I have read both short stories by Edgar Allen Poe, ‘the Cask of Amontillado, as well as ‘the Tell Tale Heart. Between these two stories lie many similarities and few differences. For instance, both of these stories the narrator describes a murder. In the Cask, the narrator Montressor, whose sanity is questionable, describes the way he murdered his rival Fortunato. The man Fortunato, who isn’t all that fortunate in death, has insulted Montressor many times and Montressor seeks revenge for so long, but hasn’t acted until now. Fortunato was a connoisseur of wine, and was a very wealthy man. Montressor is equally as wealthy as he, however, he has something to prove by killing Fortunato, but doesn’t want to be caught doing so. "I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong". As a result, he doesn’t allow Fortunato, or anyone to know how angry he is, or that he seeks to teach him a lesson. Montressor’s goal is to make Fortunato feel as weak, upon his own death, as Montressor did enduring the insults and embarrassment he suffered. Montressor waits for the perfect moment so he can kill Fortunato without getting caught. Finally, he seizes the moment to act upon the revenge he’s been waiting for one night when he finds Fortunato in a drunken state after a carnival. He lures Fortunato into his home by challenging his connoisseurship of wine. He allows Fortunato to believe that he is inviting him because he would like to test his knowledge in wine against another connoisseur. Fortunato is sick with a constant cough, and to top it off very drunk, which in this state he... ... middle of paper ... ...nd tries not to make a sound. Even when there is a sound, he waits, and doesn’t allow his presence to be seen, if not unheard. On the eighth night, after waiting so long, and taking so much precaution, he finally suffocates the old man with his mattress. The difference here is that, in "The Tell Tale", the murder was very meticulous and calculated. The narrator knew just when and how he was going to kill the old man. In opposition to "The Cask", there was the absence of a murder plot. I found the situational irony of these two short stories to be quite interesting. In "The Cask", the victim’s name is Fortunato, which stems from the word fortune. Fortunato may have been fortunate as far as his wealth is concerned, however, not so much in his death. I would assume that someone named Fortunato would fortunate in everything, life, health, wealth and even die peacefully.
Montresor must trick and manipulate Fortunato to accomplish his goal of revenge. He tells Fortunato the reason he is at the ...
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...
Montresor takes full advantage of the fact that Fortunato has a soft spot for fine wines. Montresor seeing that the only opportunity that he would have to exert revenge would be when wine is to be drunk in surplus decides to wait until the Carnival Season. We are told of one evening during the season when Montresor invites Fortunato over to his place. The major reason for the invite is to have Fortunato taste a sample of sherry that he had acquired to ascertain if the s...
In order to fully understand Poe’s use of the narrator the two previously mentioned stories must be summarized. "The Cask of Amontillado" is a tale about the narrator, Montresor, who desires to act revenge on his acquaintance Fortunato. He lures Fortunato into his basement in order for Fortunato to examine a rare wine called an Amontillado. While in the deep crypt Montresor offers Fortunato more and more wine so that by the time Fortunato gets to the area where the cask is kept he is heavily intoxicated. Montresor then chains Fortunato to a stone and begins to build a wall, trapping Fortunato inside the crypt to die while Fortunato screams and pleads for his life. Montresor, hearing his pleas for mercy and life, ignores them and continues to build the wall knowing that no one will ever find the body of the unfortunate Fortunato.
In the ten years following 1836, Edgar Allan Poe established himself as a short story writer, writing the well known stories “The Tell-Tale Heart” in 1843 and “The Cask of Amontillado” in 1846. As dark as his nature was, the two stories were equally dark, one about a man killing an elderly man with a creepy eye, and the other about a rich dude killing someone who insulted him. As both of the tales possess main elements of murder and death, both of them also have elements that link the stories even more such as their protagonists, character motivations, and resolutions.
The narrators in both works prove to be similar in several ways. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” the story is told through a psycho narrator; both stories contain apparent psychological imbalances within their story tellers, “ -his central character or narrator so psychologically obsessed with a mysterious phenomenon that everything in the story irresistibly revolves around it...”(May, Charles E.) There really is no motive for the murder of the old man; just his eye that he cannot stand. He repeats himself frequently, trying to assure the reader, and himself, that he is sane; leading to believe he may not be psychologically stable. In “The Cask of Amontillado” the narrator can also be considered a mad man by the way he plays games with his victim. Montressor says to Fortunato that they should go home because “his health is precious.” This conversation is ironic because Montressor does not really want to protect Fortunato's health, but to kill him in the catacombs. Both of the narrators are proud of their murders and brag about them within the stories. Not only are the narrators similar but the settings are alike once the murders take place, both locations of the victims are buried in a dark place with no escape.
