A Befriending Prelude to Murder

A Befriending Prelude to Murder

The villainous protagonists from Poe's stories, "The Tell Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado", are quite similar in their murderous ways. Both killers are deceptively devious in the manner they go about achieving a certain amount of trust between themselves and their ill-fated victims. The two men had shown an eerie likeness in their homicidal cunningness; however, their display of behavior varied as well. Their thought process varied. And their motivations differed. The outcome of each would also take them to completely altered fates.

Both Montressor and the nameless anti-hero of "Tell Tale Heart"(Poe writes this character completely from the first person narrative, never mentioning his name), make a conscious effort to befriend their prey in the time leading up to the attacks. Montressor's prey is a loud, brash man by the name Fortunato. While the victim being stalked in "Tell Tale Heart" is a frail, elderly man.

Fortunato, of "The Cask of Amontillado," has apparently insulted Montressor in such a way that it has become intolerable to his supposed friend. Montressor, knowing he cannot waver this offense, decides to dispose of his friend. Both men being self-proclaimed wine aficionados, Fortunato willingly accepts Montressor's invitation to sample a pipe of Amontillado he recently purchased.

Laughing and joking all the way down through the catacombs and to the vault, Montressor is completely oblivious to the fate his friend has awaiting for him. It is not until moments before the last brick sealing his doom is laid, does Montressor become aware of his undoing.

As the conniving Montressor so deviously executed, the unnamed villain of "Tell Tale Heart" also befriends his victim prior to attack This man; a servant of the elderly gentleman whom he preys upon, whole heartedly smiles in the face of his victim. An eye that resembles that of a vulture, disgusts the old man's servant to the point where he feels he must rid himself the sight of it. So, night after night, the servant eases his way into the old man's room. Every night inching the old man's door open, until he ultimately enters the room and asphyxiates him under his own bed.

Comparisons between the two pretty much end with the friendly faces they put on leading up to the attacks. While the "Tell Tale Heart" murderer chooses a swift decent for the old man, Montressor wickedly chains and seals Forturnato in a vault, allowing him to gradually wither away.