The Tell-Tale Heart笔记整理

comment on the point of view of this story:

Of the stories by Poe, this selected pieces is widely considered a classic of the gothic fiction genre an done of Poe's most famous short stories.

Gothic novel or Gothic romance is a story of horror and suspense,usually set in a gloomy old castle or monastery. In an extended sense,many stories that do not have a medieval setting, but which share a comparably sinister,grotesque, or claustrophobic atmosphere have been classed as Gothic.

This story is a first-person narrative of an unnamed narrator who, after careful calculating,murders an old man and hides his body by dismembering it and putting it under the floorboards. The narrator, however,shocked by the constant beating of the heart and a feeling that not only are the officers aware of the sound (The old man's scream during the very night causes a neighbor to call the police.)But that they also suspect him, confesses to killing the old man and tells them to tear up the floorboards to reveal the body.

Using the first－person point of view is both significant and effective in that it allows the reader to engage in the thoughts of the narrator and make a conclusion about his character. In this story, the reader can conclude based on the thoughts and remarks of the narrator that he is deranged and suffers from symptoms of insanity. For instance, the narrator begins the story stating "I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell", and inquring "How then am I mad?" The narrator's "over accuteness of the senses", with which he thinks he later hears the heart beating under the floorboards, is actually evidence that he is truly mad. And his insistence upon his sanity, despite his best efforts at defending himself, is self-destructive because in attempting to prove his sanity he fully admits his crime of murder.

Details also contribute much to the building of the atmosphere. In the scene where the old man awakens, for instance, Poe includes such details "…he moved on the bed suddenly, as if started","his room was as black as pitch", "I kept pushing it, steadily, steadily". These details help the reader to feel the atmosphere of horror. Repetition of words is another means by which Poe employs to create the frightening mood and signal the intensity of the coming of the climax. For instance, the narrator exclaims at the end of the story "and now–again!–hark! Louder! Louder!Louder!" Here, the reader will feel himself on the spot to witness the narrator's horrible internal disintegration.

Madness in this story is exposed from a mad man's own point of view and Poe uses this to successfully instill fear and suspense into the minds of his readers. Further, in the story the narrator says that the old man "had the eye of a vulture–a pale blue eye, with a film over it."Although this is a mad man's imagination and may not be true, such an eye also makes the reader's hair raise, and thus contributes to the Gothic atmosphere as a whole.