How does Edgar Allan Poe keep the reader in suspence Essay

in the very first sentence, Poe starts to build up the tension by saying ‘True – nervous – very, very dreadfully nervous’ this repetitiveness builds up the tension, the word ‘dreadfully’ gives the reader a clue that it is going to build up to something bad. He then gives us a clue that he is a bit of a mad man by saying ‘but why will you say that I am mad?’ this automatically makes the reader suggest he is mad, but we don’t know why yet. The story is being narrated by the murderer, and in the beginning, he really makes you empathise with him. You can really imagine this scary eye. He says ‘whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold’ so he is really scared of this eye and you can relate and feel sorry for him. Poe talks about time throughout the story. He mentions when time is going slow, when time is going fast, and also he changes the pace, switching between slow and fast. These elements add to building the suspense. The slow build up builds up tension, the slow, careful planning, and the longer sentences that drags it out as if the narrator is talking slowly and patiently. This gets the reader thinking and anticipating something is going to happen. Examples of when Poe uses time in a slow manor is when he says ‘I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him’ so this shows that him killing this man is a slow, well planned, patient build up. He says that he was kind to the man for a whole week, so this must have been planned for a while, so this whole process helps to build up suspense and get the reader anxious. Another example of Poe talking about time going slowly is when he says ‘it took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening’ this shows how slowly, careful and cautious he is being so he does not wake the man. This adds to the build up, taking a whole hour to open the door, which in a normal situation nobody could be this patient in taking this long to open a door. The next example of Poe mentioning time going slows is when he says ‘a watch’s minute hand moves more quickly than did mine’ again this shows how slowly time went, he compares a watches hand to his hand and says that even that was moving faster than what he was. So it is an example of this slow, patient build up that keeps the reader in suspense. As well as making references to time going slow, Poe also talks about time going fast, using shorter words and sentences, so the narrator is talking faster, so the pace changes to a much faster build up, so the reader anticipates something is about to happen. An example of this is when Poe says ‘I talked more quickly’ so as the pace and suspense building up gets faster, so does the speed that the character is talking. As the beat of the heart builds up louder and louder so does pace at which the character speaks get faster and faster. Another example of this is when Poe says ‘the noise steadily increased’ so the noise of the heart is increasing with the build up. The different paces represent the different parts of the story. The beginning of the story, slow creeping round, the planning and being cautious. The end of the story, fast, fear of being caught out, the sound of the heart. Poe uses repetition throughout the story. This is used for effect and empathise the point to the reader. An example of repetition is when he says ‘I undid the lantern cautiously-oh, so cautiously–cautiously’ in this sentence he empathises the word ‘cautiously’ he does this to get the point across to the reader of how cautiously he undid the lantern. Another example of when Poe uses repetitiveness is when he says ‘louder–louder–louder!’ this really empathises the heartbeat, and how loud it is and how it is building up, as he says louder each time the heartbeat gets louder. So he really does empathise the word louder in this sentence. The third example that I have chosen from the text that shows repetition is when Poe says ‘I moved it slowly–very, very slowly’ in this phrase Poe repeats the word ‘slow’. So this gives a better effect than if Poe had of just said ‘very slowly’. The r epetition makes it sound as if he had done it even slower. Throughout the story Poe uses noises to create atmosphere in the story. Sounds create an atmosphere as they have an effect on the reader, and noises can really set the scene in the story. Or in some cases I can add to the suspense and scare readers as they can relate to these noises that may have happened in their own home and scared them. An example of Poe using noise to create a tense atmosphere is when he says ‘hinges creaked’ this makes the read tense and keeps them in suspense as they are wondering what would be the old mans reaction if he heard this as he cannot see anybody so he is bound to be scared. Also when it says the hinge creeks, it gives you the impression that it is a creepy, old house, which adds to the atmosphere. The next example of sound being used to create atmosphere is when Poe says ‘it was the beating of the old man’s heart’ so this really helps the reader picture the scene, it gives them I more imaginative view of what’s happening. This noise really lets the reader know just really how scared the old man is, because they will know fro, their own experience that your heart races and becomes loud when you’re scared. Poe describes everything in great detail; this grips the reader and makes them feel involved in the story, rather like a film. Throughout the story, Poe uses words that would relate this story to and make it sound like a horror movie. Poe talks about ‘death’ throughout the story, ‘week before I kill him’, ‘death watches in the wall’, ‘because death, in approaching him’, ‘dead hour’, ‘yes, he was stone, stone dead’ and ‘I must scream or die’ so these quotes mentioning death that are all through the story give the story a real horror effect, and it also grips the reader and makes them feel more involved. Another word related to evil and the horror genre of this story and that is mentioned throughout the story is the talk of ‘terror’, Poe says ‘mortal terror’, ‘the terrors that distracted me’ and ‘uncontrollable terror’ so these quotes add to the effect that the story has on the reader. In the beginning of the story, Poe uses great descriptive language to describe the old mans eye. This helps influence the reader as it can help them to imagine the eye clearly and therefore make them feel more involved with the story and a bit sympathetic towards the murderer in the story. If the reader is involved with the story, then they will be able to feel the tension and suspense created throughout the story. First of all Poe starts by saying ‘it haunted me day and night’ then goes onto say ‘he had the eye of a vulture’ which really gives a good image as the reader should know what the vultures eye looks like†¦scary. Then he says ‘a pale blue eye, with a film over it’ so you can really imagine this pale blue vulture eye, with a dull glaze over it. He then describes how the eye makes him feel ‘whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold’ this is a great descriptive way of displaying to the reader how the eye makes him feel. The reader can really empathise with this sentence as they would have experienced this feeling themselves. So this makes the reader feel involved. So all these factors help the reader imagine this really disgusting eye. Poe talks about the murder in great detail, which really makes it sound like a gruesome death. He does not just say he jumped on the man and killed him; he described everything that happened, so the reader gets a good imaginative picture of what is happening. The fact that the murderer ‘smiled gaily’ is really quite sickening as he is rather enjoying murdering this poor man. He even describes the man dying ‘at length it ceased’ so he is talking about the sound of the man’s heart, slowly decreasing. When the man is finally dead, he describes him as ‘stone dead’ which is a vulgar way of putting it. The story is written in first person narrative by the main character, and throughout the story he refers to the reader, as if he is talking to the reader ‘you cannot imagine how stealthily’, ‘do you mark me well’, ‘will you say that I am mad?’ so he keeps referring to the reader as ‘you’, and asking the reader questions. This really involves the reader with the story, so again the reader is emotionally involved and really feels the suspense and tension built throughout the story. This is good and very effective as it allows Poe to talk of the murder in plenty of detail, and it also lets us know what the murderer is thinking and what his motive is for killing the man (the eye). The murderers feelings in this story is a vital factor as it lets us know how he has planned the murder, and also all the precautions he took leading up to the murder. It also allows Poe to describe the eye and get the reader to empathise with the murderer. I really enjoyed this story as I felt myself gripped and involved in it. So I could really feel the tension and the suspense, I was on the edge waiting for something to happen. I could really relate to the story and that’s why I felt involved, because I could imagine this poor old man scared in bed and hearing strange noises, which scares anybody if they are in bed all alone. So the story was really exciting and enjoyable to read.