Comparison Of Horror Fiction And The Black Cat

Poe writes “The Tell Tale Heart” from the perspective of the murderer of the old man. When an author creates a situation where the central character tells his own account, the overall impact of the story is heightened. The narrator, in this story, adds to the overall effect of horror by continually stressing to the reader that he or she is not mad, and tries to convince us of that fact by how carefully this brutal crime was planned and executed. The point of view helps communicate that the theme is madness to the audience because from the beginning the narrator uses repetition, onomatopoeias, similes, hyperboles, metaphors and irony.

Poe was the first author to cater to the darker side of the mindscape. His works such as The Raven and The Pit and the Pendulum have been honored long after his mysterious death in Victorian England, although his writing weren’t widely recognized during his life. His works often deal with themes such as death and misery, and run on emotions regarding those. The work The Tell Tale Heart, is one of those, with the narrator’s insanity in overdrive as he murders an old man simply

Poe’s “Tell-Tale Heart” is a short story about a insane narrator which tries and eventually kills the old man, the narrator is his waiter, because of his vulture eye. In this story, readers feel curious and shock because of the dramatic and situational irony. First, Poe uses dramatic imagery to make the reader feel suspense. The mood is created when the narrator becomes determined to kill the old man because of his vulture eye, thus the reader knows the narrator wants to kill the old man, but the old man doesn’t know about it. ”I made up my mind to take the life of the old man” (Poe ) This make the reader feel suspense because it makes the reader like the old man’s hands are tied because he can’t overpower the narrator and he’s unaware of the narrator’s intention. Furthermore, Poe uses situational irony to create a mood of shock. The mood is created when the police officers knock on the old man’s door and come to investigate because of the narrators shriek, and the narrator started hearing the old man’s heartbeat, yet it grew louder and louder until he thought that the police officers are hearing the heartbeat and are mocking the narrator, so the narrator couldn’t take any more and admitted

In the Tell Tale Heart the narrator was mad. He was plotting to kill the Old Man. The narrator checks in on the man, hoping that his “vulture eye” will be open. If it is, that will be the night of the Old Man's death. On the eighth night when the narrator snuc into his room… Due to a few mistakes the old man awoken. Therefore the evil eye was open. Poe used the common fear of the unknown in the old man to make him scared. Every human has these common fears. They are written in our DNA. They are part of our fight or flight function. Because we have these fears it makes us feel like we are almost living in the room as the Old Man. Also these fears are a big part of why we still read these stories and get scared.

Type the word horror into google and you will receive the following definition on Merriam Webster: an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust. Horror is different than fear in that it is more disturbing, disgusting, and creepy. Writers of horror stories take repulsive or unspeakable elements and turn them into a story that’s sure to make even the strongest of reader’s arm hairs stand on edge. One such writer spent a portion of his life writing these kind of stories. Edgar Allan Poe was influenced by his own life experiences, social normalities of the early 19th century, and used literary devices to write horrific works such as The Black Cat, The Raven, and Berenice.

Poe describes, “I soundly and tranquilly slept; aye, slept even with the burden of murder upon my soul.”(The Black cat) In both stories, the context of the characters and how they describe everything shows how mad Poe really is. I feel as if Poe inserts his thoughts and emotion into his own stories, showing his own insanity. Poe seems to be very calm until paranoia comes in, that is when the characters confess, when guilt overcomes them. Both the Tell Tale Heart and The Black Cat, have a lot of similar traits, from the metaphors, to the emotion and tone of the stories. Also both characters portrayed in the stories have an obsession, which both lead to murder. The characters are also very paranoid, and easily become overwhelmed with guilt. The scenes, settings in both stories also happen to be very dark and sort of creepy, almost like spine-chilling creepy. Both characters play the emotions of the victims; “ And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel - although he neither saw or heard - to feel the presence of my head within the room.”(Tell Tale Heart) This is Poe describing how the old man felt when hearing the door creak

While reading the, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Poe builds suspense and tension over whether the narrator will actually kill the man, and then over whether he will be caught. This is because Poe is writing it so that the narrator is telling the story, detail by detail until he gets to the part about killing the old

