What best shows you how a character develops through his story? Is it in his actions, words or in his schemes? In “The Black Cat” and “The Cask Of Amontillado” written by Edgar Allan Poe, the characters develop very similar but also different. The characters both hide bodies behind a wall, act cocky and arrogant about their perfect crime. They feel no remorse or indifference, one death is premeditated and one is by accident.
Firstly, these two characters develop in a like manner with the way they think, act and feel. The man in “The Black Cat” disposes his wife’s body behind a wall without any sympathy for his action. “Finally I came upon what I considered a far better expedient than either of these. I determined to wall it up in the cellar.”
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This man has and feels no remorse for his terrible crime. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor plasters a wall of stone and hides a body behind feeling no guilt. “I had the eighth, the ninth, and the tenth tier. I had finished a portion of the last and the eleventh; there remained but a single stone to be fitted and plastered in.” Montresor conceals the body behind a wall perfectly and feels no remorse for his crime. Similarly, both characters conceal their crimes in a similar fashion and contain no feelings of remorse about what they have done. Secondly, both men boast and brag about their so-called perfect crimes.
The man in “The Black Cat” acts cocky, confident and arrogant about his perfect murder truly believing he’s never going to get caught. “I may say an excellently constructed wall. Those walls are solidly put together.” Shows his confidence in his crime and develops him as a cocky character. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor acts cocky and arrogant with a hint of sarcasm. “The cough's a mere nothing, it will not kill me. I shall not die from a cough.” “True, true” Montresor replies. Montresor is confident about how a cough won’t be killing him, it’ll be Montresor. The characters develop similarly as cocky and arrogant people or in those cases …show more content…
monsters. Furthermore, in “The Black Cat” and “The Cask of Amontillado”, one significant difference that stands out between the characters is in their intentions.
In “The Cask of Amontillado” it’s a premeditated murder and in “The Black Cat” it’s an outburst of rage leading to him killing his wife. The man in “The Black Cat” was only planning on killing the cat until his wife interfered with his fair bidding launching him into a rage. “I aimed a blow at the animal which of course, would have instantly proved fatal had it descended as I wished, but the blow arrested with my wife’s hand…. I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain.” He wasn’t aiming for his wife originally, but in a rage of her interference, he killed her. In “The Cask of Amontillado” he gets away with killing Fortunato with a planned murder scheme for vengeance and retribution. “A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its repressor. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make as such who has done him wrong.” Montresor had the whole scheme planned, hence premeditated murder. Even though both characters are crazy one character had an evil scheme and one couldn’t control his
emotions. Finally, both stories share similarities and differences in character development. In “The Black Cat” and “The Cask of Amontillado” the character development of insane, cocky, arrogant and remorseless characters builds up throughout the novels, but indifference one character has an evil scheme and one has an outburst of rage.
Poe terrified and befuddled readers with his short stories for over 150 years. Poe has written a lot of short stories, but the two of his most significant ones are “Hop-Frog” and “The Cask of Amontillado.” “The Cask of Amontillado” is about someone’s foolishness that brings him to his own death. “Hop-Frog” is about a dwarf-looking jester <run-on The two stories are both very different in their own distinctive ways, but at the same time they are both very similar. “Hop-Frog” and “The Cask of Amontillado” are more similar than different. These two stories, both have similarities and differences between setting, characters, and conflicts.
Have you ever met someone so clever, determined, and cruel to leave a man to die over an insult? Montresor is the perfect example of these character traits. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor uses all of these character traits to get revenge on Fortunado for insulting his family name. Montresor’s clever planning, determination for revenge, and cruel murder are the perfect combination for his unequaled revenge.
Montresor is a man who feels pride in himself and in his family, so when Fortunato—an acquaintance of Montresor— “venture[s] upon insult,” Montresor “vow[s] revenge” against him (1). Montresor hastily decides that he must kill Fortunato, even though his use of the word “venture” implies that Fortunato had not yet insulted him, but nearly did. Montresor’s impulsive need for revenge causes him to formulate a plan to murder his acquaintance. He keeps Fortunato intoxicated by “presenting him…[with] wine,” he “fetter[s] him to the granite,” and he “plaster[s] up… [a wall of] new masonry” to trap Fortunato in the catacombs (39, 71, 89). All of these acts are signs that the need for revenge has made Fortunato insane. A person who has any sense of morals would not commit crimes such as Montresor’s. His impetuous decision to exact revenge caused him to lose his
In Edgar Allan Poe’s, “The Cask of Amontillado,” the main character and narrator, Montresor begins the story by expressing how he has put up with many insults from a man named Fortunato and that he has had enough and vows revenge against him. Montresor lures Fortunato into the catacombs to taste the Amontillado so as to kill him secretly. Montresor portrays in the beginning of the story that he is going to be lying to Fortunato’s face, acting one way while really thinking another. This fact indicates that Montresor is an unreliable narrator for telling the story because he lies to people he knows, gives hints that he is jealous of Fortunato, does not offer an explanation for wanting to murder Fortunato and his tone of narrating the story.
