Poes The Tell Tale Heart and The Fall of the House of Usher
Perhaps the most recognizable aspect of Poe's work is that of fear.Michael Burduck states that Poe explores areas of "pain, decay, and terror"to entertain his readers and "enlighten the dark tunnels of human life"(Burduck 102). He also states, "Poe prefers to scare his audience fromwithin" (105). Tales must also "spellbind and capture the audience'scomplete attention" (105). Additionally, the theme of death occurs justas much in Poe's writing as fear. In fact, J. Gerald Kennedy notes thatwith Poe, we find a writer "whose entire oeuvre is marked by a compulsiveinterest in the dimensionality of death" (Kennedy 92). Two stories thatfulfill this requirement are "The Tell-tale Heart" and "The Fall of the Both stories fill us with fear because they illustrate the sometimes-hideous nature of man. We become terrified in "The Tell-Tale Heart"because we see a devious madman who is crazy enough to kill an old manbecause of his so-called evil eye. "The Fall of the House of Usher" isfrightening because we witness how quickly one can become consumed with Madness is also a recurring theme in Poe's tales. In "The Tell-TaleHeart," the narrator tells us at the beginning of
As the narrator listens to the sound in the darkness,"intervals of strained attention are prolonged until the effect resemblesthat of slow motion" (162). Additionally, the narrator says, "a watch's minute-hand moves morequickly than did mine" (Poe The Tell-tale Heart 189). However, by the end of the story, the narrator cannot escape theterrible sound of the beating heart. In addition, his sight is sensitive to the old man's eye. Similarly, in "The Fall of the House of Usher" we encounter this sametype of acuteness. The technique of focusing on senses and repeating is significant to the"The Tell-tale Heart" because the "reduplication of the device gives thestory structural power" (Robinson 162). He becomes nervous and begins to paceas the noise increases. The madnessmanifests itself in hearing sounds from the tomb. Nature and thesurrounding atmosphere correspond no less to the state of mind of Usher. For example, Roderick tells the narrator that he hearsMadeline's "feeble movement's in the hollow coffin . We quickly questionhis statement when he tells us that he was "never kinder to the old manthan during the whole week before I killed him" (Poe The Tell-Tale Heart189). Additionally, the narrator refuses to admit his ismad. However, nearthe end of the story, Roderick's madness is transferred to the narrator. We are pulled into the story by curiosity and the narrator's slowmovements create a tension that causes us to want to finish the story.
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