Tell Tale Heart Vs. W. Jacobs Analysis

Suspense is one of the most important elements in an eerie and frightening story or movie, and without it, there it wouldn’t be spine-chilling. In the story “Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe, he creates a very suspenseful mood to entice readers into continuing to read the story. In the story, “The Monkey’s Paw” by W. W. Jacobs, he also creates a suspenseful mood to make readers interested and read until the end of the story. The authors of these stories, Edgar Allen Poe and W. W. Jacobs, also use other techniques, which include setting details, imagery, and a character’s feelings and dialogue. Even though both authors use these techniques in some way, there are some differences and several similarities between their utilization of them. …show more content…
In the text, “Tell-Tale Heart”, by Edgar Allen Poe, it states, “... the old man sprang up in the bed crying - ‘Who’s there?’” This quote shows one of the very few pieces of dialogue that is in the story, but to make up for this, there are a lot more character feelings stated. On the other hand, in W. W. Jacobs’s story, there are lines upon lines dialogue from every character. However, since it is from a third-person point of view, there are absolutely no feelings shown and it is purely left up to the reader's imagination. Another variation in the two stories is that in “The Monkey’s Paw”, W. W. Jacobs describes the setting very well with tons of details throughout the text. An example is, “Without, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlor of Laburnum Villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly. Meanwhile, in Edgar Allen Poe’s story, there are only a few details that describe the setting, making the description of the setting very vague in our minds, leaving a lot to our imagination. Finally, something that is not mentioned very much in “Tell-Tale Heart” is foreshadowing, there is much more foreshadowing in W. W. Jacobs story and this adds to the tension and suspense build up. Either writer, Edgar Allen Poe or W. W. Jacobs, produces a suspenseful mood, but in their own way, and this is what creates such an enthralling …show more content…
The first matter to compare is that both of these authors include a great deal of imagery. In the story, “The Monkey’s Paw”, on line 29 it states, “... followed by a tall, burly man, beady of eye and rubicund of visage.” Also, in “Tell-Tale Heart”, on lines 105 and 106, it says, “First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs.” Both of these quotes create an image in the audience's mind and helps to enhance the experience of reading the story. These kinds of descriptions and details help create a very suspenseful and tense mood for the reader, and this is the kind of reaction the authors want to get out of the audience. Lastly, the biggest similarity is that both of the texts include the techniques named, imagery, setting details, and the feelings and speech of the characters. Both authors, Edgar Allen Poe and W. W. Jacobs, use some parts of these techniques and others to create a more suspenseful mood. Even if there are more differences, similarities are everywhere and the ones between them are used to create such a unique

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