Edgar Allen Poe: Readers Beware

I made the mistake of reading Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories at night in the empty study lounge. Needless to say, that was a mistake not only because his stories are very creepy but also because it was very windy and the wind has a way of sounding like every scary thing one could possibly imagine. However, while content and where you choose to read can enhance the scare factor of Poe’s stories, I think what really makes his stories so horrifying is how he, as an author, betrays the reader, as do other authors whose stories are written from the point of view of the mad. To pick up a book, or in this case a short story, and begin reading is to basically put your fate in the hands of the author. Reading something for the first time you don’t really know what to expect but you know that reading won’t do you any harm, you put full faith and trust in the narrator and author, knowing that they will see you to the end of the story. This trust, that the narrator will act as a guide through the events of the story, is violated by Poe as the narrator of "Tell-Tale Heart" is dangerous and not one the reader would readily follow if given a choice of narrators. In  “Tell-Tale Heart”, the only insight we have into what is going on is based on the deranged narrator’s point of view. As readers, we’re forced into the head of a dangerous-mad person and remain trapped there throughout the rest of the story. It’s not like in the "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "The Rats in the Wall" where the narrator was at one point crazy but is narrating the story after the fact, either recovering from their ordeal, fully recovered, or lock safely away within the confines of a padded cell. No, in  “Tell-Tale Heart” Poe places the reader inside the mind of a psychopath with absolutely no hope of escape or relief from the characters insanity. The actions of such a person are terrifying enough, but being inside their head takes it to a whole different psychological level of fear and suspense, and it effectively leaves the reader with a feeling of hysteria and excess adrenaline, or so was my experience.