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The Tell-Tale Heart
by
Edgar Allan Poe
(published 1850)
TRUE! -- nervous -- very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but
why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses --
not destroyed -- not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute.
I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell.
How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily -- how calmly I
can tell you the whole story.
It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once
conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion
there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had
never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye!
yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture --a pale blue eye, with a film
over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees --
very gradually --I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus
rid myself of the eye forever.
Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But
you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded --
with what caution --with what foresight --with what dissimulation I went to
work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before
I killed him. And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door
and opened it --oh so gently! And then, when I had made an opening
sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, so that no
light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed
to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly --very, very slowly, so
that I might not disturb the old man's sleep. It took me an hour to place my
whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his
bed. Ha! --would a madman have been so wise as this? And then, when my
head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously --oh, so cautiously
--cautiously (for the hinges creaked) --I undid it just so much that a single
thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this I did for seven long nights --
every night just at midnight --but I found the eye always closed; and so it
was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me,
but his Evil Eye. And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly into
the chamber, and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name in a
hearty tone, and inquiring how he has passed the night. So you see he
would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every
night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept.
Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the
door. A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine. Never
before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers --of my sagacity. I
could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think that there I was,
opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret
deeds or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps he heard me;
for he moved on the bed suddenly, as if startled. Now you may think that I
drew back --but no. His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness,
(for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers,) and so I
knew that he could not see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it
on steadily, steadily.
I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb
slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in bed, crying out
--"Who's there?"
I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a
muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still sitting
up in the bed listening; --just as I have done, night after night, hearkening
to the death watches in the wall.
Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal
terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief --oh, no! --it was the low stifled
sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe.
I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world
slept, it has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful
echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I knew what the
old man felt, and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart. I knew that he
had been lying awake ever since the first slight noise, when he had turned
in the bed. His fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had been
trying to fancy them causeless, but could not. He had been saying to
himself --"It is nothing but the wind in the chimney --it is only a mouse
crossing the floor," or "It is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp."
Yes, he had been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions: but he
had found all in vain.All in vain; because Death, in approaching him had
stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim. And it
was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to
feel --although he neither saw nor heard --to feel the presence of my head
within the room.
When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie
down, I resolved to open a little --a very, very little crevice in the lantern. So
I opened it --you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily --until, at length a
single dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and
fell full upon the vulture eye.
It was open --wide, wide open --and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I
saw it with perfect distinctness --all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it
that chilled the very marrow in my bones; but I could see nothing else of
the old man's face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct,
precisely upon the damned spot.
And have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over
acuteness of the senses? --now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull,
quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that
sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my
fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.
But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the
lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the
eye. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and
quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man's
terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every
moment! --do you mark me well? I have told you that I am nervous: so I
am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of
that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable
terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the
beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a
new anxiety seized me --the sound would be heard by a neighbor! The old
man's hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and
leaped into the room. He shrieked once --once only. In an instant I dragged
him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to
find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a
muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard
through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the
bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my
hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no
pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more.
If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the
wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The night waned,
and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all I dismembered the corpse. I
cut off the head and the arms and the legs.
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 any
thing wrong. There was nothing to wash out --no stain of any kind --no
blood-spot whatever. I had been too wary for that. A tub had caught all --
ha! ha!
When I had made an end of these labors, it was four o'clock --still dark as
midnight. As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knocking at the street
door. I went down to open it with a light heart, --for what had I now to
fear? There entered three men, who introduced themselves, with
perfect suavity, as officers of the police. 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)
had been deputed to search the premises.
I smiled, --for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The
shriek, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was
absent in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them
search --search well. I led them, at length, to his chamber. I showed them
his treasures, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I
brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their
fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed
my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the
victim.
The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was
singularly at ease. They sat, and while I answered cheerily, they chatted of
familiar things. But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them
gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears: but still they sat
and still chatted. The ringing became more distinct: --it continued and
became more distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it
continued and gained definiteness --until, at length, I found that the noise
was not within my ears.
