Read the excerpt from "The Tell-Tale Heart."
What feature of gothic literature does the excerpt
include?
O an upbeat ending
O terror and fear
O an unsolved mystery
O life and death
Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the
groan of mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of
grief-oh, no! it was the low stifled sound that arises
from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with
awe. I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at
midnight, when all the world slept, it has welled up
from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful
echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it
well. I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him,
although I chuckled at heart. I knew that he had been
lying awake ever since the first slight noise, when he
had turned in the bed. His fears had been ever since
growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them
causeless, but could not.