Mystery and Oddity in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell Tale Heart

Abstract

This dissertation, entitled on “Mystery and Oddity in Edgar Allan Poe‟ The Tell Tale Heart”, seeks to give a better understanding of the gothic elements used in order to achieve Mystery and Oddity effects in The Tell Tale Heart. In this regard, the existing body of the research includes four parts; the first part presents an overall view of Romanticism and its characteristics. The second part then tackles backgrounds of American society in the nineteenth century, as well biographical information on the American author Edgar Allan Poe. The third chapter studies the literary style and techniques in the story. The fourth studies the content of the story in order to show ways in which mystery and oddity operate in the story.