Analysis Of Edgar Allan Poe 's ' The Tell Tale Heart '

During the first half of the nineteenth century the Romanticism movement was starting to reach its apex. However, one of its sub-genres would have a longer impact on literature. It was gothic fiction, a genre that according to study.com “involved elements of fear, horror, death, and gloom, but it also included romantic elements of nature and very high emotion, such as fear and suspense, and often concentrated on individuality”. The most famous writer of gothic fiction during the early to mid nineteenth century was Edgar Allen Poe.

Gothic writers are well known for their works that induce grotesque and demented images to enter a reader’s brain. However, blood and gore is not the only way that Gothic writers can make your skin crawl, and the hair on the back of your neck rise. Gothic literary works contain themes of supernatural occurrences, and entrapment to induce feelings of fear, and mystery into the reader.

Gothic literature is a style of writing dating back to 1764, some of the most important elements of this writing style are of an eerie setting and mental decay, stories that made great use of these elements are: “The Raven”, “Black Cat”, “The House of Usher”, and “The Devil and Tom Walker”. The authors use the gothic element of eerie setting so that they can enhance the mood of the story and of mental decay to highlight what the conflict in the characters’ lives is causing.

Gothic literature is a literary genre that began in england in the late 1700’s that “Gothic” refers to medieval buildings, such as castles that were seen typically as dark, dreary, gloomy and mysterious which inspired a mood for many books. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” is a good of example of gothic literature because it had a gloomy tone commonly found in most gothic literature. This can be found in the first paragraph when the narrator says “ a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit”. This shows“The Fall of the House of Usher” is gothic literature because it sets up a gothic tone in the first paragraph.

Gothic literature uses wide ranging themes and gothic elements to convey its story. Gothic literature short stories can range from romance to horror to supernatural occurrences. Horacio Quiroga’s “The Feather Pillow,” Richard Matheson’s “Prey,” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat” all incorporate the following gothic elements: violence, revenge, hallucinations, nightmares, and psychological issues.

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”, a short story about internal conflict and obsession, showcases the tortured soul due to a guilty conscience. The story opens with an unnamed narrator describing a man deranged and plagued with a guilty conscience for a murderous act. This man, the narrator, suffers from paranoia, and the reason for his crime is solely in his disturbed mind. He becomes fixated on the victim’s (the old man’s) eye, and his conscience forces him to demonize the eye. Finally, the reader is taken on a journey through the planning and execution of a murder at the hands of the narrator. Ultimately, the narrator’s obsession causes an unjust death which culminates into internal conflict due to his guilty conscience. The

Gothic fiction is a genre of literature that is comprised of numerous particular elements. It is a subgenre of romanticism and can be conflated with dark romanticism. This flavor of writing was most popular from the late eighteenth through the early nineteenth centuries. The name gothic fiction relates to gothic European architecture built during the middle ages. Massive cathedrals and castles were erected with pointed, stained-glass windows,

Gothic literature, which is sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre that links horror and romance into one tale of ‘transgressing the boundaries’. Gothicism was unheard of until the late 1700’s, this movement into a new genre of literature. This was pioneered by the English author Horace Walpole, in his famous fictional book ‘The Castle of Otranto’, or as Walpole alternatively titled it ‘a Gothic story’. Horace Walpole himself had transgressed the boundaries slightly; by introducing this new style of writing he had added a whole new genre into literature. Walpole’s style of writing was unique and captivated the readers mind and

The classic short story of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, written by one of the all time masters of horror, Edgar Allen Poe, has always been used as an excellent example of Gothic fiction. Edgar Allen Poe specialized in the art of gothic writing and wrote many stories that portrayed disturbing events and delved deeply into the minds of its characters. In "The Tell-Tale Heart," Poe revolves the plot around a raving individual who, insisting that he is sane, murders an old man because of his` “vulture eye”. The three main gothic elements that are evident in this story are the unique setting, the theme of death and decay, and the presence of madness.

     The term Gothic refers to a genre that came about in the late eighteenth century. It can be a type of story, clothing, or music nowadays. In this paper it will refer to a style of literature. A very good example of this type of literature is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. There is a sense of foreboding throughout the whole novel, which is one of the basic necessities of the Gothic. This theme of the Gothic has different characteristics that all fit into the story of Victor Frankenstein and his monster and make this one of the first horror stories every told.

In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the poet, Edgar Allan Poe, writes of several different themes. Some of them include time and human nature. However, the most prevalent themes remain as the themes of guilt and insanity. The poem revolves around a man that lives with an old man that has an eye that the narrator fears. He calls it the vulture eye. He believes that it is evil, so he plans to murder the old man. Edgar Allan Poe expresses the themes of insanity and guilt by using the symbols of the beating heart, the vulture eye, and the lantern throughout the poem.

The term gothic fiction implies a British literary genre from the late eighteenth, and early nineteenth century. The modernized term seems to have been generalized into anything that is dark, gloomy, or depressing. Gothic novels often time posses an emphasis on portraying the terror, a prominent use of supernatural circumstances, the presence of highly stereotyped characters, and the attempt to display techniques of literary suspense. There are also other parallels among this vastly popular genre. Gothic novels often time describe the city of London in corresponding ways. Also a common theme amongst gothic literary works is the duality of human nature, or the quality or characteristic of being twofold. These mutual themes are apparent in

Revealing the mind and exploring the darkness within it was taboo during the 19th century, that was until the famous author, Edgar Allan Poe, released his first set of Stories in 1827. Born in 1809 Boston, and fostered at just 3 years old, Poe’s life had rough beginnings until joining the army and released his first set of stories that some consider were the beginning of modern day horror. One of his short stories, the tell-tale heart, released 1843 in the ____, is one of his most famous gothic horror fiction novels. Unlike the genre of romanticism, which was also becoming popular at the time, Poe’s story doesn’t explore the power of an individual, but the themes of madness, mystery and horror capable within society and people. The Tell-Tale heart, considered by many a story of dark madness, clearly demonstrates the progression of obsession into insanity and the eventual loss of self through language techniques and a twisted writing style.

Gothic literature is an umbrella of short stories, novels, and dramas that capture the focus of death, fears, and irrationality that writers like, Edgar Allan Poe, often wrote about in their works of literature. Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, A Tell-Tale Heart, depicts the very essence of gothic literature through symbolism, graphic storytelling, and the reversal of the main character . This cements A Tell-Tale Heart into what we categorize as gothic literature.

Gothic literature is a type of storytelling that uses dark themes and morals in order to employ creepy and harsh tones, while also creating effective and memorable settings and conflicts. Authors such as Edgar Allen Poe, William Faulkner, and Richard Matheson, created many pieces of gothic literature, such as “The Black Cat” and “The Raven,” by Poe, “Prey” by Matheson, and “A Rose For Emily” by Faulkner, in order to accomplish this goal and to spread their transcendentalist views. In particular, these authors use gothic elements such as entrapment and violence to efficiently create the settings and conflicts within their short stories.