The short stories The Tell Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe are two stories that are morbid tales of both murder and insanity. While the stories take place in different times and different motivations are given, the stories are similar. In each of the stories the format of the stories has the narrator explaining why they were forced to commit murder, and while the reasons seem like rather weak excuses to us, the narrators both believe they had valid reasons for their crimes.
In the short story The Cask of Amontillado the main character Montresor, fifty years after the events of the short story, explains what has happened to his once good friend, Fortunato. Montresor murders him because of some unnamed injustice he has suffered. Montresor plans to exact his revenge in a meticulous way, so that he cannot ever be blamed for the murder. During the Carnivale season, Montresor approaches Fortunato and tells him he has a wine at home that he says can pass for a expensive wine called Amontillado, and wants Fortunato to confirm if it is Amontillado or not. Fortunato, a known wine lover, is eager to go with Montresor to try the expensive wine. Montresor explains that he has put the bottle of Amontillado in his familys catacombs with all of the remains of his ancestors. Because of the dampness in the cave, Fortunato begins to have a coughing fit. Montresor mocks Fortunato, and he asks if he wants to go back, but Fortunato says that he is fine and the wine is a cure for his cough. When Montresor gets Fortunato down to the catacombs he chains him to the wall and locks him in the catacombs.
In this story we never find out what injustice he has suffered or if it was truly enough to have his once good friend murdered. While most people would not find any injustice or slight worthy of death, Montresor apparently planned the death of his friend with a cool head and is so meticulous he would have never have been blamed. Also for most sane people, going fifty years without telling someone they had committed a murder would eat at them for the rest of their lives and not be able to keep the secret, while Montresor hides the fact he has killed Fortunato until the end of his life.
In The Tell-Tale Heart the narrator has gone mad, despite his protests that he has not, and has decided to kill the older man he cares for. Neither man is given a name, nor is their relationship ever explained, but there is a clear relationship established between the two, but due to the fact that the murderer is able to creep into the old mans bedroom night after night, it is probably a family member, or at least a trusted servant. The reason the man feels he has to kill him is because of the film over the mans eye. The narrator feels like he is constantly being watched in the house and is fearful that everything he is doing is being scrutinized making it impossible for him to get any of his work done. This is ironic because the "film" is eluded to be a form cataracts, which means that he cannot see in that eye. The narrator then smothers the man with a mattress and in a fit of terror hacks him to pieces and empties his blood into a bathtub. He then removes the mans heart and puts it in a box. He then hides the box under the floor boards. The man is overcome with guilt after killing the man. He hears the heart he has hidden under the floor boards. At the end of the story the narrator confesses to the police and blames them for the mans murder, showing that he no longer associates himself with the murder, indicating that he has lost his mind.
In both of these stories written by Edgar Allen Poe, there are many similarities between the two short stories. Each of the stories is told in First Person, by a narrator, and both of the stories have to do with murder and a feeling as though they have to get rid of the person they murdered. Each of the murderers waited till the perfect time to kill; the narrator in Tell Tale Heart waited, perhaps to get his nerve up, but Montresor in the other story actually planned his crime in advance, waiting for Carnivale, lying to the servants, and preparing the crypt with chains beforehand. Also the main reasons the stories are being told is that the narrators are confessing to someone.
While the two stories have many similarities, there are also many differences. The reasons for the murders they committed are different. In The Cask of Amontillado the narrator kills Fortunato because he has suffered a grave misfortune of some sort. However in The Tell Tale Heart the murderer decides to kill him not for any logical reason, but because the film on the mans eye, caused by his cataracts feels like it is always looking at him.
Another difference is the way the bodies are treated. Montresor chains his friend and then walls him away, while the narrator in the other story smothers his victim and then dismembers him. This personal way of murder and mutilation suggests a more intimate relationship, of anger and hostility. Montresor wanted revenge on Fortunato, but the narrator in Tell Tale Heart wanted to destroy not only the man, but the relationship.
A consistent similarity in all of Poe's work is the tone of the stories. In both The Cask of Amontillado and The Tell Tale Heart the background is important. In both stories the background is shown to be dingy and dark but the main characters are always shown in bright colors to contrast the two. In The Cask of Amontillado the character Fortunato is dressed as a jester in bright colors, which is a sharp contrast to the dark catacombs where the story takes place. Also in The Tall Tale Heart the house where the story takes place is alluded to be extremely dirty and dusty. But the blood being moved into the bathtub is bright scarlet and a sharp contrast to the dingy gray house.
In both of the stories the tone is very similar. The main characters in both stories are confessing to the crimes, though Montresor waits fifty years to do so, the narrator in Tell Tale Heart is confessing as the story is happening. However, there is also a stark difference as well. Montresor seems to have a smugness about him as he relates his crime; he has gotten away with it, he has been avenged, and it is a secret he has kept for fifty years. In the other story, however, the character seems to be restless, almost frantic as the events unfold; despite his earlier outward calm as the police search the house, he being to unravel and soon he is confessing to the crime. Ironically, had he kept his mouth shut, he would not have been caught.
What also sets the tone in the story is the time of which each of the murders take place. In The Cask of Amontillado the murder takes place at dusk, when the light is fading. This could be a metaphor for Montresor's mind beginning to slip slowly into insanity.
The Tell-Tale Heart however takes place at midnight, when the world is at its darkest. This play of shadow could be taken as a symbolism that the narrator has compleltly lost his mind.
Another similarity between the two stories is how both of the murder victims were overpowered. Montresor waited until Fortunato was extremely drunk to enact his plan, making him weaker and much easier to overpower. In The Tell-Tale Heart the killer waits until the older man is asleep to attack him, even though it is likely he could have overpowered the man at the start.
A similarity that is common in all of Poe's work is the fear of being buried underground. In each of the stories the victims bodies are buried in unique hiding places. In The Cask of Amontillado Montresor buries Fortunato in his families catacombs, surrounding Fortunato with death as he slowly starves to death. In The Tell-Tale Heart the narrator hides the mans heart underneath the floorboards, instead of removing the man's heart in a traditional manner.
Each of the narrators have signs of serial killers, although neither mentioned killing anyone beforehand. The only reason Montersor kills Fortunato is because he suffered a injustice, which is usually not enough to force someone to murder.
In The Tell-Tale Heart the narrator also keeps the mans heart and hoards it under the floorboards. It is usually common for a serial killers to keep mementos for their crimes. The similarity could stem from Poe's own mental health issues, which is a common theme in all of his works.
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