The Tell Tale Heart
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Today I felt like an accomplice to a murder. I was with this mad man, and I knew he was crazy. Some days it seemed like he dear the old man, but others days I wondered what was going on in his head. For a week I watched him look over the old man while he was asleep. The way he stared at his face and played particular attention to what he called the “vulture eye.” One night he was about caught when his thumb slipped and the old man flew out of bed. The last night he went in to gleam at the vulture eye it was open, and he knew he had to kill him. Im guessing it was his “acuteness of sense” that he always talked about. You could hear the old mans heart beat over and over, and it grew louder every instant. As he smothered him into his down comforter, the man became limp the heart beat went away and so he thought the vulture eye would do him no more harm. Opening the planks from the floor and the beams of the ceiling while tearing his body to shreds to hide the evidence. What a good way to hide the body I thought, the heart beat is gone, and so is the eye, all of his problems solved. Later officers arrived at his chamber because of neighbors heard a shriek in the middle of the night. Of course the insane man played it composed, he hid the body so well, what should he be afraid of? As he let the officers look around he started to become paranoid. It started out as a ringing but then grew into the heart beat. It drove him wild, he swore, made a scene, the heart beat was eating him inside out until the cops caught on. He admits he killed the old man and is demanding to tear up the planks and beams to make the heart beat stop. I know this story so well is because its told by the insane man. The narrators choice of having the insane man tell the story gave further insight to a horror story. The way Poe uses the insane man also plays a part to alarm the reader, and keep you on the edge of your seats. The vulture eye, and the old mans heart plays a huge role in symbolizing a deeper vivid illustration of the story.
Horror can be an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting; a shuddering fear: to shrink back from a mutilated corpse. When adding horror to a story you have a very compelling, shocking, intriguing plot if you can keep the reader interested like The Tell-Tale Heart. For a typical horror story you have to think out of the box. You have to bring a part of the irrational, mystery, something that wouldnt happen in a typical life a live. “It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night.” By plotting something, he is admiring with infatuation whenever he thinks about it. With horror stories you have to have the mischievous sprite or demon with that kind of motivation. “I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head, and the arms, and legs.” Is an example how you shrink back from a mutilated corpse. “I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings. I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye- not even his- could have detected anything wrong.” This quote displays a horrifying image of something that wouldnt naturally happen in real life. When you usually think of a murder you think of someone that will kill for power and not tearing the body into shreds for a sense of pleasure. Usually you find a body in river, ditch, or forest. The way the story goes in depth of putting the body in the chambers of the walls not only brings out the illogical it also shock the reader.
Alarming the reader is a major part in keeping the story alive. It keeps the story flowing with a little bit of twists here and there to keep you intrigued. By having the insane man tell the story you can see it through his eyes and know what he was thinking. It lets you play the character that you would never think of or even want to be. You lose yourself in that character, and you help him in committing the crime. It brings out the side of adrenalin rush that wouldnt typically happen if you were reading a Danielle Steel novel. “I grasped for breath- and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly- more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased.” This quote gets you pumping with whats going to happen next. It makes your head start spinning as in you clearly know that this man is crazy, and he has the potential of doing anything. “I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men- but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! What could I do? I foamed- I raved- I swore!” As you read this you tend to read faster and faster not only because it goes with the