I have read both short stories by Edgar Allen Poe, ‘the Cask of Amontillado, as well as ‘the Tell Tale Heart. Between these two stories lie many similarities and few differences. For instance, both of these stories the narrator describes a murder. In the Cask, the narrator Montressor, whose sanity is questionable, describes the way he murdered his rival Fortunato. The man Fortunato, who isn’t all that fortunate in death, has insulted Montressor many times and Montressor seeks revenge for so long, but hasn’t acted until now. Fortunato was a connoisseur of wine, and was a very wealthy man. Montressor is equally as wealthy as he, however, he has something to prove by killing Fortunato, but doesn’t want to be caught doing so. "I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong". As a result, he doesn’t allow Fortunato, or anyone to know how angry he is, or that he seeks to teach him a lesson. Montressor’s goal is to make Fortunato feel as weak, upon his own death, as Montressor did enduring the insults and embarrassment he suffered. Montressor waits for the perfect moment so he can kill Fortunato without getting caught. Finally, he seizes the moment to act upon the revenge he’s been waiting for one night when he finds Fortunato in a drunken state after a carnival. He lures Fortunato into his home by challenging his connoisseurship of wine. He allows Fortunato to believe that he is inviting him because he would like to test his knowledge in wine against another connoisseur. Fortunato is sick with a constant cough, and to top it off very drunk, which in this state he... ... middle of paper ... ...nd tries not to make a sound. Even when there is a sound, he waits, and doesn’t allow his presence to be seen, if not unheard. On the eighth night, after waiting so long, and taking so much precaution, he finally suffocates the old man with his mattress. The difference here is that, in "The Tell Tale", the murder was very meticulous and calculated. The narrator knew just when and how he was going to kill the old man. In opposition to "The Cask", there was the absence of a murder plot. I found the situational irony of these two short stories to be quite interesting. In "The Cask", the victim’s name is Fortunato, which stems from the word fortune. Fortunato may have been fortunate as far as his wealth is concerned, however, not so much in his death. I would assume that someone named Fortunato would fortunate in everything, life, health, wealth and even die peacefully.
Montresor must trick and manipulate Fortunato to accomplish his goal of revenge. He tells Fortunato the reason he is at the ...
In the Edgar Allan Poe stories "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" the most prominent and important themes that are used are death, logic, and irony. The characters of the narrator and Montresor in these stories are both coldblooded murders who kill for selfish and inane reasons who firmly believe that their actions are justified even though their justifications only make sense in their own minds. They both try to convince their audience that they are sane by explaining to them their reasons for killing their victims and admitting how they did it, which only helps to prove their insanity. The narrator and Montresor are similar in that they both have impaired senses of judgment encouraged by perverse morals and believe that the horrible things that they do are justifiable.
The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado are two stories written by Edgar Allen Poe in the 18th century. Both of these stories are primarily focused on the mysterious and dark ways of the narrator. Since these stories were written by the same author, they tend to have several similarities such as the mood and narrative, but they also have a few differences. For instance, the characteristics of both narrators are different, but both stories portray the same idea of the narrator being obsessive over a certain thing.
While at the carnival, Montresor bought some of the finest Amontillado wine to use in his vengeful plan to murder Fortunato. He then meets his "friend," Fortunato. Fortunato is wearing "a tight fitting parti-striped dress and head is surmounted by the conical cap and bells" (Poe 528). By him wearing this outfit, makes it great for the narrator because he is going to make a fool out of Fortunato. Montresor is a manipulative person. He challenges Fortunato's connoisseurship on wine tasting and leads him to his family estate.
In the ten years following 1836, Edgar Allan Poe established himself as a short story writer, writing the well known stories “The Tell-Tale Heart” in 1843 and “The Cask of Amontillado” in 1846. As dark as his nature was, the two stories were equally dark, one about a man killing an elderly man with a creepy eye, and the other about a rich dude killing someone who insulted him. As both of the tales possess main elements of murder and death, both of them also have elements that link the stories even more such as their protagonists, character motivations, and resolutions.
Montresor takes full advantage of the fact that Fortunato has a soft spot for fine wines. Montresor seeing that the only opportunity that he would have to exert revenge would be when wine is to be drunk in surplus decides to wait until the Carnival Season. We are told of one evening during the season when Montresor invites Fortunato over to his place. The major reason for the invite is to have Fortunato taste a sample of sherry that he had acquired to ascertain if the s...
In order to fully understand Poe’s use of the narrator the two previously mentioned stories must be summarized. "The Cask of Amontillado" is a tale about the narrator, Montresor, who desires to act revenge on his acquaintance Fortunato. He lures Fortunato into his basement in order for Fortunato to examine a rare wine called an Amontillado. While in the deep crypt Montresor offers Fortunato more and more wine so that by the time Fortunato gets to the area where the cask is kept he is heavily intoxicated. Montresor then chains Fortunato to a stone and begins to build a wall, trapping Fortunato inside the crypt to die while Fortunato screams and pleads for his life. Montresor, hearing his pleas for mercy and life, ignores them and continues to build the wall knowing that no one will ever find the body of the unfortunate Fortunato.
