The Cask Of Amontillado And The Tell Tale Heart

Edgar Allen Poe was a great author in the 18th century. He is the author of both The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado. Both of these stories show the dark and mysterious ways of the narrator. Well, these stories have been written by the same author. Hence, they have some similarities and differences. Poe is a great writer who can describe a scene in one paragraph. The stories have the right tone and a gloomy mood. Edgar Allen Poe being the author of The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado, he shows some similarities like the mood of the narrators though there is a difference in the characteristics of the narrators. The narrators have similar motives and mental states though their plans of action and the outcomes of their crimes are different.

Edgar Allan Poe is known for some of the most horrifying stories ever written through out time. He worked with the natural world, animals, and weather to create chilling literature. Two most notable thrillers are “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Poe was infatuated with death, disfigurement, and dark characteristics of the world. He could mix characters, setting, theme,and mood in a way that readers are automatically drawn into reading. Both of these short stories have the same major aspects in common.

<br>The way the narrator treats his enemy is one of the clearest examples for ironic elements. When the characters meet, Montresor realises that Fortunato is afflicted with a severe cold, nevertheless he makes a point of him looking "remarkably well". Montresor acts in the most natural and friendly way towards the man object of his revenge, and even praises his "friend's" knowledge in the subject of wines. Also upon their meeting, Montresor begins a psychological manipulation of Fortunato. He claims that he needs his knowledge to ascertain that the wine he has purchased is indeed Amontillado. Furthermore, he acknowledges that Fortunato is engaged in another business (i.e.: the celebration of carnival), so he would go to Luchresi, who, one is made to believe, is a competitor of Fortunato's. To these words, Fortunato is forced by his pride to accompany Montresor to the vaults (where the Amontillado is kept), dissipate his doubts and also to prove his higher status than Luchresi as a connoisseur of wine. In fact, during their way down under in the catacombs, the twisted mind of Montresor, dares to give Fortunato the chance to go back, due to the almost unbearable dampness and foulness rampant in the vaults and Fortunato's state of health. The narrator clearly knows about the stubborn nature of Fortunato, and is

It is often said that revenge is sweet, but that phrase does not hold to be extremely true throughout The Cask of Amontillado. There are various themes and lessons throughout the story, but there is one theme that seems to be shown more than others. The most prevalent theme is that jealousy can lead to vengeance, and ultimately lead to the downfall, or even death, of a person. This theme is clearly evident through the two main characters, Montresor and Fortunato. By looking closer at Montresor’s words and actions toward Fortunato, it is apparent that there is a superfluous amount of jealousy between them. This jealousy that is between them ends up playing a major part in Montresor ultimately killing Fortunato, someone who was thought to be one of his best friends. The author uses the characters and their actions to develop a solid plot line and prove the point that jealousy and revenge can destroy a person, both figuratively and literally.

First, horror is developed in “The Tell Tale Heart” by the insanity of the narrator. The narrator believes he is a sane person, but contradicted himself when he kills the old man. This creates a complex in the character’s mind. When the police shows because the neighbors heard a yell, he begins to hear the old man’s heartbeat, but his guilt consumes him and he confesses to murdering the old man and putting his body underneath the floorboards. Also, in the beginning of the story, the narrator describes why he wants to kill the old man. “It was impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night” (Para. 2). His insane idea of killing the old man because of his vulture eye pops into his thoughts without a preconceived notion of doing so. The murder is premeditated and thought out as each night he cracks the door open and glares the lantern directly at the vulture eye. The insanity of the narrator develops “The Tell Tale Heart” into horror.

Both narrators had nonsensical motives for murdering the victim, but they were different in a few ways. In “The Tell Tale Heart,” the narrator absolutely despises the old man’s eye. When the narrator says, “Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me an insult” (105), the reader presumes that the narrator would never do anything to hurt the old man. But, the way the narrator describes the eye, “He had the eye of a vulture-a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold” (105) shows the reader just how much the narrator hated the man’s eye. The quote also reveals to the reader a reason why the narrator could potentially do harm unto the old man. Even though the narrator had nothing against the old man except for his bothersome eye, he acted impulsively and killed the old man because he could not stand the eye any longer. Conversely, the narrator from “The Cask of Amontillado” killed the man because he hated the man. For instance the excerpt, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (75) shows that the narrator, Montresor, is planning revenge on Fortunato because of an insult he said.

Every persons’ life must come to an end eventually. In Poe’s short stories the Tell Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado, contrast between characters sparks a conflict. Although a person can live an enduring life, their lives can come to end before they know it. The strategic moves by characters in both of these stories, leads to gruesome deaths, causing characters to ensure their safety.

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most celebrated literary authors of all time, known for writing very suspenseful, dramatic short stories and a poet; is considered as being a part of the American Romantic Movement, and a lesser known opinion is he is regarded as the inventor of the detective-fiction genre. Most recognized for his mystery and macabre, a journey into the dark, ghastly stories of death, deception and revenge is what makes up his reputation. The short story under analysis is a part of his latter works; “The Cask of Amontillado”, a story of revenge takes readers into the mind of the murderer.

