The Tell Tale Heart Suspense Analysis Essay

Edgar Allen Poe, in his story, The Tell-Tale Heart, used different techniques to make a frightening story. He accomplished this by using a combination of time of day, mood, and atmosphere and population.
In this story, Poe used time of day to lead the reader to a denser atmosphere as when he said, “…and every night about midnight…” (538:2). He used this so that the reader would visualize darkness; and at the same time, he was trying to create fear in the reader. Poe also wrote, “His room was as black pitch with the thick darkness” (538:5). Again, transporting the reader to a scene where you can’t see, making the story spine-chilling, having you think of what could be in the dark room. He tried to make the story as scary as possible for the reader to enjoy. Another example is when Poe wrote “for the shutters were close fastened through fear of robbers” (538:6). Now, not only the reader may be afraid of the dark; but by adding bad characters to the picture, the scene makes the reader feel the need for being wary of one’s surroundings adding stress to the equation. Being looked at in the middle of the night and not knowing who, or what it could be, made the old man feel scared and violated. He felt like this when Poe stated, “The old man sprang up in bed crying out who’s there?” (539:1).
Using the element of mood

His use of the time of day and mood/atmosphere create a chilling setting for a mad narrator to weave a tale of murder. Then his use of the element of setting which brings the protagonists into the story who do not overtly solve the case, but drive the narrator to the brink of confession via his internal conflict of guilt. Poe again demonstrates his masterful skill of