The narrator has a fear of the old man in “The Tell-Tale Heart”, which also causes his murder. Poe shows a sense of panic in the narrator’s voice by switching between calm, logical statements and quick irrational outbursts. By using first person narrative, not only does it heighten the tension and fear running through the mind of the narrator, but it also allows us to experience and feel his fear (“Tell Tale”). The narrator makes clear that he is “very, very dreadfully nervous” (Poe, “Tell-Tale” 445) when he says, “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” (Poe, “Tell-Tale” 447). According to James Gargano,

Horror is among the most interesting and popular genres in literature. Authors try to use a variety of objects and topics to create stories that deliver creepy experiences to readers. Because of this, psychological horror stands out as the most disturbing style of horror by driving readers through the thoughts of mentally ill people. The sub-genre would not become famous if not because of the mind of the notorious Edgar Allan Poe. One of his best work, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” demonstrated just how the author could masterfully dive into the head of a person. From the first scene of how the narrator decided to kill the old man, Poe showed how a simple object like the eyes could motivate a person to hurt others, thus warning readers about their actions to others because the actions could cost their lives. To fully communicate his message, Poe cleverly used dashes in sentences and chains of short sentences that reflected the narrator’s chaotic mind, exaggerated the influence of the eyes to the narrator that forced him to kill the old man, and made the psychopath talking to readers about his thought process.

The idea of this essay is to address the nightmarish absurdity that horror is so well known for. I will consider the development of the genre, as well as explore the stylistic, thematic and narrative elements of the genre; including discourse on the visuals, the symbolisms and the subject matter in addition to any impact the genre had on the audience, and address what role said impact had in defining

Horror stories seem to provoke a certain feeling inside all of us. They can make us scared, nervous, or even just amazed. If a horror story is told well, it can make just about any reader cringe. There are certain elements that must be in a horror story to really make it frightening. Some of these elements include the setting, the characters, a feeling of suspense, foreshadowing, and unexpected events. All of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories and poems seem to bring about a whimsical and nightmarish feeling in the reader. Poe’s life was stranger than most, which has probably helped him to create such ghastly tales. “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Raven”, and “The Masque of Red Death” all contain those

While taking this Horror Literature course in the spring semester, I have learned so much about different horror writers that impacted the genre as a whole. From Edgar Allan Poe’s poem called “The Raven” where the protagonist is mourning the death of his lover and a raven managed to make him go insane with the quote “nevermore” to Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein where a scientist creates a monstrous creature while dehumanizing women. These different plots will remain in my memory due to the impactful psychological meaning in each piece of writing. Throughout this course, I have learned so much about myself such as a writer, a scholar, and a reader of horror literature. In the beginning of the semester,

Edgar Allen Poe was known for his dark-romanticism writings which evoked horror in readers. Seen specifically in his short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, readers are able to get into the mind of the mentally ill narrator who murders an elderly man, one whom he claimed to love. Poe created conflict in this story by having the narrator admit to loving the man and having him be his caretaker. Conflict, and the story line, is created because it makes readers question why he would commit such a heinous crime as killing and dismembering the man. Readers eventually find out that it is the elderly man’s eye that pushes the narrator to do what he does. The narrator is trying to justify his actions and prove his sanity by explaining how he observes

Edgar Allen Poe has created many stories that are dark, suspenseful, and murderous such as The Tell- Tale Heart and The Black Cat. His works tend to resemble one another in style, mood, theme, and plot. The ways in which these elements are displayed show contrast between the two. The Tell- Tale Heart and The Black Cat are two brutal tales with similar themes about being insane. Both stories are told from the first person point of view with a maniacal narrator.

The psychology or mental state of the narrator of Edger Allan Poe’s short story “The Black Cat” is a broad area to analyze. The human mind is one of the most articulate system that is made in this world. It’s difficult to understand everybody’s actions and doings because everyone possesses their own unique patterns of thinking. Today, the world of psychology is hard at work to try to figure out the best answers to the questions we have about the mid. Even before the subject of psychology was produced, some writers loosely described the psychology and everything that goes into it. Edger Allan Poe was one of them who portrayed his characters in way that the reader could look further in to their actions and their behaviors to understand the mind better. Poe seemed to have an understanding and fascination for the human, and “The Black Cat” is one of them. The protagonist of the story and his psychology has brought into light in this short story. In this work, Edgar Allan Poe presents the main character, the protagonist, who becomes victim to many complex mind issues such as guilt, perversity, superstitions, revenge, and reverse psychology.