According to Montresor, Fortunato committed “a thousand injuries” against him, but it was Fortunado’s insult against Montresor that fueled Montresor’s hatred enough to commit what is the ultimate crime against another person; the crime of death. The opening paragraph of The Cask of Amontillado says,
When they arrive at the Montresor estate, Montresor leads Fortunato down the stairs into the catacombs. Down here is where the Amontillado Fortunato is going to taste and where the revenge of Montresor is going to take place. As he get closer and closer, the narrator opens up more and more to how he is going to kill his "friend". It sound like it is a premeditated murder. Montresor seems so inconspicuous that he acts like he cares about Fortunato which is still a part of his plan.
In The Cask of Amontillado, the theme of revenge is established at the start of the story, when the narrator states that he suffered irreversible insult by his associate, Fortunato, thus he vowed to avenge this action. This is evident in the following statement in the opening paragraph of the story, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (Poe 7). Therefore, it is apparent to the reader from the onset of the story that revenge is a major driving force for Montresor for him to dreadfully murder his acquaintance,...
Montresor in "The Cask of Amontillado" is similar to the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" in that his obsession with consuming the soul of Fortunato influences his every action. However, it is with Fortunato himself that he is obsessed. He feeds off of Fortunato's pain, unlike the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" who's obsession is with destroying a menacing inanimate object. Montresor's entire conspiracy is focused around making Fortunato suffer, and for him to know just who is causing this suffering. This is why he goes to such lengths to put together this intricate strategy. It could have been so much easier to kill Fortunato in some easier, quicker way. Instead, he dedicates himself to torturing Fortunato. He creates a plan that leads Fortunato into the depths of the catacombs beneath his home, and kills him in an excruciating manner.
In “The Cask of Amontillado” it is safe to assume that Montresor suffers no repercussions for his entrapment of Fortunato. Perhaps he experiences a fleeting sense of guilt that he expresses through his retelling of his quest for revenge, but there is not much else within the story that would suggest Montresor experienced any other form of punishment. In “The Black Cat” however, the reader is immediately made aware that the narrator is suffering for his crimes. The narrator plainly states that he is on death’s row and that the actions that he engaged in have caused him great suffering. If the actions of Montresor and our anonymous narrator of “The Black Cat” had been committed today, would they be excused on the grounds of insanity? There is little evidence to suggest that Montresor was not mentally stable. Of course, to be able to partake in such an extreme act of vengeance one must be disturbed in some way or another. But without proper causation, there would likely be no excuse. As for the narrator of “The Black Cat”, the insanity defense might be used to some extent to explain his actions and motives for his violent crimes. The narrator was affected by alcoholism early in the story and was not in his right mind. He stated that he tried to resist the urges of violence within himself, but ultimately could not. Because of the narrator’s conflicting emotions and the heavy
In his article “On Memory Forgetting, and Complicity in “the Cask of Amontillado”” Raymond DiSanza suggests that an act of wrongdoing is always at the heart of good horror stories. (194) DiSanza’s article on “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe describes Poe’s writing in a way I didn’t think of myself. DiSanza finds Poe’s language in this story to “taste like amontillado: smooth, slightly sweet, and appropriately chilled”. (DiSanza 195) Throughout his article he mostly talks about what possibly could have been Montresor’s motive to kill Fortunato? And why did Montresor wait fifty years to tell the story?
Edgar Allan Poe has a style that is dark and morbid. His tone is very gloomy and obscure. The tone of “The Cask of Amontillado” is almost tame compared to the tone of “The Black Cat”, his other work we covered. The tone of that work is almost maddening. “The Cask of Amontillado” tone is very sinister and methodic. Whereas “The Black Cat”, has a pulse to a cadence and rhythm though no clear pattern is established. Poe’s style of writing seems so personal, as a reader I had to remind myself this was fiction. His first-person style of writing is so detailed and intricate it is very easy to become invested in the world he creates. “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Black Cat” both have themes of revenge where the supposed victim is untimely
Furthermore, Poe’s plot development added much of the effect of shocking insanity to “The Black Cat.” To dream up such an intricate plot of perverseness, alcoholism, murders, fire, revival, and punishment is quite amazing. This story has almost any plot element you can imagine a horror story containing. Who could have guessed, at the beginning of the story, that narrator had killed his wife? The course of events in “The Black Cat’s” plot is shockingly insane by itself! Moreover, the words in “The Black Cat” were precisely chosen to contribute to Poe’s effect of shocking insanity. As the narrator pens these he creates a splendidly morbid picture of the plot. Perfectly selected, sometimes rare, and often dark, his words create just the atmosphere that he desired in the story.
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.
“Black Cat” is about a narrator and his tribulations with animals, cats in particular with this work. The short story starts out with the narrator telling
Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Black Cat immerses the reader into the mind of a murdering alcoholic. Poe himself suffered from alcoholism and often showed erratic behavior with violent outburst. Poe is famous for his American Gothic horror tales such as the Tell-Tale Heart and the Fall of the House of Usher. “The Black Cat is Poe’s second psychological study of domestic violence and guilt. He added a new element to aid in evoking the dark side of the narrator, and that is the supernatural world.” (Womack). Poe uses many of the American Gothic characteristics such as emotional intensity, superstition, extremes in violence, the focus on a certain object and foreshadowing lead the reader through a series of events that are horrifying and grotesque. “The Black Cat is one of the most powerful of Poe’s stories, and the horror stops short of the wavering line of disgust” (Quinn).