The Landlady Compare And Contrast

The short stories “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe and “House Taken Over” by Julio Cortazar are two well known works of literature that encompass unique literary styles. Poe utilizes Gothic literature in his story, a style of writing that incorporates elements of darkness, gloom, drama, and intense descriptions. On the other hand, Cortazar uses Magical Realism and its realistic characters, setting, and fantastic and unusual events to tell his tale. Despite the two being completely different genres, they share many similar traits, specifically relating to fear.

Firstly, the central conflict in each work is murder; they both revolve around the main characters’ plans and actions of this terrible crime. Both stories share the same plot ideal, but differ in murder execution and justification. In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator murders his victim, possibly a family member of his, because he could not stand to look at his eye anymore. He recites, “I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever” (331). One pale eye, with a film over it that resembled a vulture, influenced the murder of the old man. The execution occurred when the narrator, “Dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him” (333). The narrator smothered the old man until he suffocated and died. However, in “The Cask of Amontillado”, the narrator, Montressor, desires to kill his friend, Fortunato, because he insulted his family’s honor, and he wanted revenge. Montressor utters, “When he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (190). His murder was executed by trapping his victim in a walled-up enclosure, in the deep vaults of a remote crypt on his property. Montressor explains “With these materials (building stone and mortar) and with the aid of my trowel, I began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche” (193). Both narrators committed cruel, unnecessary murders, and they could be considered psychotic.

The House on Mango Street, written by Sandra Cisneros, is a novel about a young girl growing up in the Latino area of Chicago. It is highly admired and is taught in a plethora of grade schools and universities. The House on Mango Street expresses the story of Esperanza Cordero, whose neighborhood is full of harsh realities and jarring beauty. Esperanza doesn’t want to belong- not to her run-down neighborhood, and not to the low expectations the world has for her. Esperanza’s story is of a young girl coming into her power, and inventing what she will become for herself. While Esperanza and the other women have many differences, as in the way she is fortunate to avoid the pitfalls of her environment and others are not, there are just as many

The tone of the narrative is rather mysterious which conveys an energetic and odd mood. “The Tell-Tale Heart” talks about a villain who is very disturbed by the abhorrent eye of an old man. The villain is so bothered by the atrocious eye that he convinces himself into killing the innocent old man although he delays the murder day after day because he is eager to find the most ideal time to commit the murder. Although after a seven-day wait, the villain decides to kill the old man on the eight night, and he hides the corpse of the elder under a series of floorboards in a very clever manner. Soon after, the police arrived at the house that the murder was committed in because the neighbors of the old man complained that they heard a noise coming

Chills run down your spine as a breath of wind rushes past your frame. Incoherent whispering fills your ear due to the flowing wind… Edgar Allen Poe, one of America’s most prolific writers, wrote numerous horror stories that defined the genre for modern writing. Effort went into creating the style that he was known for, but was it constant from one story to the next? Despite differences in plot and length there are similarities of tone, setting, structure, narration, and character between two of his most famous stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” that allude to Poe’s true writing style.

Chills slide down your spine as a breath of wind rushes past your frame. Incoherent whispering fills your ear due to the flowing wind… Edgar Allen Poe, one of America’s most prolific writers, wrote numerous horror stories that defined the genre for modern writing. Poe used a specific writing style, which is now well known, but was it constant from one story to the next? Despite differences in plot and length, there are similarities of tone, setting, structure, narration, and character between two of his most famous stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” that allude to Poe’s true writing style.

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.

The Tell Tale Heart' is a story about a man who killed an old man just

Even though the gruesome, ghastly and demonic story known as “The Landlady” ends in a disturbing way, it portrays many characteristics about the protagonist, Billy. There are numerous ways to characterize Billy, a 17-year-old kid on his first business trip in the strange city of Bath, England. Billy begins his journey to a hotel known as the Bell and Dragon but stumbles to a halt when he sees a seemingly cozy bed and breakfast that catches his eye. For a few pages everything seems great; unfortunately for Billy, he has some flaws which ultimately lead to his shocking death at the hands of a demented landlady. These are curiosity, a tendency to miss important clues, and gullibility.

‘The Tell Tale Heart" murder was similar; however the reasons for murder were different. The narrator, who doesn’t have a name, is a neurotic and suffers from a hypersensitive condition. In this short story, the narrator plots to kill an old man, with a vulture eye. The differences between these two murders: the victim in this case was an old man and was like a mentor to him. The narrator had a close relationship with him; they weren’t enemies or rivals as in "The Cask". The murder from the ‘The Cask, was a jealous murder. This murder was done to prove a point. "The Tell Tale" the victim (the old man), as the narrator describes, had a pale blue eye with a film over it "a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones". As I was reading, I realized that he didn’t really have a good reason to kill the old man. It almost seemed as if he were looking for a reason to kill him. "Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this!" This narrator doesn’t kill his mentor, over jealousy, or insults. The narrator kills the old man because of his eyes. He doesn’t like the old man’s "vulture" eye, and it really bothered him due

In this comparison essay I have used of the short stories, written by two 2 very well known authors. Shirley Jackson writer of “The Lottery”, and Edgar Allan Poe writer of “The tell tale heart”. Both stories deals with 2 horrifying murder. Why would any human want to kill another human being for ridiculous reason? Reasons that will shock anyone in today's society. I will show similarities and differences in the title of the stories, POV/ narrator, and the setting in which the killing takes place and plots of the story.

Within “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl, the theme is that being naive can make one unaware of dangerous situations. Billy Weaver was looking for a decently priced hotel to stay at. However, an old lady offered to take him in for a night at her bed and breakfast. So, the lady welcomed Billy and insisted that he drink a cup of tea that happened to be posioned. Then, Billy slowly sipped the poisonous tea while he questioned the lady. Finally, Billy’s innocence led him to the high risk situation of consuming the toxic tea.

Both of these works have very similar narrators. By just reading the works, they seem very different because of who they killed and why, where and with whom they lived, and how they murdered their victims. But, by analyzing the two men, they become more and more alike. They both tell their stories in the first person and write from their jail cells. Each chose to reference an animal in their stories. The two men, both hide the corpses in the structures of the homes. Likewise, the narrators try to defend their sanity by logically justifying their horrific actions based on their mental states throughout the flashbacks of the events.

A poet, whose name was Edgar Allen Poe, wrote about blood curdling tales of horror. One of his many poems was called "The Tall Tale Heart". This particular story is about a man who has fallen into madness. This mad man, who lives with an old man, who has a glass eye, believes he is not crazy. The mad man hated the glass eye! Even though the old man hasn't done any harm to him, he wanted to kill him because he despaired the glass eye so much. The mad man waited out for seven nights waiting and waiting to kill him. The eye never opened until the eighth night, after the mad man had bumped in to the dresser. Then the he opened and he leapt. Screams filled the room. Later on that night, police knocked on the door. The murder allowed them to come

Of all the amazing stories that comprise this anthology, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Black Cat”, and “The Pit and the Pendulum” are the best three in the compendium. Written by Edgar Allen Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a thrilling story about a man who commits an atrocious deed. With an illness infecting his mind, the narrator plots and carries out the murder