tell tale heart and cask of amontillado comparison essay

‘The Cask of Amontillado’ and ‘The Tell-tale Heart’ by Edgar Allan Poe

This essay will compare and contrast Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” It will discuss the themes of murder, guilt, and psychological complexity present in both stories. The piece will analyze Poe’s use of first-person narration, his exploration of the human psyche, and his distinctive gothic style. The comparison will highlight Poe’s techniques in building suspense and horror, and how these stories exemplify his contributions to the genre. PapersOwl offers a variety of free essay examples on the topic of Edgar Allan Poe.

How it works

Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal. By these words, Elizabeth Fly means the fact of imposing punishment is a significant manifestation of his punitive influence. Appointment of punishment in some cases the pain has a significant effect on the convicted than its execution, for example, a fine. It is the appointment of a punishment that gives the convict certain moral suffering, shame and shame that is an integral part of the practice of punishment, for a long time leaves traces in his mind and contributes to the fact that he realized that he redeemed his guilt towards society.

While there are similarities in “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-tale Heart” were both written by Edgar Allan Poe, there are glaring differences between them.

Although both stories are set in different places, they reflect a Gothic setting. There are two physical settings in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”. The first one is an old house occupied by the narrator and an old man. The time of the events in the story is probably the early 1840’s when Poe wrote the story. The action in the narrator’s story takes place over eight days. The second is the location from which the narrator tells his story, presumably a prison or asylum for the criminally insane. In the story “The Cask of Amontillado” place is an underground catacomb, somewhere in Italy, during the carnival season. The setting in the story is a Gothic science fiction that has a special purpose: to withstand freedom or imprisonment or to offer freedom or imprisonment.

The stories involve two major characters – the narrator and victim, with their relationships to each other, state of minds and motives for killing. The most important character in the story “The Tell-Tale Heart” is the “mad man”. He only thinks about is how he could kill the man with the evil eye because it scares him so much. He says to the readers that he is not mad, but in the story, it is very clear that he is. He cannot stand the tension and at the end of the story, he kills the man and cut the body. But he could still hear the heart of the dead man and this shows that he is going mad after what he has done. The victim in this story is the Old Man. He has blue eyes, one of which is cloudy (probably due to cataracts) and their odd appearance makes the narrator think he possesses some sort of evil intent. He is frail, sleeps a lot and deeply. The Old Man is probably completely unaware of the narrator’s burgeoning hatred. The main characters of “The Cask of Amontillado” are Montresor and Fortunato. Montresor is the narrator, he is a poor nobleman who insulted and mocked Fortunato. He consumed by revenge, sinister, cold and precise killer who gets joy out of killing and feels it is necessary. Montresor is unsympathetic, maniacal, an unreliable narrator and a victimizer. Fortunato is a victim, he is the drunk, addicted to wine, insensitive, prideful and greedy, to trust.

Both stories have themes. In the story “The Tell-Tale Heart” themes are fear and guilt, deceptive appearances, love, and hate. The theme “fear and guilt” means the murderer was afraid of being caught, and with that fright came guilt. He was discovered because of his fear. Another theme is “deceptive appearances” though the old mam’s eye was ugly, the ugliness of the thoughts of the murderer was worse. Also in s story uses the theme “love and hate”. The narrator confesses a love for an old man whom he then violently murders and dismembers. The narrator proves his madness by attempting to separate the person of the old man, whom he loves, from the old man’s supposedly evil eye, which triggers the narrator’s hatred. This delusional separation enables the narrator to stay unaware of the paradox of claiming to have loved his victim. In the story “The Cask of Amontillado” the author uses another theme – revenge, pride. Revenge appears in the fact that Montresor wants to take revenge on Fortunato for an unknown crime. Since “insult” is never revealed, revenge in this story takes on the form of hatred. Fortunato’s pride in his knowledge of wine ends up getting him killed. He is so proud of how well he knows wine, even his cough and drunkenness do not make him want to leave the catacombs.

Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal. Edgar Allan Poe in stories “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-tale Heart”, very well and clearly describes revenge and what it prevents. In both stories, the main characters seek revenge and carry out the planned killing of their victims. The sitting in the stories manifested with the Gothic elements is manifested in a black old house, dark catacombs with narrow passages far from living people. In both stories, the main characters are the narrator or killer and victim, with their relationships to each other, state of minds and motives for killing. The author in his stories uses the themes – fear and guilt, deceptive appearances, love and hate, revenge, pride. It is the appointment of a punishment that gives the convict certain moral suffering, shame and shame that is an integral part of the practice of punishment, for a long time leaves traces in his mind and contributes to the fact that he realized that he redeemed his guilt towards society.

