The Tell Tale Heart

This story was written during the Victorian time, in early 1800 by Edgar Allan Poe, who was born in 1809 and died in 1849.  Although he was American, he spent his school years in Stoke Newington University, in England. In his early age Poe tried many different jobs, like a soldier, journalist, and a kitchen porter.  Then later, he became very successful at writing horror stories (Gothic).  The Tell Tale Heart is one of them.  

The story is told by the narrator who murdered the old man he lived with. He says he used to love the old man.  However, the old man had an awful eye and the main character could not stand it, so he decided to kill the old man.

Eventually, he took the life of the old man.  Then, the police were called by a neighbour, and told of a shriek heard the night before. The police went to find out what happened.  The main character successfully presented himself as innocent, but in the end he gave himself up.  He admitted committing the crime.  

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In the first paragraph the writer is diving us an introduction to the story.  Tension is suggested straight away in the narrator’s opening sentence, in which he says “True! Nervous- very, dreadfully nervous. I have been and I am”.  Suspense keeps building up as the writer tells the story by talking to the reader directly.  “But why will you say that I am mad?” suspense in this story plays a very important part. For instance, if we look back at the first paragraph, it shows the slowing down the time and speeding up the time, builds up the suspense in the ...

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