Edgar Allen Poe's The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado

1616 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: A case of murder analysis

Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Black Cat,' 'The Tell-Tale Heart' and 'The Cask of Amontillado'

In each of Edgar Allen Poe's stories of murder and madness, he takes us inside the mind of the murderer from the time he begins until after the deed has been done. Poe gives us a point of view not common in works of horror and suspense: the killers. We read the thoughts and follow the actions of the killer as he plots and follows through with his victim?s demise. All three of his stories are alike, especially 'The Black Cat' and 'The Tell-Tale Heart.' However, I found that 'The Cask of Amontillado' differ more than any of the other two from each other. While the murderers in 'The Black Cat' and 'The Tell-Tale Heart' are motivated by their own insanity, the character in 'The Cask of Amontillado' is driven by pure, old-fashioned revenge and jealousy. A couple main details I noticed about all three tales is that each story is told in first person, and all of the main characters are male. Also, in the end of each of these short stories all men turn out to be no better, if not much worse, than they already were.

The ?Tell-Tale Heart? begins with the murderer raving about his sanity, and that he commits the crime not because of lunacy but for his master?s ?Evil-Eye.? The man describes the eye as if it is a separate entity from the old man, and if it weren?t for the eye he would have nothing against his master. The eye being attached to the old man is just an unfortunate detail. In the following quote the man describes his feelings towards the Evil-Eye and what he decided to do about it: ?Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees-very gradually-I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself ...

... middle of paper ...

...d in some part of the home of each of the murderers. Also, in both of ?The Tell-Tale Heart? and ?The Cask of Amontillado? the killer?s guilty consciences eventually caused some sort of confession of their crimes. The man in the first story was driven mad into confessing from an imaginary heart beat, and the man in the latter is left to believe his conscience is what caused him to write his story confessing his crime. Both men in ?The Tell-Tale Heart? and ?The Black Cat? were extremely confident in their job hiding the bodies, and almost bragging at their job at hiding the body. However, in all three stories the men were punished in some way. The first two stories I described had the law punishing the two men. The final story I described the man was never caught by the authorities for his crime, but instead he had to deal with the weight from his guilty conscience.

Show More
Related

  • Death, Logic and Irony in Edgar Allan Poe´s "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Tell-Tale Heart"

    925 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe

    555 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Tell-Tale Heart begins with the narrator explaining that he is not mad, rather just very disturbed by about the vulture eye of the old man living in the same house. He seemed to be a bit nervous more than anything. On the other hand, the narrator of The Cask of Amontillado seemed to be quite arrogant. He was very confident that his plan to have revenge on Fortunato was going to work. Although the traits of the narrators are not quite similar, they both had the same idea in mind. That idea was to commit murder on a man they had a problem with. To me, both narrat...

    Read More

  • Comparison Between “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”

    2130 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast A Rose For Emily And The Tell-Tale Heart

    838 Words  | 2 Pages

    The narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” murders an elderly man because he is fearful of the man’s “evil 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; and so by degrees --very gradually --I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever” (Poe 37). The narrator explains that he is haunted by the man’s eye and the only way to

    Read More

  • Revenge in The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Cask Of Amontillado And Tell Tale Heart

    796 Words  | 2 Pages

    Reading Edgar Allen Poe’s works such as “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Tell-Tale Heart” are both written around 1840’s and written in the gothic style. Poe displays his horror short stories, in which the reader can differentiate his signature style. Although many of Poe’s significant works may have a similar theme, the reader can distinguish the themes through the characters in “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Tell-Tale Heart.”

    Read More

  • Common Motifs of Edgar Allan Poe

    1651 Words  | 4 Pages

    “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Pit and the Pendulum”, all have common motifs; death, fear or terror, and madness. Each story has their own special way of showing the three different motifs. In all three stories these three motifs were connected in some way. Someone was afraid of something or someone, which drove them mad, which led them to kill someone. In the case of “The Cask of Amontillado” death was caused by revenge, and hate. Death, fear and madness are all common themes in a lot of Poe's work. They add depth and different perspectives to look at things from. They all make the stories what they are.

