Poe's Insanity

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Behind every Poe story there is a murder and behind every murderer there is a motive. Three stories by Edgar Allen Poe contain three maniacal characters each committing the same atrocity. However, each character has a different motive behind the madness. Through a critical analysis we can dissect the lunacy and determine what caused the horrific drive into their own unique murderous insanity.
The first of Poe’s stories is the tell-tale heart. The stories contains a man whose occupation is that of a care taker and the old man who he cares for who is in possession of an eye of haunting mysticism. Of the murderous trio, the character from the tell-tale heart, has no motive or passion for committing the atrocity. However, his sanity may be to blame. …show more content…

He begins to abuse and torture the very animals he claims to care about. Of the animals in his possession his cat inherits the drunken rage. During an episode of violent intoxication he grabs the cat and removes it’s eye. Now, the characters insanity sets in, embedding its self within his soul. He hangs his cat and that very night, his life spirals into a darker pit of lunacy. One night, as insanity has officially made its home within him he insist that the black cat is to blame for all the wrong in his life, in sheer anger he attempts to kill the feline only to murder his wife by accident. Coincidently this character also hides the body within the walls. However, it is not him who gives his crime away, It was the black cat.
The last of poe’s characters is Montresor, a man tormented by his acquaintance, Fortunanto. Instead of lunacy, the urge to kill seems to be alive and well within the soul of Montresor. Its almost through sheer annoyance that Montresor whips up the idea to kill Fortunato, and so he devises his plan. Later, he seduces his acquaintance with alcohol. Montresor leads his play into his wine cellar, playing their false relationship to it’s last note. Within the crypt of Montresor’s family he leads Fortunato to his grave and buries him alive. Sealing his acquaintance

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