Edgar Allen Poe often uses very dark and shadowy images to formulate his stories. “The Tell-Tale Heart” seems to be a sort of dialogue between the narrator and some unknown person. While the narrator continually tries to prove his sanity and innocence the story grows with a sense of disturbing images of watching an old man while he sleeps.
Poe writes with a bit of suspense as we watch the narrator describe the murder of the old man. The word choice and structure help shape the time frame in which the story was composed. For example, Poe uses words like hearken and mad instead of “listen” and “insane”. While the narrator persistently tries to prove his own innocence he in turn admits to having murdered the old man.
"The Tale-Tell Heart" also begins with a bit of forshadowing. "TRUE!" is presented as the first word in Poe's word to show the insanity of the narrator. As the officers inspect the home the mind of the narrator ran wild with terror of being blamed for the murder, so much so that her conscious eats at her and leads her to confess to the murder of the old man.
Other stories where I have seen Poe use these types of murky images are in “The Fall of Usher”. The strange and suspenseful techniques plainly demonstrate Poe’s writing styles.
No comments:
Post a Comment