts:

Compare the ways in which Poe creates suspense for the reader in two or more stories you have read.

Poe creates effective suspense in his stories, and two examples of which Poe creates suspense are “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado”. Poe creates suspense in his stories in various different ways, some are similar in each story, but some are different. Poe’s stories are filled with drama terror and fear, due to the suspense he creates. A lot of his stories are gothic and contain some sort of death or suffering.

In the Tell-Tale Heart in the narrator persistently insists that he is not mad although throughout the story we learn more and more that he is in fact mad. He tries to prove his sanity by telling us how carefully he had planned the murder and all the precautions he had taken, but this just further proves his insanity. Also the narrator from the Tell-Tale Heart often talks the reader. 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”.

Another way that Poe creates suspense is by making the narrator obsessed with something, in the Tell-Tale Heart the narrator is obsessed with the old man’s eye, in the Cask of Amontillado the narrator is obsessed with revenge and in the Pit and the Pendulum the narrator is obsessed with survival, this means we cannot entirely trust the reader says, or what actions he may or may not have done, also the narrator in the Pit and the Pendulum is drugged and tired, although this is not his fault we can trust him the least. “It must have been drugged, for scarcely had I drunk before I became irresistibly drowsy. A deep sleep fell upon me -- a sleep like that of death”

Time is shown moving slowly when the sentences are longer and they include more commas, 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” 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. “I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room”, and, “They heard. They suspected. They knew”.

Watches are referenced a few times during ...

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Watches are referenced a few times during the Tell-Tale Heart, to give us a sense of how much time has passed, although it can also mean, as each tick of the watch symbolises a closer movement to the death of all humans, although in this case, the old man’s death. A quote to support this would be, “A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine. The narrator 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.

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. In the Tell-Tale Heart, as the story is a 1st 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. “With what caution -- With what foresight -- With what dissimulation”, “How stealthily, stealthily”, and, “Louder! Louder! Louder! Louder!”

In the Cask of Amontillado and the Tell-Tale Heart the protagonist likes to toy with the victim, which they are about to kill. For example in the Cask of Amontillado the protagonist, Montressor, gets out a trowel, which later on that would be the murder weapon, It is this," I answered, producing a trowel from beneath the folds of my roquelaire. he also gives the victim multiple opportunities the escape and leave the cellar, he also told the victim that he would not die of a cough implying that he would die at the hands of Montressor. "Enough," he said; "the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough." And "True -- true," I replied; "and, indeed, I had no intention of alarming you unnecessarily -- but you should use all proper caution. A draught of this Medoc will defend us from the damps." Also in the Tell-Tale heart, the narrator is extra kind to the old man, and on the eighth night just before he killed the old man, he knew that the old man knew, that he was in the room, but he didn’t give up and carried on with the murder

One of the many ways which Poe creates suspense is that the story is in the first person. This is present in all the stories I have studied, In the Tell-Tale Heart and the Cask of Amontillado the antagonist is the narrator, but in the Pit and the Pendulum the victim was the narrator. This is effective because we can only see what the narrator is seeing and what is going on his head. Sometimes knowing what goes on in the narrator’s head can make us feel sympathy for the victim. For example, we feel sympathy for the old man in the Tell-Tell Heart, as we learn that the old man, had done nothing wrong, and was kind to the narrator. Also this is effective because this makes us more involved with the story.

The differences between the stories are that the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" gets caught by the police, because of his guilty conscience that manifests itself through the beating heart. Montresor, on the other hand, does not get caught, and lives with no one knowing. Montresor is not burdened by accusations of madness like the other narrator is; in "The Tell-Tale Heart," it seems like the entire purpose for telling the tale is to prove that he isn't insane. Montresor, on the other hand, just seems to want to tell the tale for the tale's sake, not to prove that he is sane. In Montresor's case there is hallucination of the beating heart to force him into confession; very little evidence of a guilty conscience is seen in Montresor.

Poe created suspense in various effective ways, some are obvious to spot, and some are not. The Cask of Amontillado and the Tell-Tale Heart are two of his best stories in my opinion, they both create suspense in mostly different, although are very similar or the same. Poe’s stories are still popular today one reason for this could be because of the suspense that is present in his stories. I think one of the main reasons that Poe creates suspense is so that it drags the reader he so the reader would carry on reading.

Justin Oh 9S

Mr Beahan