The narrators in both works prove to be similar in several ways. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” the story is told through a psycho narrator; both stories contain apparent psychological imbalances within their story tellers, “ -his central character or narrator so psychologically obsessed with a mysterious phenomenon that everything in the story irresistibly revolves around it...”(May, Charles E.) There really is no motive for the murder of the old man; just his eye that he cannot stand. He repeats himself frequently, trying to assure the reader, and himself, that he is sane; leading to believe he may not be psychologically stable. In “The Cask of Amontillado” the narrator can also be considered a mad man by the way he plays games with his victim. Montressor says to Fortunato that they should go home because “his health is precious.” This conversation is ironic because Montressor does not really want to protect Fortunato's health, but to kill him in the catacombs. Both of the narrators are proud of their murders and brag about them within the stories. Not only are the narrators similar but the settings are alike once the murders take place, both locations of the victims are buried in a dark place with no escape.
He did not show even by words that he is going to kill. Also, he did not let Fortunato to know that he intended any grudge against him “..neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will... He did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation (8-10).” One night while Fortunato was drunk, Montresor told him that he bought a barrel of wine called Amontillado “But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts (25).” He understood that Fortunato “prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine (12).” He attracted him to going to his house to check the drink by saying that he might invite Luchresi to do it, a seeming rival of Fortunato 's, instead “As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchresi. If any one has a critical turn it is he. He will tell me (37-38).” When they left, Montresor put on a mask and quickly took the way to his property. He was sure nobody could see them together on Fortunato 's last night. Moreover, Montresor completely knew Fortunato and used the knowledge versus him. He planned his deed carefully and carried it out slowly. It seems that Montresor anticipated his revenge with joy. While they traveled down the cavern, Montresor gives Fortunato many opportunities to leave. Fortunato looks weak against the niter, which is growing on the walls, and repeatedly coughs. Montresor commented on Fortunato 's health and asked
In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montressor was calm and collected. He is ruthless in achieving his only motive throughout the story, which is revenge for how Fortunado has offended him. Even after Montressor committed murder, he does not reveal this fact to anyone for over fifty years. This fact depicts Montressor does not feel guilty. On the other hand, In “Tell-Tale Heart,” the man’s personality is described as insane, constantly nervous, and paranoid. He rarely sleeps at all and portrays to be completely lonely. Once the man kills the old man, he instantly begins hearing a noise a heart pumping. The pumping of the old man’s heart, which is getting louder each moment, portrays the killer’s guilty conscience. However, in the the “Tell-Tale Heart, the murderer’s unstable mental health and guilty conscience lead him to bury the old man’s body under the floorboard in an extremely brutal manner. He also confesses to the authority, assuming they can all hear the noise of the heart
Poe presents the narrators of "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado" as devious, obsessed characters. Both are overpowered by the need to consume the life of their victim. Though they use different strategies to carry out the murders in different ways, obsession is the driving force in both. It is this obsession that inspires them to design cunning strategies and carry out the executions.
The power to change is man’s greatest struggles, since a strong influence that lead them to where they are now. It is also the price and journey that both Montresor in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell Tale Heart” and the narrator of the “The Cask of Amontillado”, another of poe’s story. In both story the narrators, both indicate that they want to get rid of an addiction they had that is driving them to madness, and in order to do so they, must do it at any cost. Both narrator clearly plan on their instincts and carefully plans out methods in which leads them to their satisfaction. These stories contain many similarities and differences in the use of tone, irony and symbolism, of the protagonist. Through these characters and their actions,
The narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” has taken the time to meticulously plot. He sneaks nightly into the old man’s room preparing until he is ready to carry out his plans. His discontent lies...
He was also described as having an addiction to wine (Woodworth 2). This man was already drunk when he meets Montresor. Fortunato, keeps drinking because he enjoys drinking wine and is powerless, which Montresor knows when it would be a good time to take action and attack him. Fortunato does not really notice that Montresor is mad at him and continues to wonder what he is doing. The reason that Fortunato does not understand the way Montresor is acting is because he does not think he has done anything bad to
The Tell Tale Heart is a story, on the most basic level, of conflict. There is a mental conflict within the narrator himself (assuming the narrator is male). Through obvious clues and statements, Poe alerts the reader to the mental state of the narrator, which is insanity. The insanity is described as an obsession (with the old man's eye), which in turn leads to loss of control and eventually results in violence. Ultimately, the narrator tells his story of killing his housemate. Although the narrator seems to be blatantly insane, and thinks he has freedom from guilt, the feeling of guilt over the murder is too overwhelming to bear. The narrator cannot tolerate it and eventually confesses his supposed 'perfect'; crime. People tend to think that insane persons are beyond the normal realm of reason shared by those who are in their right mind. This is not so; guilt is an emotion shared by all humans. The most demented individuals are not above the feeling of guilt and the havoc it causes to the psyche. Poe's use of setting, character, and language reveal that even an insane person feels guilt. Therein lies the theme to The Tell Tale Heart: The emotion of guilt easily, if not eventually, crashes through the seemingly unbreakable walls of insanity.