Poe tells the story in the first person, in my mind this is exactly the right choice as it allows us into the head of the murderer. It also increases tension as Poe cannot describe the enviroment as much, because of this he must describe the murderers views and senses. Poe reallly empahsises the sense in this story, I beleive that this gives the murderer an animalistic essence, it also increases atmosphere as we can almost hear what the murderer is hearing. This is a very clever technique as it allows the reader to understand exactly what the murderer is doing at all times. I think that if the story was told in the third person it would make it a lot harder to follow.
The murderer is also made to seem very obsessive, this makes his claims of sanity less and less belivable as the story progresses. His obsession with the murder of the old man becomes apparent when he claims how it ‘haunted me day and night’. This obsession makes the murderer seem very intense and it helps to increase the atmosphere even more. At this stage Poe continues to use short sentences and a lot of punctuation to increase tension.
Poe makes the murderer especially calm when he goes about murdering the old man, this makes him seem very disturbing as it shows how premeditated and serious the murder is. Also, the fact that the murderer is moving so slowly increases atmosphere and tension. Poe uses repetion of ‘very, very slowly’ to increase the suspence and to give the scene a sinister atmosphere. He uses this technique a lot during the story mostly to increase tension, however sometimes he uses it to slow down the pace of the story.
I believe that Poe alos uses repetition and extremly detailed description of the incredible slowness that the murderer creeps into the old mans bedroom and his resolve when the old man wakes up, here Poe makes the murderer stand deadly still for a whole hour, the murderer thinks nothing of it and calmly waits for the old man to fall asleep again. This is an interesting technique as it slows down the pace of the story, but it also creates more tension in the build up to the murder itself.
Poe also uses metaphors to describe the darkness, he uses the term ‘thick darkness’. this gives the sense that the old man is trapped within the darkness. He also uses the similie ‘black as pitch’ this creates atmosphere and heigtens the feeling of being trapped in the darkness. he uses many other metaphors during the story, mainly to increase tension. Also later on in the story, Poe uses personification to describe death by describing death as a ‘stalking’ ‘black shadow’, I beleive that the murderer is describing himself here and therefore likening himself to death, being the death of the old man.
Another similie Poe uses is describing the beating of the old mans heart, he likens it the the sound a ‘watch makes when enveloped in cotton’. This similie increases hugely increases tension as it almost gives the story a beat to follow. These to techniques are both used effectivley for the same reasons, to increase tension and suspence.
I think that the part of the story that would have been the most unacceptable in the social scene of america is the part where Por describes how the murderer hides his deed
Another technique Poe uses is to adress the reader whenever the tension drops, I beleive that this is a clever way of increasing tension as it makes the reader want to continue to try and discover wht the murderer is talking about.
Towards the end of the story Poe uses alot of punctuation, this is unlike the rest of the story so it helps to increase tension and atmosphere. The punctuation helps to give the story more rythym towards the end of the story.
Poe uses many language techniques to great effect in ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’. He uses most of the techniques to increase tension and suspence, however at one point he uses many of the same techniques to slow down the pace and level the tension. I beleive that he uses all his language techniques at the right moments in the story to give the desired effect.
