Elements of Suspense
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Transcript Elements of Suspense
The Elements of
Suspense
All Stories Contain
Certain Elements
Plot
Character
Setting
Dialogue
Narrative
Suspense
Anxiety or apprehension
resulting from an uncertain,
undecided, or mysterious
situation
Dictionary.com
In suspense
there must be
an unknown;
a suspicion, a
mystery, a
danger we
expect
Suspense (mystery, intrigue, tension)
is built with:
Facts
Innuendo
Atmosphere
Action
Ways to deepen suspense…
Dreams
foreshadowing
what may happen
showing the
character’s
deepest fears, his
haunting past
Ways to deepen suspense…
Clues
journals
/ diaries /
letters / notes /
pictures, etc.
physical evidence that
can be used to
determine time of
death, how, and where
Ways to deepen
suspense…
The Weather
the
season can
match or contrast the
characters’ emotional state
Ways to deepen suspense…
The Senses
the
smell of blood, the stench of an
alley
the taste of fear
reaction to finding a dead body
the feel of blood-soaked clothing
Ways to deepen suspense…
The Villain
his/her
motivations or intentions
simple greed,
jealousy, money
the complicated
serial killer mind
Ways to deepen suspense…
Other characters
plant
red herrings
shift suspicion onto
them
Themes Concerning People
Terror inflicted upon the often unknowing and
innocent victim
Innocent people caught up in events they cannot
control
Transference of guilt: innocent character’s
failings are transferred to another character and
magnified
Explored the compatibility of men and women
(especially a mother figure)
The wrong man
Themes Concerning the Mind
Guilt (real or the
appearance of it)
Redemption
Early films reflected the
political climate of Europe
during the war
Preferred to use suspense
rather than surprise
The Nightmarish Mind of
Edgar Allen Poe
Background
Born 1809-1849
His mother died during
his youth and his father
abandoned them
After the death of his
grandmother, he married
his 13-year-old cousin,
Virginia in 1835
Virginia died in 1847
Died in 1849
Education of Poe
Entered
and
dropped from both
the University of
Virginia and West
Point
Ran into debt and
started borrowing
money, gambling
and getting deeper
Writing Style of Poe
Wrote
in a Gothic
Style
Deep and intense
Explorations of а
world of dream
and of nightmare
In his stories the
past is darker,
more ominous and
Poe’s Characters
Many
of his
characters are
filled with
madness
Obsessed with
the irrational side
of the mind
Edgar Allen
Poe’s
The Tell-Tale
HEART
General Information
Setting
The
story opens with the narrator
telling readers that he is not mad.
His narrative is supposed to be a
vehicle to show he is not insane.
The
story is set in a house occupied
by the narrator and an old man
during the mid 1800’s.
General Information
Genre
Horror
story and
psychological thriller
Story and Style
The
Tell Tale Heart is one
of Poe’s shortest stories.
It’s lack of detail only
adds to its suspense by
creating a mood of
Literary Focus
Point
The
of View
story is told in first-person
point of view by an unreliable
narrator.
The narrator is obviously
deranged, even though he
declares at the outset that he is
sane.
As in many of his other short
Literary Focus
Irony
The irony of the
story stems from
the narrator’s
claims of sanity
being disproved by
his own claims.
Although he
proclaims himself to
be too calm to be a
madman, he is
Literary Focus
Imagery
and Repetition
Poe’s
use of sound throughout the
narrative, combined by using repetition
adds to the story’s suspense.
The
effect is a building of noise in
the readers’ ears and a building of
tension
Themes
Mankind’s wicked side–another self
Mankind’s paranoia
Mankind’s Fear
Mental Pressure and Fatigue
Appearance vs. Reality
Dark Appearances vs. Dark Thoughts
Character Analysis
The Narrator
Deranged unnamed
person who tries to
convince the reader that he
is sane.
He is intelligent and has
the ability to commit a crime
with skill and precision
He nagged by what he
calls heightened senses,
something that is a
Character Analysis
Character Analysis
Seemingly harmless elder
The Old Man:
who has a hideous "evil
eye" that unnerves the
narrator.
Neighbor:
Person who hears a
shriek coming from the
house of the narrator and
the old man, then reports
Three Policemen: it to the police.