No doubt I now grew very pale; --but I talked more fluently, and with a
heightened voice. Yet the sound increased --and what could I do? It was a
low, dull, quick sound --much such a sound as a watch makes when
enveloped in cotton. I gasped 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 violentgesticulations;
but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? 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! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting,
and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually
increased. It grew louder --louder --louder! And still the men chatted
pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! --no,
no! They heard! --they suspected! --they knew! --they were making a
mockery of my horror! --this I thought, and this I think. But anything was
better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I
could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or
die! --and now --again! --hark! louder! louder! louder! louder! --
"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the
planks! --here, here! --it is the beating of his hideous heart!"
Analysis of the story "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe
Born January 19, 1809, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. American short-story
writer, poet, critic, and editor Edgar Allan Poe's tales of mystery and horror
initiated the modern detective story, and the atmosphere in his tales of horror is
unrivaled in American fiction. With his short stories and poems, Edgar Allan Poe
captured the imagination and interest of readers around the world. His creative
talents led to the beginning of different literary genres, earning him the nickname
"Father of the Detective Story" among other distinctions.
Poe became a literary sensation in 1845 with the publication of the poem "The
Raven." It is considered a great American literary work and one of the best of
Poe's career.
In late 1830s, Poe published Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, a
collection of stories. It contained several of his most spine-tingling tales, including
"The Fall of the House of Usher," "Ligeia" and "William Wilson." Poe launched the
new genre of detective fiction with 1841's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." A
writer on the rise, he won a literary prize in 1843 for "The Gold Bug," a suspenseful
tale of secret codes and hunting treasure.
Continuing work in different forms, Poe examined his own methodology and
writing in general in several essays, including "The Philosophy of Composition,"
"The Poetic Principle" and "The Rationale of Verse." He also produced another
thrilling tale, "The Cask of Amontillado," and poems such as "Ulalume" and "The
Bells."
Poe’s writing possesses indubitable literary merit and serves as an
encouraging example for aspiring writers. His writing demonstrates stylistic
brilliance in the form of varying vocabulary, remarkable repetition, and
instrumental imagery.
Poe's best known fiction works are Gothic, a genre he followed to appease the
public taste. His most recurring themes deal with questions of death, including its
physical signs, the effects of decomposition, concerns of premature burial, the
reanimation of the dead, and mourning. In many of Poe's works, setting is used to
paint a dark and gloomy picture in our minds. His mysterious style of writing
appeals to emotion and drama.
Poe has a brilliant way of taking gothic tales of mystery and terror and mixing
them with variations of a romantic tale by shifting emphasis from surface
suspense and plot pattern to his symbolic play in language and various meanings
of words. Poe uses a subtle style, tone, subconscious motivation of characters and
serious themes to shift his readers towards a demented point of view. This is the
unique tactics Poe utilizes that makes him an impressionable writer and poet.
Beyond horror, Poe also wrote satires, humor tales, and hoaxes. For comic
effect, he used irony and ludicrous extravagance, often in an attempt to liberate
the reader from cultural conformity.
In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Poe takes us to the mind of a mad man as he
struggles with the thoughts that caused him to do the unthinkable. He killed an
old man, because of his eye, which scared the narrator. Through the whole story,
the main character insists that he is not crazy.
There are three main themes of "The Tell Tale Heart":
Crime and punishment (every person, who committed a crime can’t escape punishment);
Insanity (the reader can understand that the main character is crazy, based on his behavior, speech and thoughts. However, he believed and believes that he is and was perfectly sane. He thinks that it is normally to kill someone, because something makes you feel uncomfortable and irritates you);
Time (The narrator had been preparing for a murder for seven long nights. On the eighth night the old man heard that someonewas in his room: “For a whole HOUR I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still sitting up in the bed listening;--just as I have done, NIGHT AFTER NIGHT, hearkening to the death WATCHES in the wall.” Our life is measured in hours.
We can define two types of the setting of this story: physical and mental.
The physical settings are:
the place, where now the narrator is (a prison or maybe an insane asylum);
the house, the bedroom, where was committed a murder. There are only few details about this house in the story, which are directly given. We know that the old man kept his shutters tightly locked. And we can only imagine a bedroom, where the narrator killed the old man. This story taps our fears of the dark, and what the dark might hold. Reading this story, you look involuntarilyaround… Maybe someone also spies on you.
