Telling All On A "Tell-Tale Heart"

Telling All on “The Tell-Tale Heart”
Tyson Yow


In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the horrifying story of a man’s brutal murder by a trusted servant is told. Using characteristics common in many American Gothic Fiction, Poe illustrates a very dark setting within the old man’s home in an unspecified town. All four of the characteristics of an American Gothic Fictional story were used in Poe’s heart-racing tale. The general characteristics include: a dark, scary setting (as previously mentioned), purposes to frighten the reader, very violent, and usually focuses on a supernatural force.
In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Poe chooses a very dark and creepy setting, as is the first characteristic of American Gothic. One online source notes, “The narrator's nervousness is a frequently used device of Poe to establish tone and plausibility through heightened states of consciousness.” (Womack) He places the entire story in the old man’s house, more specif...