Why Does Edgar Allan Poe Use Of Setting

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Edgar Allan Poe used several literary devices of setting to help create the dark tone used in his story, including the time of day, population, elapsed time, and man-made geography. The time of day is inherent to creating the dark tone. On (538:1), it says “and every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it.” If this story scene did not occur at night, the narrator would not be able to creep into the room. The old man would be awake, making it more difficult to murder him. Another example as to why the time of day is essential is on (538:10, which says “and I did this for several long nights,” which also mentions how it’s night when he’s sneaking into the room. A final example is on (538:3), which says “upon the …show more content…
The neighbor perceived the scream and called the police on (541:3). This made him admit his crime to the police from nervousness. If the neighbors had not been there, the police would not have arrived. The narrator would have gotten off with a clean slate, and nobody would ever find out about the murder. A third essential element is man-made geography. The house had floorboards that were easy to take out, making it easy for the narrator to hide the body on (541:2). Also, on (541:3), the police walked around the house in search of anything suspicious,but found nothing because the floorboards fit easily back in place. This is considered man-made geography because the house was built by men. Without man-made geography, the narrator would have additional trouble hiding the body.
A fourth and final element of setting is elapsed time. On (538:1), the narrator takes an hour to stick his head through the door, which is important, not because it took an hour, but it was a step in the process of the murder. Also, on (538:3), it says “a watch’s minute hand moves more quickly than did mine.” This means he was extra cautious on sneaking in the old man’s room. A final example is on (539:1). It says that he stood still for an hour, not moving a muscle. All of the elapsed time is important because the narrators caution is the reason for his success in murdering the old
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