He did not show even by words that he is going to kill. Also, he did not let Fortunato to know that he intended any grudge against him “..neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will... He did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation (8-10).” One night while Fortunato was drunk, Montresor told him that he bought a barrel of wine called Amontillado “But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts (25).” He understood that Fortunato “prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine (12).” He attracted him to going to his house to check the drink by saying that he might invite Luchresi to do it, a seeming rival of Fortunato 's, instead “As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchresi. If any one has a critical turn it is he. He will tell me (37-38).” When they left, Montresor put on a mask and quickly took the way to his property. He was sure nobody could see them together on Fortunato 's last night. Moreover, Montresor completely knew Fortunato and used the knowledge versus him. He planned his deed carefully and carried it out slowly. It seems that Montresor anticipated his revenge with joy. While they traveled down the cavern, Montresor gives Fortunato many opportunities to leave. Fortunato looks weak against the niter, which is growing on the walls, and repeatedly coughs. Montresor commented on Fortunato 's health and asked
Edgar Allen Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado exhibits a narrative between two characters: Montresor, who is the narrator, and Fortunato, an overtly proud man who fails to see the foreshadowing of his own death by the hand of his friend. Although a short horror story, the ideas of pride and temptation are tossed around frequently. Montresor uses a fictitious cask of wine to ensnare Fortunatos’ wandering and fleeting senses. The downfall of Fortunato is because he held too much pride within himself, and Montresor is trying to show him that in a vengeful way.
The irony in, “The Tell Tale Heart” is more obscure. The narrator is an insane and a man who has agitation, yet tries to persuade the reader that he is not just sane, but rather logical. He proves this by calmly explaining why the violent act happens, but only resulting in contrary to what is being influence to the readers. One of the act that takes place, was “every night, about midnight, [the narrator] turns the latch of [the old man’s] door and opened it ....It took [him] an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that [he] could see [the old man] as he lay upon his bed”. (1) It is abnormal enough for someone to speak repetitively, the narrator broke this boundary, in putting his somewhat mad plan into action. Another ironic moment was the need to confess his murder at the end of the story, due to guilt that is feeding on him alive. Though he is free of the judgmental eye, he is to be imprison for his
He was also described as having an addiction to wine (Woodworth 2). This man was already drunk when he meets Montresor. Fortunato, keeps drinking because he enjoys drinking wine and is powerless, which Montresor knows when it would be a good time to take action and attack him. Fortunato does not really notice that Montresor is mad at him and continues to wonder what he is doing. The reason that Fortunato does not understand the way Montresor is acting is because he does not think he has done anything bad to
In 1846, Edgar Allan Poe wrote the story The Cask of Amontillado, which is about the ultimately fatal dispute between Montresor and Fortunato. When Fortunato questioned Montresor’s honor, Montresor thought up an elaborate scheme to kill Fortunato in the catacomb where all his family is buried. In this short story, Poe uses irony to emphasize Montresor’s dislike for Fortunato, how their names are different from their personalities, and ultimately, Fortunato’s death.
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.
The narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” has taken the time to meticulously plot. He sneaks nightly into the old man’s room preparing until he is ready to carry out his plans. His discontent lies...
Poe presents the narrators of "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado" as devious, obsessed characters. Both are overpowered by the need to consume the life of their victim. Though they use different strategies to carry out the murders in different ways, obsession is the driving force in both. It is this obsession that inspires them to design cunning strategies and carry out the executions.
The Tell Tale Heart is a story, on the most basic level, of conflict. There is a mental conflict within the narrator himself (assuming the narrator is male). Through obvious clues and statements, Poe alerts the reader to the mental state of the narrator, which is insanity. The insanity is described as an obsession (with the old man's eye), which in turn leads to loss of control and eventually results in violence. Ultimately, the narrator tells his story of killing his housemate. Although the narrator seems to be blatantly insane, and thinks he has freedom from guilt, the feeling of guilt over the murder is too overwhelming to bear. The narrator cannot tolerate it and eventually confesses his supposed 'perfect'; crime. People tend to think that insane persons are beyond the normal realm of reason shared by those who are in their right mind. This is not so; guilt is an emotion shared by all humans. The most demented individuals are not above the feeling of guilt and the havoc it causes to the psyche. Poe's use of setting, character, and language reveal that even an insane person feels guilt. Therein lies the theme to The Tell Tale Heart: The emotion of guilt easily, if not eventually, crashes through the seemingly unbreakable walls of insanity.