The Tell-Tale Heart: Close Reading

"No doubt I now grew very pale;—but I talked more 

fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound 

increased—and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick 

sound—much such a sound as a watch makes when 

enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath—and yet the officers 

heard it not. I talked more quickly—more vehemently; but 

the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, 

in a high key and with violent gesticulations, but the noise 

steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the 

floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by 

the observation of the men—but the noise steadily increased. 

Oh God! what could I do? I foamed—I raved—I swore! I

swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it 

upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually 

increased. It grew louder—louder—louder! And still the 

men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they 

heard not? Almighty God!—no, no! They heard!—they 

suspected!—they knew!—they were making a mockery of 

my horror!—this I thought, and this I think. But any thing 

was better than this agony! Any thing was more tolerable 

than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no 

longer! I felt that I must scream or die!—and now—again!—

hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!— "

(paragraph 17)

In the first sentence "very" is italicized which obviously is meant to emphasize the word; the narrator turned not just pale but very pale. Poe uses a lot of "--" to pause on thoughts; this shows that the narrator's thought's are kind of all over the place and he loses train of thought as he tells his story often. He starts talking about a sound he hears and goes into great detail about how this sound increases and gets to him, After the detail of this sound he hears he gasps and (pause). The sound is obviously getting to him as he says he starts to talk more quickly (pause) more vehemently (word choice: meaning very emotional). The noise is ever growing and he is becoming more and more paranoid; his thoughts seem  to be getting even harder to put together (pauses).

"Was it possible they heard not?" (Poe 730) showing us, as the reader that the man is mad. . . he is hearing something and it is very obvious that it is getting to him and these other men in the scene don't seem to hear a thing. Then, the man goes on to say that he thinks the men do hear this noise and they are just messing with him; that they knew of what he had done. "--they were making a mockery of my horror!--"(Poe 731) paranoia growing.

"I felt I must scream or die!-- and now-- again!-- hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!-- "(Poe 731) Again, many pauses showing he is having trouble forming full thoughts, also we see that he is not only crazy but seemingly going even more insane and about to completely break. ( At this point I am picturing him standing up, pacing, hands firm on his head like he is going to rip is hair out because these noises are making him so crazy).

The word "sound" is seen a lot throughout this paragraph, as well as the word "loud"/"louder". This makes me think that these words obviously have a very important meaning (otherwise Poe would not have used them so much). This paragraph describes the noises he is hearing in his head and how it eventually causes him to break, so the repetition of these words makes a lot of sense.


Works Cited:
Poe, Edgar A. "The Tell-Tale Heart".1843. The Story and It's Writer: An Introduction to Fiction. Ann Charters. Boston:
                         Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2011. 727-731. Print.