Edgar Allan Poe

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the common themes of death and terror in Edgar Allan Poe's literary works. The paper reviews "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado," written by Poe. The paper explains that both stories are frightening because they reveal an ugly side of humanity. In "The Tell-Tale Heart," we find that the protagonist is evil and commits murder simply because of an old man's evil eye. In "The Cask of Amontillado," we see evil in rare form as Montresor sets out to bury Fortunato alive. The paper examines how Poe utilizes revenge, madness, repetition, and irony to build tension in these stories and engage the reader as he waits to discover how each tale will end.

From the Paper:

"Poe adds certain elements to his stories that enhance the terror. For example, in "The Tell-Tale Heart," madness is used to heighten the suspense and create tension. At the beginning of the tale, the narrator makes a point of telling us that he is not a madman. He goes on to boast that a madman would certainly not have the ability to craft such a plan. He asks, "why will you say that I am mad? The disease has sharpened my senses--not destroyed, not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute" (Poe Tell-tale Heart 189). We must wonder about the narrator's stability because later in the story he tells us that he was "never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him" (189). By the end of the tale, however, we realize that the narrator is very unstable because he cannot get away from the beating heart and the more anxious he becomes, the beating becomes louder and more frequent."

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