Commen Elemements of Fiction

The two short stories “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado” share similar and different characteristics. Both written by Edgar Allen Poe, these stories involve murder, possibly insane narrators, and weak victims. They both also contain the theory of madness and obsession. Although these stories share many similar aspects, they differ in murder justification, murder execution, and final outcome of each situation.

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.

The Cask of Amontillado is the story of and envious man by the name of Montresor who has devised a plan to kill one of his long term friends Fortunato. Montresor devised this plan in the beginning of the story after Fortunato had pulled one joke to many while at a party surrounded by many of their close friends. Montresor while at the party remained calm however while still laughing and cheering with Fortunato he started to develop his plot to get his revenge on Fortunato. In the story Montresor while plotting his crime says, “I had to keep my true feelings to myself for not only must I punish but punish with impunity” (Poe). While Montresor plans the murder of Fortunato, Fortunato is simply enjoying life and his wealth. During carnival Montresor sees a drunk Fortunato and ceases his opportunity. A drunk Fortunato walks over to Montresor and gives him a friendly greeting. Montresor sees this as an opportunity to take Fortunato away from the festivities by using both his weakness for wine and his pride against him. Montresor does this by tricking Fortunato into thinking that he had recently brought a cask of Amontillado and he needed Luchesi to distinguish if it was actually Amontillado. Fortunato, who feels that he is the best wine tester in all of Italy quickly replies, “Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry” (Poe) . Montresor knowing the pride and arrogance of Fortunato then says, “"And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for your own." (Poe) . That

<br>The Cask of Amontillado is a horror short story, which revolves around the themes of revenge and pride. The plot involves two men: Montresor, the narrator, who is an Italian aristocrat seeking revenge against the second main character: Fortunato, a proud man that boasts about his conoisseurship of wines and who finally walks to his own death.

The Cask of Amontillado was a story written by Edgar Allan Poe.The story is talking about Montresor exacting revenge on Fortunato for insulting him.Since Fortunato is drunk it will be better for Poe to carry out his plan.In addition Montresor was trying to trick fortunato to go in the catacombs.Montresor is the villain of the story because he is intelligent and dexterous.

Edgar Allan Poe is a prominent writer who wrote many peculiar and uncanny short stories and poems. One of the stories Poe wrote, “The Tell Tale Heart,” published in 1843, is about a narrator who is paranoid about an old man’s eye, so he decides to eradicate it. Another story by Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado,” published in 1846, is about a narrator who seeks revenge on his friend because, in the past, he was insulted by him. Both stories contain narrators, which are mentally unstable, but the narrator’s traits, their motives for the murder, and how their guilt is exhibited differ.

In the story “The Tell Tale Heart” the narrator wants to show the reader that he is not insane. As proof, he offers a story. In the story, the initial situation is the narrator’s decision to kill the old man so that the man’s “evil” eye will stop

To begin with, “The Cask of Amontillado” is a story of revenge in which Montresor, the protagonist, retaliates to the “1000 injuries of Fortunato” (Poe 1) that he had bore; by meticulously planning the murder of his foe. Montresor seeks to avenge the insults made to his ancestral family name by Fortunato.

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.

Edgar Allan Poe is a writer who uses many types of writing techniques in his short stories and poems. As a child, his parents died when he was three years old, and once he grew up, he attended two colleges and was kicked out of both. He lost his editing job due to his heavy drinking. These unlikely events show why he writes the way he does today but the one event that caused his darkness to show was when his wife died. Poe is a literary genius because of his ability to use many different literary styles. Edgar Allan Poe creates an atmosphere of fear in “The Cask of Amontillado” through the setting, imagery, and characterization.

In The Cask of Amontillado, Poe uses the aspect of time as an element of tension and foreshadowing to the story. The selection of time and place also plays an important role in the story. The carnival gives Montresor a perfect opportunity to appear in disguise, to locate his intoxicated companion and lure him into his vindictive trap. Carnival is a time of happiness and celebration for everyone, but in this tale, it is a time for revenge and death because “by the end, Fortunato is in precisely the opposite of a carnival atmosphere” (Reynolds 105). Montresor states that it is “about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season” (Poe 217) when he first encounters Fortunato.

The Cask of Amontillado brings us to Italy during the amazing and extravagant time of “carnival” (Poe 108). With this season comes the fruitful labor of consuming much alcohol and handling oneself in happiness, freedom, and in acts of udder intoxication. This fact aided in the plot of Montresor to “avenge” (Poe 108) the wrongs that had been bestowed upon him by Fortunato, a well-known and “respected wine connoisseur” (Poe 108). This skill and his pride would end up being the downfall of Fortunato. Montresor would take full advantage of Fortunato’s degraded mental state and decision making ability, and bring an end to him. As the story progresses the scene turns from one of enlightenment, to one of gloom and despair as Montresor carries

At the beginning of the story of "Cask of Amontillado", the author presents various aspects of "revenge" by utilizing the character of Montresor. Fortunado is Montresor's Italian friend, who is given the role of a victim being “punish with

The main themes of Edgar Allan Poe’s works are death, perversity, revenge and destruction. The settings he employed in the given short stories, especially in The Fall of the House of Usher and The Black Cat are Gothic. Therefore, naturally the mood of these stories would be dark and sepulchral. However, this is not a trivial employment undertaken to put the reader in a certain kind of zone.

The narrator is concerned that someone is going to find out that he killed the old man. He finds out that the old man vexes him but more his eye. The narrator acted innocently, so the officers wouldn’t know that he was guilty. The “Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe is about a narrator, that convinces readers of his sanity for the murder that he commits to an old man with a vulture