Tell Tale Heart & Cask of Amontillado

Edgar Allen Poe is probably the most famous dark writer in American history. I fell like I have studied his works or almost every year at this time: Halloween. His stories are filled with such descriptive terror it makes you tremble at what was going through his head. He also thinks of these realistic demented situations that you could relate too. These situations are the ones we fear the most like getting buried alive, trying to get away with murder, murdering a friend, and or trying to escape a pendulum.

            The Tale-Tale heart is probably the Poe’s most recognized piece of work. Everyone knows of the beating heart that the man cannot stand. The funny thing is that the young man doesn’t despise the old man just his blue eye. “ I loved the old man. He had never wronged me, He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! -yes, it was this!” (Poe 702). We do not know exactly what relationship the old man and the younger man have together but all we know is that they live together maybe possibly work together. As I said in the opening paragraph Poe uses such descriptive to words to gain your trust and kind of right the wrong that is about to take place. “ He had the eye of a vulture-a pale blue eye, with a film over it”(Poe 703). I do not know about that the rest of you but that eye sounds like the worst looking eye of all time.  When he decides to take the old mans life he has to see that eye to perform the act. As he waits in the old man’s chamber he startles the old man and we have all been there in the middle of the night and we hear a sound. The old man tries to play it off like it was from the wind, a mouse, and or a cricket. That is one of my biggest fears not knowing what’s lying in the dark shadows at 4 am.  Eventually he does the does the deed and dismembers the old man and stuffs him under the floorboards. This was his friend, his mentor, and maybe even a relative. After he puts the floorboards he starts to hear the pounding of the old man’s heart, which leads him to go crazy and tell the police where he had hid the old man’s body.

            The ironies in the Cask of Amontillado stick out in my mind quite distinctly. The fact that the victims name is Fortunato, which sounds similar to the word fortunate, is an irony by itself. This guy is anywhere near fortunate. This story is a revenge story it says in the opening line. But reading this story it sounds more like a jealousy issue that the Montresor has with Fortunato. In both stories Poe try to gives explanation for the murder plots trying to make you feel sympathy for the murderer. When he tricks Fortunato to come to his house with no servants or anyone to be seen you know the plan is in effect. He then takes him underground where they continue to walk for several minutes. To Fortunato’s credit he was drunk and I bet did not take in account his surrounding like the bones and old members of the Montresor family on the walls. Finally at the end of the tunnel he chains him up and closes the wall in with bricks. Even with one brick to go Fortunato tries one last ditch effort to escape thinking that this was all of a joke trying to persuade him to let him out. “Ha! ha! ha! --he! he! he! --a very good joke, indeed --an excellent jest. We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo --he! he! he! --over our wine --he! he! he!" (Poe online). This last ditch effort would do no good for Fortunato.