Edgar Allen Poe's Use Of Suspense And Irony

Have you ever read or heard a story that made your heart hammer, your knees grow weak, and leave you jumping at shadows? Well, Edgar Allan Poe, a mystery and horror story writer, has written some of the most descriptive and eerie murder stories that can leave you quaking. One of his most sinister works is the “Tell-Tale Heart”. Edgar Allan Poe uses time, repetition, noises, setting, and imagery to effectively create a spooky and disturbing atmosphere in his works. These aspects creates the realistically scary feeling...but how does he apply all that in his writing?

As the narrator experiences fear, what techniques does Poe use to create suspense for the reader?

Edgar Allan Poe is known for some of the most horrifying stories ever written through out time. He worked with the natural world, animals, and weather to create chilling literature. Two most notable thrillers are “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Poe was infatuated with death, disfigurement, and dark characteristics of the world. He could mix characters, setting, theme,and mood in a way that readers are automatically drawn into reading. Both of these short stories have the same major aspects in common.

On January 19th, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, one of the most influential writers of all time was born. This person was Edgar Allen Poe and his works of literature would change the world of writing forever. Edgar Allen Poe was a master of creating a mood of suspense and exhibited this through two of his stories, “The Raven” and “Cask of Amontillado”, where there was much suspense built through many different methods. Poe creates suspense by using word choice, plot structure, and literary elements.

Edgar Allan Poe uses irony to create suspense in "The Cask of Amontillado," to create a dark, dangerous short story. The protagonist, Montresor, plans to seek revenge on Fortunato, who insulted him, by killing him. Poe uses dramatic irony in the first paragraph by writing that Montresor is planning to kill Fortunato and get away with murdering him. The example of dramatic irony creates suspense, due to only the reader and Montresor knowing that Montresor is premeditating Fortunado's murder. Verbal irony is utilized to create suspense when Poe writes of Montresor and Fortunado making toasts, and Montresor saying, "And I to your long life" to Fortunado (Poe 347). Completely aware that he is going to murder Fortunado, yet Montresor toasts to Fortunado's

Have you ever read “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe? It is a short story about a man whose mental state deteriorates over time. The narrator loves the old man, however he has a deep hatred toward the old man’s vulture-like eye. This essay will be explaining the ways Poe keeps his readers in suspense. Edgar Allan Poe uses time, repetition, and descriptive language to set the pace, tone, and mood.

In the short stories “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe and “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, irony is the main element used. Like many authors, these authors both use irony to their advantage. One story is about a hunter being hunted, an ironic twist, for a reason yet not stated. And the other is about a murder being committed using reverse psychology which takes place in a family catacomb with a fondness for wine ironically enabling the crime.

Edgar Allan Poe is a famous well known writer known for his dark and gothic horror stories such as “The Tell-Tale Heart” and many others. The well-known author had a rough life which dealt with a lot of death, so most of his stories revolve around this idea. In “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Masque of the Red Death” Poe uses similar themes or darkness to convey tone and conflict throughout the story. His writing style is dark and revolves around one main concept: death. Edgar Allan Poe uses diction and syntax, setting and conflict, and characterization in his writing style to develop his stories.

One of the many reasons Poe is still famous today is his unusual topic choices for his writing. He chose to write about such morbid subjects that usually we would not prefer to write about. One of his writings,”The Tell-Tale Heart,” describes a murder told from the killer’s point of view. Since it’s the murderer’s point of view, the reader

In “Murders of the Rue Morgue”, we are led to believe that a human committed this crime, when in reality it was an ape (“Adolphe Le Bon had been arrested” “The screams and the struggles of the old lady…. Had the effect of changing the probably pacific purposes of the Ourtang-outang into those of wrath” “imbedded its fearful talons in her throat, retaining its grasp until she expired.”). In “House of the Fall of Usher” Usher asks the narrator to come to help him overcome his insanity but the insanity conquers him in the end (“ The writer spoke of an acute bodily illness- of a mental disease that oppressed him- and of his earnest desire to see me, as his best” “bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated”). In “Masque of the Red Death’ we are led to believe that the prince and the others are safe in the mansion, but they end up dying (“But the Prince was happy and dauntless and sagacious” “fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero”). In “Cask of Amontillado” Fortunato does not know he is going to die but the reader do (“he did not perceive that my smile now was sat the thought of his immolation” “Montresor! For the love of god’). Irony is used in a lot of Poe’s

In addition, one of the greatest distinctions in Poe’s technique is his choice of “dark” words, which add to the genre of his stories. In both “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado”, these words portray madness, death, fury, and murder to create fear. For example, when the narrator explains how the old man’s efforts to imagine his fears causeless to be in vain, he says, “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” The usage of such disturbing words like “vain”, “Death”, “stalked”, “mournful”,

In the three stories “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Black Cat”, and “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allan Poe’s three main stylistic writing uses are the use of irony, horror, and covering up horrible deeds done by the main character. One stylistic technique that Edgar Allen

As a master of short stories of horror, Edgar Allan Poe is knowledgeable, learned and imaginative. He could skillfully manipulate the words in his literary works to create everything people can think of. The masterful use of the symbols, objects intensify the readers’ nerve as the typical elements of horror in Poe’s short stories, and therefore it is also a feature which makes Poe 's stories different from other writers.

Anyone that is well situated into the world of literature knows of the literacy genius Edgar Allen Poe. Most of Poe’s works do not have the slightest bit of joy or happiness in them. His literature mainly consists of a dark and gothic mood; mostly due to the fact that his actual life was worse than his stories. For those who have read a few of his stories or poems you might notice a similarity in plot. In his works“ The Cask of Amontillado,” “ The Black Cat,” and “ The Tell-Tale Heart,” there is clear similarity of plot between the three stories.

Horror is a popular genre today and the genre is able to bring up many feelings in the readers or viewers. Feelings like fear, oppression and disgust are often used and the narrator creates a frightening or mysterious atmosphere. Edgar Allan Poe was one of the authors who wrote in the horror genre. He often created macabre situation in his tales where he mixed horror and humor. This can be seen in two of his short stories “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado” where the narrators in both stories commit a murder. The two murderers do not seem to have many second thoughts about committing the crime. People going so far would normally feel remorse but in the "The Tell Tale-Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado", the narrators only feel guilt for