The most important setting of this story is mental. It clearly explains the
personality of the narrator. We can or try to understand the actions of the
narrator, we know his feelings. It gives us more clear idea of the main character,
of his essence.
The action in the narrator's story takes place over eight days.
This story is written in the first person narrative. This technique is used to get
inside the main character's head and view his thoughts and are often exciting. It
helps us to understand the main character better.
The author is the main character of the story. He is the protagonist and the
antagonist at the same time. He is nervous, paranoid and mentally ill. He doesn't
know the difference between the "real" and the "unreal". He doesn't share his
name, because he wants only to tell us what he had done. Or maybe he
remembers that night when he committed a murder and tries to convince himself
of being in hisright mind.
But the reader can understand that he is crazy, based on his behavior, speech
and thoughts. We can’t trust him, because he tries to show things in the most
favourable light. We must draw conclusions ourselves.
He is a narrator and one of the characters at the same time. So we can say,
that he is a dynamic character. There are given indirect (for example, how he
watched the old man eight nights) and speech characteristics ("NERVOUS--very,
very dreadfully nervous I had been and am!") of this character.
The next character is the old man. We can look at him through the eyes of the
narrator. But, as it was mentioned, we can’t trust the main character. The old man
had a blue eye, which irritated and scared the narrator: “One of his eyes
resembled that of a vulture--a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell
upon me, my blood ran cold…”. We can suppose that he was reach enough (the
narrator showed the old man's "treasures" to the police), and he was afraid of
robbers (“…for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers…”). But
we can say, that he trusted the narrator, because he didn’t lock his bedroom’s
door. The old man was incapable of defending himself: “His fears had been ever
since growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could
not. He had been saying to himself: "It is nothing but the wind in the chimney--it is
only a mouse crossing the floor," or "it is merely a cricket which has made a single
chirp." Yes, he had been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions; but he
had found all in vain.” He was in need of protection.
The policemen and the neighbor are the secondary characters.
The three policemen don't really have any characteristics. But they play a
major role in driving the plot of the narrator's story. The three policemen are fairly
unambiguous, flat characters who do exactly what they are supposed to do.
The neighbor plays a small but important role in the narrator's story. Through
the neighbor it is expressed narrator’s fear that someone can hear the
perpetration of a crime.
The plot of the story (extract, passage) runs as follows:
Exposition of the story is when a nameless person (the narrator ) explains that
he is and was extremely nervous, but is not and was not insane. Rather, the
narrator has a "disease" which makes all his senses, especially his hearing, very
sensitive. To prove that he is of sound mind, he tells us the story on how he killed
the old man while pleading his sanity, all his preparations and how cautious he
was: “You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me.
You should have seen how wisely I proceeded--with what caution--with what
foresight--with what dissimulation I went to work!”. But why he did? He loved the
old man and had nothing against him. Except…his horrible eye, “…a pale blue eye,
with a film over it”. The narrator hated the eye and decided to kill the old man to
be free of it.
Every night, at almost 12am, the narrator came in the old man's bedroom and
looked if the eye was open or not. The narrator did that for eight nights.It’s a story
himself. Here the narrator tells us how he spied the old man.
The climax of the story comes at night of the murder. The main character is
describing all his actions and feelings in extremely precise way. On the eighth
night the he killed the old man, he smothered the old man and then
“…dismembered the corpse… took up three planks from the flooring of the
chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings… replaced the boards so
cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye--not even his--could have detected
anything wrong”.
The denoument is when three policemen came.The narrator was pretty
calm.He gave them the guided tour of the house, and then invited to hang out
with him in the man's bedroom. But, the narrator started to hear a terrible noise,
which gets louder and louder. He thought that it was old man’s heartbeat and
that everyone in that room heard it… But I think, it was heartbeat of the murderer.
Somewhere deep in his mind he understood what he had done. To stop that noise,
which drove himmad, the narrator told the cops to look under the
floorboards and confessed tomurder.
It is an author’s narration with some description and inner dialogues
(monologue).
We can define many literary devices in this story. One of them aresymbols.
