The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe - Essay Example

There are a number of notable literary techniques that Poe implements in the story. One of the most prominent literary techniques Poe implements is the cyclical recurrence of descriptive features. For instance, Poe writes, “He had the eye of a vulture --a pale blue eye, with a film over it” (Poe). Poe here is speaking of the eye of the man he killed. This descriptive feature is repeated numerous times throughout the story; seemingly Poe implements this technique to heighten the narrator’s characterization as an off-balanced obsessive.

Indeed, a major technique implemented in establishing the narrative arch is the notion of the unreliable narrator. The clear consideration in these regards is the articulation of the narrator as insane; in this way, the narrator frequently works to prove that he is not insane. As the story progresses, however, Poe progressively demonstrates the narrator’s mental deterioration. Towards the end of the story, law enforcement encounters the individual regarding the crime. While at first, the narrator denies the action he eventually states, “Almighty God! --no, no! They heard!

--they suspected! --they knew!.Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his hideous heart!” (Poe). Through this conclusion, Poe is able to demonstrate the narrator’s paranoia and complete mental deterioration. After reading the Tell-Tale Heart there were a number of reactions. One of the most prominent is that while the story’s plot was not very complex, the texture and lyricism that Poe was able to create make it a timeless text.

This was perhaps the main reaction that was had to the story; namely, that Poe’s greatest genius is a slightly scary ability to place himself in the position of the narrator and bring an otherwise pedestrian plot to the level of art. Other considerations were the way that the narrator’s first-person account was highly engaging. This first-person account created an entirely unique mental landscape for the reader. In this way, the reader is able to experience this mental deterioration.

In conclusion, this essay has examined Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘Tell-Tale Heart’. In this spectrum of investigation, the essay demonstrates that Poe implements an unreliable narrator to add considerable texture to the story. In this characterization, Poe implements cyclical recurrences of descriptive features. He additionally structures the story in a way to demonstrate the progressive mental deterioration of the narrator.