Cite this page

'The Cask of Amontillado' and 'The Tell-tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe. (2021, May 20). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/the-cask-of-amontillado-and-the-tell-tale-heart-by-edgar-allan-poe/

"'The Cask of Amontillado' and 'The Tell-tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe." PapersOwl.com , 20 May 2021, https://papersowl.com/examples/the-cask-of-amontillado-and-the-tell-tale-heart-by-edgar-allan-poe/

PapersOwl.com. (2021). 'The Cask of Amontillado' and 'The Tell-tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-cask-of-amontillado-and-the-tell-tale-heart-by-edgar-allan-poe/ [Accessed: 7 Jun. 2024]

"'The Cask of Amontillado' and 'The Tell-tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe." PapersOwl.com, May 20, 2021. Accessed June 7, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/the-cask-of-amontillado-and-the-tell-tale-heart-by-edgar-allan-poe/

"'The Cask of Amontillado' and 'The Tell-tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe," PapersOwl.com , 20-May-2021. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-cask-of-amontillado-and-the-tell-tale-heart-by-edgar-allan-poe/. [Accessed: 7-Jun-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2021). 'The Cask of Amontillado' and 'The Tell-tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-cask-of-amontillado-and-the-tell-tale-heart-by-edgar-allan-poe/ [Accessed: 7-Jun-2024]

Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade

Hire a writer to get a unique paper crafted to your needs.

Our writers will help you fix any mistakes and get an A+!

Please check your inbox.

You can order an original essay written according to your instructions.

Trusted by over 1 million students worldwide

1. Tell Us Your Requirements

2. Pick your perfect writer

3. Get Your Paper and Pay

Hi! I'm Amy, your personal assistant!

Don't know where to start? Give me your paper requirements and I connect you to an academic expert.

short deadlines

100% Plagiarism-Free

Certified writers

American Literature

Sunday, march 18, 2012, comparing the tell-tale heart and the cask of amontillado.

4 comments:

This comment has been removed by the author.

Nice I can use this as an example for my essay. I'm not copying it but I might use some ideas from this.

thanks i can use some of these ideas for my essay

Compare and Contrast Essay: The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado

The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado are both beautifully, horrific stories, but despite that, they both have lots of differences and similarities. The Tell-Tale Heart involves a painless death for the main character. But they’re similar by ending up with the same inevitable fate, death.

In the Tell-Tale Heart, the old man dies in a rather painless, quick way by the narrator. But the objective of his death was quite similar. The narrator didn’t necessarily want to kill the old man, but his eye. The narrator visited the old man for that exact purpose, for 7 nights, just to get the right opportunity. It was inevitable that the narrator would see the eye eventually, but the fear and anger caused the narrator to act recklessly, killing the old man immediately. 

In The Cask of Amontillado, Fortunato meets his end in a painful, slow way by the narrator, Montressor. Montressor took time and planned everything out, for the sake of revenge. He, himself, said in the story “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.” Of course, this revenge wasn’t for no reason; Fortunato disrespected Montressor more than once according to Fortunato. Montressor urged Fortunato to turn back and acts friendly with intentions of the complete opposite. He took his time building the wall as he listened to Montressor plead. The purpose of this wasn’t because he exhausted but rather because Montressor simply enjoyed Fortunatos cries.

These two stories, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Cask of Amontillado both play out the deaths of their victims very well. Sure the cause of deaths are different, but the way they made sure no one would find the bodies of the victims was beyond on the spot planning. In The Cask of Amontillado, Montressor made sure all his servants were away, leading Fortunato well gone into his cellar. Also, he fed Fortunato alcohol and did nothing except act kindly to Montressor. As for The Tell-Tale Heart the narrator makes sure to cut off each of the old mans body parts, including the head, arms, chest, and legs. The narrator then proceeds to dispose of them under the floor boards.

Short horror stories with the fate of death are very common these days, as Halloween is right around the corner. These two stories portray the death of each victim extremely vividly, not only that, but involves a lot of foreshadowing. The foreshadowing eventually leads up to the murder, where speed plays a major role in objective and emotion. The satisfaction Montressor received as he slowly killed Fortunato was nothing like the instant suffocation of the old man. Either way, these stories are beautifully written and shall stay in the horrific history of short horror stories.

Related Samples

• Analysis Of The Play Hamilton
• Oedipus Final Assignment
• Theme of Loneliness in A Lamp in a Window by Truman Capote Essay Example
• Madame Defarge’s Feline Transformation in A Tale of Two Cities Essay Sample
• Essay Sample on Fahrenheit 451: The Frightening Analogy Between Societies
• The Theme of Fear in the Fall of the House of Usher Essay Example
• House As Metaphor in Pride and Prejudice
• Monster Culture by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen Book Review
• Essay Sample on Exploring the Unknown
• Theme of Technology in Fahrenheit 451 (Literary Essay Example)

Didn't find the perfect sample?

You can order a custom paper by our expert writers

• Environment
• Information Science
• Social Issues
• Argumentative
• Cause and Effect
• Classification
• Compare and Contrast
• Descriptive
• Exemplification
• Informative
• Controversial
• Exploratory
• What Is an Essay
• Length of an Essay
• Generate Ideas
• Types of Essays
• Structuring an Essay
• Outline For Essay
• Essay Introduction
• Thesis Statement
• Body of an Essay
• Writing a Conclusion
• Essay Writing Tips
• Drafting an Essay
• Revision Process
• Fix a Broken Essay
• Format of an Essay
• Essay Examples
• Essay Checklist
• Essay Writing Service
• Pay for Research Paper
• Write My Research Paper
• Write My Essay
• Custom Essay Writing Service
• Admission Essay Writing Service
• Pay for Essay
• Academic Ghostwriting
• Write My Book Report
• Case Study Writing Service
• Dissertation Writing Service
• Coursework Writing Service
• Lab Report Writing Service
• Do My Assignment
• Buy College Papers
• Capstone Project Writing Service
• Buy Research Paper
• Custom Essays for Sale

Can’t find a perfect paper?

