Edgar Allan Poes The Cask of Amontillado and The Telltale Heart - Essay Example

The author employs horrific imagery of death and revenge in order to set the mood for the eventual murder of Fortunato. Poe uses dark words and images of death like “a mask of black silk” worn by Montresor and “the damp ground of the catacombs” that both men see as they descend to the vaults (Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado”). In fact, the phrase “mask of black silk” and the word “catacombs” do not only foreshadow Fortunato’s death but also somehow symbolize death itself.

The “mask of black silk” in particular, which is likened to the mask of an executioner, somehow signifies the beginning of the initiation rite. Another form of symbolic imagery employed by Poe includes the family coat of arms of the Montresors: “the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel” (Poe, “The Cask”). The purpose of this particular form of imagery is to show the reader that the theme of death is perfectly intertwined with the theme of revenge and punishment.

On the other hand, in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” it was a disease that “had sharpened [the narrator’s] senses and that makes him “very, very dreadfully nervous” that has actually made him kill the old man. Moreover, the narrator seems to have admitted the murder and justifies it only on the basis of impulse. In short, unlike Montresor in “The Cask of Amontillado,” the narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” does not hold a grudge against his victim although he kills him: “it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye” (Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart”).

This particular disease that somehow sharpens the narrator’s senses has somehow made him too nervous and too afraid of the old man’s Evil Eye and that is the reason why the narrator smothers the latter with a bed or a pillow until his death. He then chops off the old man’s head and limbs and hides them under the planks. Although there is a similar degree in the brutality of the crime committed, there is indeed a very big difference in the motive of the killing. Another big difference between the two stories of murder is the sanity of the murderer.

In “The Cask of Amontillado,” although Montresor does not say it, he was perfectly sane to have carried out such a brutal murder with careful attention to detail. In fact, Montresor himself shows his cunning in deceiving Fortunato. For one, during their descent to the depths where the cask of amontillado is said to await, Montresor in fact encourages Fortunato to go back because he has been coughing and that “[his] health is precious,” when in fact it is not because Montresor is actually planning to kill him (Poe, “The Cask”).

Another instance of this irony that Montresor cleverly employs is when Fortunato insists on continuing with the descent into where the wine is and remarks that “the cough is mere nothing; it will not kill me,” and to which Montresor cunningly and insidiously replies “True—true” (Poe, “The Cask”). This sort of irony is something that Montresor and the readers know but Fortunato does not. Montresor’s sense of irony proves his own sanity and consciousness of what is going on.

On the other hand, the unnamed narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” actually cannot control himself and his own sanity despite the fact that he denies it: “How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily --how calmly I can tell you the whole story” (Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart”). It could actually be that he denies his madness because he is actually mad. In fact, towards the end of the story, he seems to be hearing the sound of the dead old man’s heart when in fact it can only be him who can hear it or it does not exist at all but he hears it from his conscience.

His madness then makes him admit his crime to the police: “I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his hideous heart!” (Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart”). Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” both describe brutal murders secretly done by their perpetrators. However, the stories differ in the motive of the killing. For the first, it was revenge while for the second, it was merely a disease that uncontrollably magnifies certain sensations and fear.

Another difference is in the sanity of the murderers. While Montresor in “The Cask of Amontillado” cleverly entices his victim towards his death, the narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” admits his fault in the end out of a mere hallucination that his victim’s heart keeps beating.