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.
The narrators in the two stories both possess similar traits, but some aspects of each narrator are distinct. In “The Tell Tale Heart,” the narrator is
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Along with the narrator’s having contrasting traits, their motives for murder were different also.
Both narrators had nonsensical motives for murdering the victim, but they were different in a few ways. In “The Tell Tale Heart,” the narrator absolutely despises the old man’s eye. When the narrator says, “Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me an insult” (105), the reader presumes that the narrator would never do anything to hurt the old man. But, the way the narrator describes the 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” (105) shows the reader just how much the narrator hated the man’s eye. The quote also reveals to the reader a reason why the narrator could potentially do harm unto the old man. Even though the narrator had nothing against the old man except for his bothersome eye, he acted impulsively and killed the old man because he could not stand the eye any longer. Conversely, the narrator from “The Cask of Amontillado” killed the man because he hated the man. For instance the excerpt, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (75) shows that the narrator, Montresor, is planning revenge on Fortunato because of an insult he said.
The narrators in these two stories had devious plans to murder their victims. Although, the distinct difference is that in Cask of Amontillado, the heinous act is done through trickery. Fortunato didn’t have any idea he was about to die. The Amontillado Montresor used made Fortunato more vulnerable and unaware of what was occurring. In the Tell Tale Heart, the old
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.
Every persons’ life must come to an end eventually. In Poe’s short stories the Tell Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado, contrast between characters sparks a conflict. Although a person can live an enduring life, their lives can come to end before they know it. The strategic moves by characters in both of these stories, leads to gruesome deaths, causing characters to ensure their safety.
Both of these tales have a narrator that gave ambiguous and shallow reason for their murders. In the Tell-Tale-Heart, it is the old man 's “eye of vulture” (1) that terrified him. The narrator liked the old man, but his eye disturbed him deeply that made him to commit the crime.
For example, in “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montroser explains his motives, “The Thousand Injuries of Fortunato. I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (Poe 117). This quote means that due to Fortunato’s injuries, Montresor is taking revenge on him. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator claims, “But nothing is better than this agony! Anything is more tolerable than this derision!
The criminal mind carries out the actions of insanity, and depicts them as a normal day-to-day duty. The stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado”, both by Edgar Allan Poe, as well as “The Blue Hotel” by Stephen Crane, show a portrayal of the criminal mind, at work. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the main character killed an old man, just because his eye made him uncomfortable. Not only did he kill him without pity, but he actually felt proud of the murder. However, he ended up admitting the deed in the end.
“The Tell Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado” both acquire similar narrators, however they possess many differences. The narrator from “The Tell Tale Heart” is psychotic and has an unstable state of mind. For instance, the text states, “The disease had sharpened my senses-not destroyed-not dulled them” (105). This quote emphasizes the narrator’s mental illness, and shows that he believes he is even smarter than he was before. The story displays the narrator's unstable mind by saying “And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch and opened it- oh so gently! … It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed” (105). This section from the story proves that the narrator is unstable and that he acts impulsively. By watching the old man sleep for a week for no reason in particular and then abruptly deciding to murder him, the narrator shows signs of impulsivity. On the other hand, Montresor, the narrator from “The Cask of Amontillado”, is also insane, but he is less impulsive. The reader can frequently see his intricate plan throughout the story. One instance of this taking place is when Montresor is leading Fortunato into the catacombs of his vault. “‘Drink,’ I said, presenting him the wine. He raised it to his lips with a leer” (78). This quotes demonstrates the fact that Montresor wanted Fortunato to get drunk so he is distracted whenever the time to murder him comes around. Because Fortunato had a drinking problem, it was the best way for him to not realize what was happening. Another example of Montresor’s intricate plan is “... I busied myself with the
Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” is an ingenious tale, that contains terrifyingly evocative details. In the “Tell-Tale Heart” there comes a man that committed an iniquitous crime, who constantly assures the readers that he is sane simultaneously, while proceeding to perpetrate homicide. Edgar Allan Poe applies supernatural that contains a reasonable explanation, dramatic irony, and the dangers that dwell inside a human, to reinforce the horror of the story and to uncover that humans cannot endure guilt and must eventually confess.
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”, a short story about internal conflict and obsession, showcases the tortured soul due to a guilty conscience. The story opens with an unnamed narrator describing a man deranged and plagued with a guilty conscience for a murderous act. This man, the narrator, suffers from paranoia, and the reason for his crime is solely in his disturbed mind. He becomes fixated on the victim’s (the old man’s) eye, and his conscience forces him to demonize the eye. Finally, the reader is taken on a journey through the planning and execution of a murder at the hands of the narrator. Ultimately, the narrator’s obsession causes an unjust death which culminates into internal conflict due to his guilty conscience. The
Edgar Allen Poe wrote stories that induce fear in the reader's mind. he gave the main characters little description of appearance and name along with deep insight to the inner thought processes of the characters to give a strong sense of overwhelming fear. He had many different conflicts that were often driven by a form of anger and hatred and often included some lesson that leads you away from becoming like the killers and psychopaths. While the characterization of the protagonist and the motivation for the conflict are very similar in Poe’s stories “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Black Cat”, and “The Tell-Tale Heart” the theme of the stories are distinctly different changing with each story.
Love is such a strong power that the only way to overcome it is to kill it. Edgar Allan Poe’s emotion twisting stories “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell Tale Heart” had many similar, yet different aspects throughout the stories, regarding different topics. One of those being the different motives for killing a person you are close with. Another being that one murderer was caught while the other one wasn’t. Then, finally, the fact that both murders were premeditated. The similarities and differences between the stories all start with the reasons for the murders.
"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his hideous heart!"
“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe is a first-person narrative short story that showcases an enigmatic and veiled narrator. The storyteller makes us believe that he is in full control of his mind yet he is experiencing a disease that causes him over sensitivity of the senses. As we go through the story, we can find his fascination in proving his sanity. The narrator lives with an old man, who has a clouded, pale blue, vulture-like eye that makes him so helpless that he kills the old man. He admits that he had no interest or passion in killing the old man, whom he loved. Throughout the story, the narrator directs us towards how he ends up committing a horrifying murder and dissecting the corpse into pieces. The narrator who claims to
Edgar Allen Poe was a great author in the 18th century. He is the author of both The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado. Both of these stories show the dark and mysterious ways of the narrator. Well, these stories have been written by the same author. Hence, they have some similarities and differences. Poe is a great writer who can describe a scene in one paragraph. The stories have the right tone and a gloomy mood. Edgar Allen Poe being the author of The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado, he shows some similarities like the mood of the narrators though there is a difference in the characteristics of the narrators. The narrators have similar motives and mental states though their plans of action and the outcomes of their crimes are different.
Poe writes “The Tell Tale Heart” from the perspective of the murderer of the old man. When an author creates a situation where the central character tells his own account, the overall impact of the story is heightened. The narrator, in this story, adds to the overall effect of horror by continually stressing to the reader that he or she is not mad, and tries to convince us of that fact by how carefully this brutal crime was planned and executed. The point of view helps communicate that the theme is madness to the audience because from the beginning the narrator uses repetition, onomatopoeias, similes, hyperboles, metaphors and irony.