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of the Amontillado

    1509 Words  | 4 Pages

    Poe has written a several different stories relating to being buried alive, “The Premature Burial” and “The Cask of Amontillado” being the most popular. Edgar Allan Poe “was one of the seminal American poets and short story writers of the nineteenth century” he was an influencer for writers like Charles Baudelaire and Jules Verne. Poe lost both of his parents as a child and was raised with a foster family and lost his foster mom early, too. He lost many of his loved ones throughout his life including his wife shortly after he was married. All of these losses had a significant effect on him and influenced his stories ("Edgar Allan Poe - Biography"). “The Cask of Amontillado is a well-known piece of literature by Edgar Allan Poe. Poe’s many losses were said to be somewhat of an influencer for many of his short stories. Dramatic irony in Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is a strong feature of his poem reflecting the poets personal feeling about isolation in death. We the readers are exposed to the dramatic irony when we are shown Montresors plans for Fortunato.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Tell Tale Heart And The Cask Of Amontillado

    1414 Words  | 3 Pages

    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,

    Read More

  • Theme Of The Black Cat And The Cask Of Amontillado

    1029 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe is one of America’s most celebrated classical authors, known for his unique dealings within the horror genre. Poe was a master at utilizing literary devices such as point of view and setting to enhance the mood and plot of his stories leading to his widespread appeal that remains intact to this day. His mastery of aforementioned devices is evident in two of his shorter works “The Black Cat” and “The Cask of Amontillado”.

    Read More

  • The Tell-Tale Heart: An Analysis

    902 Words  | 2 Pages

    In "The Tell-Tale Heart", the storyteller tells of his torment. He is tormented by an old man's Evil Eye. The storyteller had no ill will against the old man himself, even saying that he loved him, but the old man's pale blue, filmy eye made his blood run cold. And when the storyteller couldn't take anymore of the Evil Eye looking at him, he said, "I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever." This is the start of the storyteller’s madness, and as the reader listens to what he says, the madness within the storyteller becomes very apparent.

    Read More

  • Symbolism and Irony in The Tell-Tale Heart

    2255 Words  | 5 Pages

    E. Arthur Robinson feels that by using this irony the narrator creates a feeling of hysteria, and the turmoil resulting from this hysteria is what places "The Tell-Tale Heart" in the list of the greatest horror stories of all time (94). Julian Symons suggests that the murder of the old man is motiveless, and unconnected with passion or profit (212). But in a deeper sense, the murder does have a purpose: to ensure that the narrator does not have to endure the haunting of the Evil Eye any longer. To a madman, this is as good of a reason as any; in the mind of a madman, reason does not always win out over emotion. Edward H. Davidson insists that emotion had a large part to play in the crime, suggesting that the narrator suffers and commits a crime because of an excess of emotion over intelligence (203).

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of The Tell Tale Heart

    1694 Words  | 4 Pages

    "The Tell-Tale Heart" is one of the most successful fables ever written. It took off its most fantastic details regarding the murdered man 's vulture like eye, and the long drawn out detail concerning the murderer 's slow entrance into his victim 's room, the story stays at an unforgettable recording of the guilty conscience of the man 's voice.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat

    668 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe wrote that the single effect was the most important aspect of a short story, which everything must contribute to this effect. Poe’s gothic tale “The Black Cat” was written trying to achieve an effect of shocking insanity. In this first person narrative the narrator tells of his decline from sanity to madness, all because of an obsession with two (or possibly one) black cats. These ebony creatures finally drive him to take the life his wife, whose death he unsuccessfully tries to conceal.

    Read More

  • The Narrator in The Tell-Tale Heart

    883 Words  | 2 Pages

    Through the first person narrator, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" illustrates how man's imagination is capable of being so vivid that it profoundly affects people's lives. The manifestation of the narrator's imagination unconsciously plants seeds in his mind, and those seeds grow into an unmanageable situation for which there is no room for reason and which culminates in murder. The narrator takes care of an old man with whom the relationship is unclear, although the narrator's comment of "For his gold I had no desire" (Poe 34) lends itself to the fact that the old man may be a family member whose death would monetarily benefit the narrator. Moreover, the narrator also intimates a caring relationship when he says, "I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult" (34). The narrator's obsession with the old man's eye culminates in his own undoing as he is engulfed with internal conflict and his own transformation from confidence to guilt.

    Read More

More about Edgar Allen Poe's The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado

Open Document