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The American writer, Edgar Allan Poe, is known for short stories, such as ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ and ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’. These stories are described as disturbing, even in modern-day society, almost 200 hundred years after having been written. By using a variety of literary devices such as personification, sibilance, imagery along with the use of punctuation, these disturbing stories classify as ‘enjoyable horror’.
From the first paragraph of ‘The Fall of The House of Usher’, Poe creates the story’s atmosphere by integrating the setting into the plot.
Poe achieves this through personification. When walking through, looking “upon the vacant eye-like windows”, the interior of the house is personified, as if it’s alive, watching everything. Poe uses pathetic fallacy to mirror the plot of the story. As the plot develops, so does the weather. When everything is calm, the day is “dull, dark, and soundless”, however when we approach the climax of the story, the weather becomes more furious and at the climax, we are met with an “Impetuous fury of the entering gust nearly lifted [them] from [their] feet”.
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This clear change in weather shows us the plot and setting are interwoven. By describing the setting before the horror and death aspect of the story, the supernatural atmosphere helps to create a disturbing sentiment.
Poe elaborates on the atmosphere created by allowing the reader to form a vivid image of the setting through alliteration and sibilance, which enhances the reader's experience. When the narrator meets Roderick again, he describes him as “A cadaverousness of complexion; an eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison”.
Roderick Usher is described as a corpse, with large dilated eyes. Poe uses sibilance to furthermore establish the disturbing sensation, which gives a sinister feel to the house. The reader feels uneasy by imagining “a sinking, a sickening of the heart”. Alliteration and sibilance amplify the disturbing image helping us feel the atmosphere from the setting while visually interpreting the story.
However, in ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’, Poe uses an unconventional way to set the scene; not by describing the setting, but through the lack of description where he uses symbolism instead. One of the ways he amplifies this is through the use of darkness, as most of the story is set during the middle of the night. We are informed the old man’s room is“as black as pitch with the thick darkness”. Night-time signifies danger and evil, as the unknown lies in darkness and uncertainty.
One of the noticeable aspects while reading both stories is the pace and discomforting feeling, which is achieved through punctuation. In both stories, Poe uses exclamation marks to convey a sense of growing discomfort. Short sentences imply that the narrator is nervous and repetition indicates the narrator is panicked. In ‘The Fall of The House of Usher’, Em dashes are used when Roderick speaks, “Not hear it?—yes, I hear it, and have heard it. Long—long—long—many minutes”. It allows us to read at the same pace as the narrator, additionally, it shows how prevalent madness is, and how severe and chaotic it is. This piques the reader’s disturbing curiosity.
Mental illness and madness are major themes in ‘The Fall of The House of Usher’, which is portrayed through Roderick Usher’s character. The narrator never states Roderick's mental state, but he suggests Roderick’s senses have become unbearably heightened. The narrator implicitly informs us Roderick is suffering from a mental disease when he mentions, “He suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses”. Alongside this, Roderick uses rhetorical questions frequently, which leads us to conclude that he’s mentally ill because these questions are senseless, for example, “And you have not seen it?” he said abruptly, after having stared about him for some moments in silence”. Roderick blurts this out, leaving the narrator puzzled. Random rhetorical questions leave the reader unsure of what's happening. This uncertainty makes the reader question what Roderick’s talking about, which builds tension and can prelude to something bad occurring.
A disturbing dynamic is created between the reader and the narrator. Poe achieves this through directly addressing the reader, and setting the story in first person. From the first sentence of ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’, the narrator addresses the reader through a rhetorical question, “But why will you say that I am mad?”, which can throw the reader off. A connection is built between both the reader and the narrator, allowing the inner thoughts of the narrator to be expressed to the reader on a personal level, which draws them into the reality of the story. Furthermore, we are given the impression that he’s talking to himself, like a madman. This madman persona is emphasized with the verbal reassurance he gives himself throughout the story, also done around the suspenseful parts of the story. This is experienced for the first time at the beginning of the story, where he justifies contemplating and committing the deed of killing the old man. “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”. Murdering anything and justifying/excusing it shows signs of mental illness. The directness of the narrator is used around the suspenseful parts to increase the tension built and the anxious feeling within the reader.
In both short stories, we witness horrific deaths through the narrator, leaving the reader disturbed and uneasy. The “madman” narrator from ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ leaves the reader wary after the first paragraph. Hinting at the idea of the untrustworthy narrator is done when the narrator had reassured us that he “wisely” “proceeded” with the killing of the old man, however, “A shriek had been heard by a neighbor during the night”. The reader is left conflicted, as questions about the reliability begin to arise.
The author uses auditory imagery, a form of ‘mental imagery’, to impart a sense of disturbance to enhance the sense of discomfort. This is done through the pulsation and heartbeat of the old man. When the narrator places his hand “upon the heart and held it there many minutes”, and says, “there was no pulsation”, it’s confirmed the old man is dead. Towards the end of the story, the narrator reveals himself to the police, as he’s unable to handle hearing the old man’s heartbeat. This also occurs when the Narrator describes ‘the heartbeat’ of the old man once he’s passed. Using the power of three, he repeats “Louder! Louder! Louder!” towards the climax of the story, making the reader feel on edge, as they too can hear the heartbeat increasingly get louder and can hear what the narrator hears. By using pulsation and heartbeats, it often means an unnerving sensation is being conveyed, which is a technique also used nowadays in films to build/create tension. Alongside this, the use of the word “Pulsation” and the heartbeat, which as humans we can relate to due to also having a pulse. Relating to such a gruesome story is quite unsettling.
As readers, we are left with unanswered questions, which we must answer ourselves - leaving us to overthink all the possible scenarios. While the storyline of both stories dates back 200 years, the themes are still universally shared, creating a sense of horror and tension which are still equally relatable.
How Does Edgar Allan Poe Keep the Reader in Suspense?. (2020, Nov 26). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/how-does-edgar-allan-poe-keep-the-reader-in-suspense-essay
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