Author: Edgar Allan Poe
(Both inner and external with all its categories -man vs man, man vs society, man vs nature, man vs super-power), climax, resolution (Real one and change it in a few words).
Elements of a story
Characters: The narrator, the old man and the three police officers.
Setting: It isn’t specified, however we can deduce that it happens in a house. The climax happened at midnight (Around 4 AM).
Plot
Personally, I consider that the tension continues until the end of the story, meaning that the climax continues until the end of the story. However, I will explain the plot with respective falling action and resolution.
Exposition: The story starts with an unnamed man trying to prove his sanity and that he suffered from a disease. After, he proceeds to explain he loved the loved man, but wanted to get rid of his evil eye forever. So, he was trying to convince himself to kill the man.
Rising action:(He continuously declared that he wasn’t mad/out of his mind) He prepared for the murder for a week, in which he was kinder than ever. During this period, he stalked the old man when he was in his sleep (at twelve), by lifting an opening or latch. Where he introduced his head and a dark lantern to pinpoint the old man’s eye , that allowed him to insert a lantern and his head. On the eight night, he entered the room cautiously, with his power extent he heard a bed movement, he did not get worried because the room was pitch black. When his head was already in, his thumb slipped upon the tin fastening, this way, producing a sound and waking the old man up. He asked “Who’s there?”, the narrator remained silent and started thinking about how his death was close.
Climax: After a long time, he decided to turn the lantern on, this one reflected into the vulture eye from the crevice in the lantern. The narrator was able to hear the old man’s heartbeat that rapidly became louder and faster. The man finally entered the room and killed the old man with the bed. In the silent night, he dismembered and hid the body beneath the flooring.
Falling action: At 4 AM, three police officers arrived because a shriek had been heard by a neighbor. They explained that, they had been deputed to search and the man let them in. He confidently led them throughout the house, so they would search. After, they all sat in the very same room where the body was buried and the narrator sat upon the place where the body was. They chatted for a while, but the narrator started hearing heartbeats that grew louder (it was all in his head).
Resolution: He became pale, while the sound increased he started talking more quickly with violent gesticulations. But the noise continued, in the end he thought that the policemen could hear and ended up confessing the murder.
Conflict:
Man vs man: The narrator didn’t only kill the old man, but he stalked him, thought about how to kill him, and committed the act because of a crazy obsession and killing desire over the man’s “vulture eye”, even if he didn’t despise the old man.
Man vs society: The conflict starts with the arrival of the policemen, he lied to them about where the old man was. So, they searched the place and started to chat with him afterwards. Since, what he had said was a lie, after some time, the presence of the men represented a thread for the narrator. The police officers represent justice and the law, while the man did something against the law.
Man vs self: This story can be described as a Psychological thriller. The main conflict in the story was the narrator’s mind, thoughts and reaction. At the begging, it is evidenced that he was mad. However, he was trying to prove his sanity to himself and the reader. The narrator didn’t feel any type of remorse after the murder, yet he felt the pressure of guilt (after the police officers arrived), combined with adrenaline ended up affecting the man’s mind (Until, he started hearing things, panicked and talked louder), he couldn’t control those emotions, consciousness took over, and he confessed.
Man vs Nature: More specifically, human nature. The narrator wants the old man to die. Even though death is natural, the action of murdering someone is not. The conscience of the human’s mind, made him feel remorse and fear, as a common human reaction. On the other hand, I consider that the sound produced by objects here on Earth, awakened the old man and alerted the neighbors.
Lastly, man vs superpower: The narrator says he has a disease that sharpens his senses. In the night of the murder, when he was trying to enter the room, he felt that his superpowers were at their extent, so these apparent powers distracted him often and also augmented his fear.
Elements of horror
Frightening setting: The setting of the story is really dark, because it is late at night inside a quiet house. Usually, this frightens or gives suspense to the story.
Characters: Realistic characters with powerful emotions, that have a reason and background for their actions. Like a dreadful protagonist or a villain single-mindedly focused on devastation. In this case, the narrator (protagonist and antagonist) expresses several strong emotions, like: madness, anxiety, panic, nervousness, etc. But also, mentions the reasons for his actions and tries to prove his sanity, even if his actions and lack of guilt prove the contrary; In addition, the character's behavior starts changing at the beginning of the story, which lets a filling of uncertainty to the reader. This behavior draws attention to the character.
Suspense-driven pace(Fear of the unknown): Throughout the story, several questions arise including:What is the relation between the characters? Why is he trying to prove his sanity? Where does this happen? Is this man in his right mind? Is he really talking louder now or is it just in his mind? Between others. The vague description of the setting, relationship, background and even the action of the characters, make the reader question himself and start fearing about what might happen. The man’s impulsive and irrational actions also can let us shocked, so we want to know what he does next. The repetition of words can delay the story’s pace, as well as giving the character time to plan his murder. The delaying of the pace builds up suspense, as well as plot twists (Almost at the end of the story we think that the narrator will get away with the murder, but instead the man starts panicking and confesses his deeds).
Proper representation of emotions: The use of descriptive and repetitive words help to recognize and comprehend the character better, because feelings and emotions are expressed through them. The use of senses (like hearing and sight) make the story more realistic and cause physical and mental reaction to the story. On the other hand, the use of suspense can be easily found in the point of view of the character and allows empathizing, feeling more of the characters emotions and gives room to feel suspense.
Iconography: The graphic details of the old man’s murder: Including how it was plotted, how he killed him (Dragging him to the floor and pulling a bed over him) and how he got rid of the body.
Narrative: The narrative is mysterious and dark. Despite, the details used in the story, many components remain vague. The name of the characters, the setting description, the lacks of dialogue, formality in the speech, etc are not mentioned or barely talked about. The story is written in first person from the perspective of the character with constant interaction with his emotions.
Tone: Nervous, remorseful and defensive
Theme: The sanity of the character, feeling of remorse and how the narrator developed throughout the story, for worse.
Voice: First person
Mood:
Description: Frightful, mysterious, anxious, cynical, vexed, and somber.
Characteristics: the narrator uses descriptive words (usually the expression of certain emotion, such as madness), repetition and details to increase the realism of the story.
Alternate resolution: When, they entered the room where the body was hidden; One of the policemen sensed a light smell of blood. All the policemen, started questioning him and looked around the room. The narrator kept denying everything that he was asked about. He tried to stay calm, but started panicking and getting violent. In fact, he tried to kick them out of the room by force, therefore the policemen started being more suspicious. The same man that smelled the blood, stepped on the plank where the body was hidden. Apparently, when he stepped on that area the sound of the floor was different. So, they took the plank out and found the body. The narrator eventually confessed.
Assembly:
The narrator has an obsession with the man’s eye, because according to him, it looks like a vulture eye. Vulture eyes represent consuming, or eating already dead animals or beings: For the narrator it meant death, which he was scared of.
Natalia Pérez
Step 8 yellow
E.L.A.