· The old man’s eye. It is a symbol of narrator’s paranoia and insanity:
“Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had
never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I
think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a
vulture… Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold”. We also see the old man’s
essence through this eye. “…a pale blue eye, with a film over it” - it indicates a
lack of visual clarity and reliability of the man. That’s why he did’t trust people and
was afraid of surrounding world.
· The watch. The narrator several times mentioned a watch (“…there came
to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as aWATCH makes when enveloped in
cotton” etc). A watch is a visual and auditory representation of time. Time
symbolize the approach of death. The narrator, who literally controls the time of
death for the old man, compares himself to a watch's minute hand.
· The Heartbeat. It symbolizes the narrator’s guilt. He thought that he heard
the heartbeat of the old man. But he heard his own heart, subconsciously he
understood what he had done.
· The bed and the bedroom. In such place as a bedroom we feel ourselves
safe, because it’s our own place, where can’t be any threat for us. But Poe shows a
bedroom as a place of murder and the bed – as a weapon.
Poe uses a lot of repetitions: “…with what caution--with what foresight--with
what dissimulation…“, “…how stealthily, stealthily…”, “slowly—very, very
slowly”, “steadily, steadily”, “It grew louder--louder --louder!”, “They heard!--they
suspected--they knew!”. It helps to intensify the situation, to make the
atmosphere of the story more intensive and frightful. We are waiting what will be
the next. Such repetitions help the reader understand the narrator's nervous
state and his feelings.
We can see some examples of hyperbole, which help us to understand, that
we are reading thoughts of a true madman: “I heard all things in the heaven and
in the earth. I heard many things in hell” , “It took me an hour to place my whole
head…”, “For a whole hour I did not move a muscle…”
Such metaphor as “One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture--a pale blue
eye, with a film over it” shows us, that the narrator was afraid the eye. It is
said, the vulture is an evil bird and associated with evil in literature. So, the
narrator thought that it was the eye of Evil. “A watch's minute hand moves more
quickly than did mine”. This metaphor shows how cautious the narrator was in
opening the door.
The personification of Death helps to develop mood: “because Death, in
approaching him. had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped
the victim”.
There are some similes in this story: “His room was as black as pitch with the
thick darkness …”, “a single dim ray, like the thread of the spider “, “a low, dull,
quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton”, “still dark as
midnight”. They emphasize the quality and the state of some things.
alliteration: "Hearken...how healthily, how..."
There is an example of amplification: “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.” The narrator try to convince us that he is not mad. He emphasizes
the fact.
Another rhetorical device that can be found within the story
is epithet“dreadfully nervous”. It names the important characteristic of
the character.
Parenthesis is also found within this short story: “I undid the lantern-oh, so
cautiously –cautiously (for the hinges creaked) –I undid it just so much that a
single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye.” Here Poe uses the parenthesis to explain
why the speaker undid the lantern so cautiously. “His room was as black as pitch
with the thick darkness (for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of
robbers), and so I knew that he could not see the opening of the door, and I kept
pushing it on steadily, steadily” – Poe explains, why was so dark in the bedroom
and gives some additional information about the old man.
We also can find some rhetorical questions: “Would a madman have been so
wise as this?”, “Why would you say that I am mad”, “For what had I to fear?”. The
answers are obvious. The narrator insists that he is sane, and doesn’t even
suppose that he can be crazy.
Irony: The speaker keeps saying that he is not crazy but through his actions
and speech we can make a conclusionthat he is.
As we see, this story is really reach on stylistic devices.
During the reading, it is given the impression that you hear that heartbeat,
the “low, dull, quick sound--much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped
in cotton”, that the old man’s eye, “a pale blue eye, with a film over it”,
are piercinginto you. In this story Poe takes us to the mind of a mad man as he
struggles with the thoughts that caused him to do the unthinkable.
Poe's economic style of writing is a key instrument in making this story
amazing. In this story, he uses his style to truly bring out what he intended for the
story - a study of paranoia. He uses a lot of stylistic devices to reach the story, to
make it more colorful and interesting.
The moral of this story is very clear. The feeling of guilt is very hard or even
impossible to overcome, even a madman can’t cope with it.
