The Tell Tale Heart Conflict Essay

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Recommended: Common themes in Edgar Allan Poe's work

In the story The Tell-Tale Heart, there are two different conflicts: killing a man and controlling his sanity. The narrator specifically, writes this is first person to help create the suspense by the increase of his sanity so the reader is excited and has surprise ending which sets the climax. The surprise ending helps emphasise the second conflict of his sanity, which supports the theme. First, by making the story first person, the reader mainly focuses on the main conflict over the other conflict. For example, “ A shriek had been heard by a neighbor during the night; suspicion of foul play had been aroused; information had been lodged at the police office and they (the officers) has been deputed to search the premises. I smiled, --for what had I to fear?” The reader would be more focus more on what the narrator said and how his insanity makes him fearless of the cops after the narrator killed someone. Suspense is built because the reader knows that the narrator has killed a man and the police may be suspicious about what happened. If it was …show more content…

Since the story has an unreliable narrator, it makes it so the reader has to think about certain things. For example, “ I heard many things in heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell.” This makes the reader question if he actually can hear heaven and hell. Also they might question if he’s crazy and gone insane. If this wasn’t written in first person, we would not have the unreliable narrator and makes the story less dramatic and excitement. They also get the reader to get surprised at the end of story. “I felt that I must scream or die! and now--again!--hark! Louder! Louder!” This is continuing the suspense which happens throughout the story. This makes the reader more excited and impatient on the surprise ending. Again without the first person, the surprise ending may be

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