• Free Essay Samples

The Tell Tale Heart versus The Cask of Amontillado

Updated 03 June 2022

Subject Books ,  Movies ,  Writers

Downloads 54

Category Entertainment ,  Literature

Topic Edgar Allan Poe ,  Horror ,  The Cask of Amontillado

Edgar Allan Poe, author of "The Tell Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado," is well-known for creating some of the most terrifying tales in literature. Acting with the weather, livestock, and the natural world to produce the chilling tales is one of the things that make his works terrifying but fascinating at the same time. Poe's two best-known thrillers are "The Tell Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado." The narrator in both stories is obsessed with terror, disfigurement, and the dark aspects of the world. The several features common in the stories by Poe are common identities of his literature works. The two stories have some features that are in common as well as differences. The similarities are attributed to the fact that both stories are works of one person. Examples of similar features in the two stories include setting the mood and the theme in addition to mixing characters in a manner that inevitably draws the readers into reading.In both works, similarities manifest themselves in a number of ways. In “The Tell Tale Heart”, the story is described through a psycho narrator. The two stories are characterized by apparent psychological imbalances within the people that narrate the stories. In “The Tell Tale Heart”, the psychological imbalance outlines itself in incidences like when the narrator explains that there is no motive for the killing of the old man. The only reason the narrator tries to justify why he kills the old man is the old man’s eye that makes the narrator uncomfortable. The narrator repeats severally to explain that he is sane and the repetition of his explanation for sanity makes the reader to believe that he is not psychologically stable. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, the narrator is also seen to be psychologically unstable by the nature of the games he plays with the victim. In the story, the narrator known as Montressor tells the victim that they ought to proceed home because “…his health is precious” (Poe 67). The irony appears through the conversation between the two because the motive of the narrator is to murder the victim in the Catacombs as opposed to protecting him the way he claims through referring to the victim’s life as precious. Reading the two stories reveal that both narrators are proud of their murders because they brag about them across the stories. The similarity is not only limited in the nature of the narrators but also the setting in which the murders take place. In the two works, the locations of the victims are buried in dark areas with little chances of escaping. In “The Tell Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado” by Poe, the two stories are told by unknown narrators. The two stories are told in the first person and the reader does not understand the name of the narrator for some time. In both stories, the reader only discovers the name of the narrator at the end of the story. In “The Tell Tale Heart”, a narrator describes several occurrences without revealing his identity. The readers follow the story with hopes of discovering the identity of the narrator as soon as possible (Poe 33). There are several dissimilarities that are observed in the two stories. In “The Tell Tale Heart”, the narrator explains that the reason of killing the old man is the man’s evil eye. The narrator says “…I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself from the eye forever” (Poe and McKowen 102). The reason for committing the murder in this story is seen as silly and the narrator is believed to be suffering from OCD as well as severe schizophrenia. In the second story, the narrator explains the reason for killing the victim is insult. Even if the killer is seen to be in good psychological state, the reason he gives for killing is not enough to justify his acts and he is believed to be under influence of alcohol because of his vast wine collection. “The Cask of Amontillado” that also involves murder, the story has a different plot from the other work. The narrator cites revenging a thousand injuries caused to him by the victim as a key reason to commit murder. The readers of both story find the revenge as a better reason for killing a person than using the nature of how someone looks as a reason to kill. In “The Tell Tale Heart”, the aspect of fear in the narrator is clearly evident because he fears that the police will hear how the heart of the old man is beating. On the contrary, the narrator in “The Cask of Amontillado” is free from fear because he is sure that no person will ever find out about the killing of the victim because it takes place in a secrete environment. The aftermaths of the murders in the two stories present a point that reveals the contrasts within the two stories. In “The Tell Tale Heart”, the character does not get away with murder. When the police come to search for the body of the old man in the house, the hallucinations of the narrator makes him think that the police are hearing the beating of the heart and it makes to reveal where the body parts are kept. The narrator explains how his heart was beating so fast by saying “…A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine” (Poe and McKowen 73). After the revelations, the narrator is arrested by the police. However, the character in “The Cask of Amontillado” gets away with the murder because he hides the body of the victim and he does not reveal it to any soul. Works CitedPoe, Edgar A. Poe's Short Stories, Edgar Allan Poe. 2014.Poe, Edgar A, and Scott McKowen. The Stories of Edgar Allan Poe. Sterling Pub. Co, 2010.

Deadline is approaching?

Wait no more. Let us write you an essay from scratch

Related Essays

Related topics.

Find Out the Cost of Your Paper

Type your email

By clicking “Submit”, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy policy. Sometimes you will receive account related emails.