The theme of "The Tell-Tale Heart". Expressive means and stylistic
devices in the story
There are three main themes of "The Tell Tale Heart":
Crime and punishment (every person, who committed a crime can’t escape punishment);
Insanity (the reader can understand that the main character is crazy, based onhis behavior, speech and thoughts. However, he believed and believes that he is and was perfectly sane. He thinks that it is normally to kill someone, because something makes you feel uncomfortable and irritates you);
Time (The narrator had been preparing for a murder for seven long nights. On the eighth night the old man heard that someonewas in his room: “For a whole HOUR I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still sitting up in the bed listening;--just as I have done, NIGHT AFTER NIGHT, hearkening to the death WATCHES in the wall.” Our life is measured in hours.
We can define many literary devices in this story. One of them are symbols.
The old man’s eye. It is a symbol of narrator’s paranoia and insanity: “Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture…Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold”. We also see the old man’s essence through this eye. “…a pale blue eye, with a film over it” - it indicates a lack of visual clarity and reliability of the man. That’s why he did’t trust people and was afraid of surrounding world.
The watch. The narrator several times mentioned a watch (“…there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as aWATCH makes when enveloped in cotton” etc). A watch is a visual and auditory representation of time. Time symbolize the approach of death. The narrator, who literally controls the time of death for the old man, compares himself to a watch's minute hand.
The Heartbeat. It symbolizes the narrator’s guilt. He thought that he heard the heartbeat of the old man. But he heard his own heart, subconsciously he understood what he had done.
The bed and the bedroom. In such place as a bedroom we feel ourselves safe, because it’s our own place, where can’t be any threat for us. But Poe shows a bedroom as a place of murder and the bed – as a weapon.
Poe uses a lot of repetitions: “…with what caution--with
what foresight--with what dissimulation…“, “…how stealthily,
stealthily…”, “slowly—very, very slowly”, “steadily, steadily”, “It grew louder--
louder --louder!”, “They heard!--they suspected--they knew!”. It helps to intensify
the situation, to make the atmosphere of the story more intensive and frightful.
We are waiting what will be the next. Such repetitionshelp the reader understand
the narrator's nervous state and his feelings.
We can see some examples of hyperbole, which help us to understand, that
we are reading thoughts of a true madman: “I heard all things in the heaven and
in the earth. I heard many things in hell” , “It took me an hour to place my whole
head…”, “For a whole hour I did not move a muscle…”
Such metaphor as “One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture--a pale blue
eye, with a film over it” shows us, that the narrator was afraid the eye. It is
said, the vulture is an evil bird and associated with evil in literature. So, the
narrator thought that it was the eye of Evil. “A watch's minute hand moves more
quickly than did mine”. This metaphor shows how cautious the narrator was in
opening the door.
The personification of Death helps to develop mood: “because Death, in
approaching him. had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped
the victim”.
There are some similes in this story: “His room was as black as pitch with
the thick darkness …”, “a single dim ray, like the thread of the spider “, “a low,
dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton”, “still dark as
midnight”. They emphasize the quality and the state of some things.
alliteration: "Hearken...how healthily, how..."
There is an example of amplification: “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.” The narrator try to convince us that he is not mad. He emphasizes
the fact.
Another rhetorical device that can be found within the story
is epithet“dreadfully nervous”. It names the important characteristic of
the character.
Parenthesis is also found within
this short story:“I undid the lantern-oh, so cautiously –cautiously (for the hinges
creaked) –I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye.”
Here Poe uses the parenthesis to explain why the speaker undid the lantern so
cautiously.“His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness (for the
shutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers), and so I knew that he could
not see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily” – Poe
explains, why was so dark in the bedroom and gives some additional information
about the old man.
We also can find some rhetorical questions: “Would a madman have been
so wise as this?”, “Why would you say that I am mad”, “For what had I to fear?”.
The answers are obvious. The narrator insists that he is sane, and doesn’t even
suppose that he can be crazy.
Irony: The speaker keeps saying that he is not crazy but through his actions
and speech we can make a conclusionthat he is.
As we see, this story is really reach on stylistic devices.