Rather it is the old man’s that is so unsettling. Any time the eye looked upon him his. It is that eye by which he is consumed and that eye that sends him into madness. It pushes him to wish to never have to look upon, or be looked upon by, that eye again. His solution, in what seems a rational choice to him, is to kill the old man. With a similar precision as the Montresor took in “The Cask of Amontillado”, the man in “The Tell-Tale Heart” has devoted himself to the perfect method to dispatch the old man.

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is a frightening and entertaining short story about the severe consequences that result from persistent mockery and an unforgiving heart. Poe’s excellent use of Gothicism within the story sets the perfect tone for a dark and sinister plot of murder to unfold. “The Cask of Amontillado” simply overflows with various themes and other literary elements that result from Poe’s Gothic style of writing. Of these various themes, one that tends to dominant the story as a whole is the theme of revenge, which Poe supports with his sophisticated use of direct and indirect factors, irony, and symbolism.

Montresor kills Fortunato by bringing him into a dark cavern and pushes him off the ledge. Fossie kills Mary Anne by bringing her into Vietnam. Although Mary Anne does not die, her life changes and becomes a savage of Vietnam. The ending of these stories are both dark, but in different ways. This is what makes comparing Poe to O’Brien tricky. Poe is known around the world for his horror stories but in “The Cask of Amontillado” he uses the character Montresor to provide insight on what’s going on in the story. Montresor is the narrator as well as a main character. As a reader continues reading The Cask of Amontillado they start to see a lot of irony in what’s going on, and as Dr. Charles W. Carter from The Writing for the Arts and Humanities “In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor is out for revenge. Poe’s Gothic story might lead the reader to believe that Montresor is diabolical and calculating. Montresor’s only concern appears to be exacting revenge with impunity. Montresor never clarifies why Fortunato deserves punishment. The only clue Montresor offers is that Fortunato causes him “a thousand injuries” until “[venturing] upon insult” (Poe 1). As a result, Montresor plans to bury Fortunato alive. Unwittingly, Fortunato becomes a sacrificial lamb being led to slaughter. Montresor carries out each detail while he smiles in the face of his victim. Montresor doesn’t smile at the thought of Fortunato’s “immolation” because of his viciousness. Montresor smiles because the sacrifice of Fortunato he believes brings him a great reward. Fortunato is merely a symbolic character of “a despised self in the unconscious” of Montresor (Sweet Jr. 332). Fortunato is ironically the “mirror self” of Montresor (Sweet Jr. 332). Montresor’s desire to bury Fortunato alive “paints the psychological portrait of repression” (Sweet Jr. 332). The burial of

What would one expect when a man gets killed for having an odd body part, or even for saying a mildly rude comment? For many students, reading and understanding dark short stories is very troublesome, and with such a large influence of this theme, the need to show different aspects is substantial. The author of the short stories, “Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Cask of Amontillado,” is Edgar Allen Poe, an author of mystery and macabre short stories. In the “Tell-Tale Heart” and the “Cask of Amontillado”, both protagonists end up killing their victim due to small and petty things, such as an eye, or a measly offensive comment. In this analysis, I will show Edgar Allen Poe shows his unique sense of style through irony, foreshadowing, and allusion; to entertain the reader.

The tell-tale heart, a tale about a man who murders and old man because his eye made him go mad. The story goes that hr as cared for the old man, bathed him, clothed him, loved and cared for him. The old man’s eye, however, is described as a vulture eye. The old man’s eye drives him mad, he says it watches and fallows him. He describes the only way to fix it is to kill the old man. He also states that he is sane by saying “cunning, oh how cunning I was! I waited and waited and was patient at every minute, waiting just waiting.”

In the stories “Tell-Tale heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado” both of these writings are dealt with unreliable narrators. Unreliable narrators being someone who can not be trusted, who have given little to any evidence as to explain their actions. Both of these stories are told by narrators who show mental instability from the beginning, and go to extreme measures near the end of the story with little to no information along the way. Both of these stories are told in first person, and are able to see it from their point of view. With having unreliable narrators, it allows the readers to use their imagination regarding the storyline, but also shows rising emotions coming from the narrators.

Looking at "The Cask of Amontillado" one can usually see the issue and theme of Montresor's rationale in executing Fortunato. The tone of the story is that of the narrator being confused and angry for the blame of his vindictive homicide that has denied him peace and questions the morality of his actions. His uneasy inner voice has turned into a sort of retaliation for his wrongdoing, and the blessing "In pace requiescat" (Poe) at the finish of the story is unexpected in the light of his mental anxiety and his insight that his own spirit is cursed by mortal sin. Fortunato and Montresor were political adversaries but they can also be viewed as religious ones. Montresor murdering Fortunato can relate to the historical Catholic's hatred of the