Eyes emphasize an object of fear for the narrator in several of Poe’s tales. The speaker in the story is often fascinated with the eyes of another which eventually provokes the narrator’s fear. The most notable of these examples is the hated blue eyes of the old man in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and the cutting out of Pluto’s eye in “The Black Cat.” The body of many of Poe's stories has a deep undercurrent of fear which pervades each paragraph and progressively seeps into the reader’s consciousness.
Through the stories, the narrator changes temperament from calm to angry, usually resulting in death. In “The Black Cat” a kind, gentle man in the beginning becomes an unrepentant murderer in the end.
As fear manifests the emotions of the tales, death forms the substance and result of that fear. Poe emphasizes that death is inevitable and universal usually through the narrator's aside commentary to the reader. Another parallelism in these stories is that the narrator lives either alone or with a single companion who the narrator eventually kills. In “The Tale-Tell Heart” the narrator kills the old man whom he cares for, but while the murder is testified as being planned, the narrator seems to perform the method of suffocation without foresight. Similarly, the narrator’s wife who is murdered in “The Black Cat,” has an accidental death by the hands of the narrator, and her body is stowed behind the cellar wall. In “The Raven” and “The Cask of Amontillado,” the narrator lives by himself and performs the foul task of murder without worry of others’ notice.
Poe attempts to give death a certain beauty and dismisses life shortly after to emphasize death’s destruction. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator shows extra concern before he actually murders, and the old man suspects nothing because the narrator is even kinder to the man than normal. As death approaches, the narrator’s mental condition falters to present Poe’s bloody, methodical murders.
As Poe advances through his writing, the narrator, who once appeared fearful and angry, is increasingly presented as mad via vehement announcements, repeating details, repetitive habits, and the seeking of protection in enclosed rooms.
The narrator gradually descends from debatable sanity to the maelstrom of madness. While presented as unstable in the beginning of most of the stories, the narrator slides downward in a spiral of insanity and quickly becomes believably mad. Both in “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator specifically claims his sanity in the narrative prologue and tells his story to prove it. Throughout the story, the narrator rejects his deteriorating state and protests that he is not mad and was fully aware of his actions while relying on the proof of his clever and cautious disposals of the victim. Although the narrator insists on his sanity, Poe presents contradictory evidence and reveals the true madness.
The narrator interprets his behavior from his own opinion in “The Black Cat” by his fearful fascination with the cat’s seemingly supernatural abilities, but the narrator interprets his behavior from others’ opinions in “The Tell-Tale Heart” when protesting his insanity in the introduction of the story. The narrator in “The Black Cat” notices his own behavioral downgrade through the treatment of his wife and pets. However, the speaker accuses the police for mocking his agitation at the sound of the beating heart in “The Tell-Tale Heart.”
Meticulous attention rivets the speaker to his victim’s emotions and the potential discovery of the body. Poe has the narrator plan ahead in “The Cask of Amontillado” by storing supplies in the cellar with which to murder his enemy and flawlessly execute the crime. The narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” cleverly disposes of the body without blood or dust’s revealing the fate or location of the victim. Lastly, in “The Black Cat” the narrator disposes of the debris from the wall and repaints the wall to hide all recent disturbance.
Poe’s most emphatic revelation of the narrator’s insanity comes from the character’s indistinguishability between the physical world and the world of the mind. The speaker cannot overcome the fact that his delirious imagination corrupts the data of the senses. The narrator constantly twitches uncomfortably with small, terrified movements while talking or mumbling to himself repetitiously.
The speaker hears and sees nonexistent things which only assist in his appearing mad to the reader. The narrator believes that the cat, Pluto, is a witch in animal form in “The Black Cat,” and in “The Raven” the speaker believes the carrion bird is actually conversing with him. The loud beating of a dead man’s heart concludes that the speaker of “The Tell-Tale Heart” imagines unreal possibilities.
Edgar Allan Poe has striking similarities in his work that link the topics of his tales together. Each story creates its own world of insanity while remaining united with reality enough to stir nightmarish fear within the reader.
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Agatha Tyche
As fear manifests the emotions of the tales, death forms the substance and result of that fear. Poe emphasizes that death is inevitable and universal usually through the narrator's aside commentary to the reader. Another parallelism in these stories is that the narrator lives either alone or with a single companion who the narrator eventually kills. In “The Tale-Tell Heart” the narrator kills the old man whom he cares for, but while the murder is testified as being planned, the narrator seems to perform the method of suffocation without foresight. Similarly, the narrator’s wife who is murdered in “The Black Cat,” has an accidental death by the hands of the narrator, and her body is stowed behind the cellar wall. In “The Raven” and “The Cask of Amontillado,” the narrator lives by himself and performs the foul task of murder without worry of others’ notice.
Poe attempts to give death a certain beauty and dismisses life shortly after to emphasize death’s destruction. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator shows extra concern before he actually murders, and the old man suspects nothing because the narrator is even kinder to the man than normal. As death approaches, the narrator’s mental condition falters to present Poe’s bloody, methodical murders.
As Poe advances through his writing, the narrator, who once appeared fearful and angry, is increasingly presented as mad via vehement announcements, repeating details, repetitive habits, and the seeking of protection in enclosed rooms.
The narrator gradually descends from debatable sanity to the maelstrom of madness. While presented as unstable in the beginning of most of the stories, the narrator slides downward in a spiral of insanity and quickly becomes believably mad. Both in “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator specifically claims his sanity in the narrative prologue and tells his story to prove it. Throughout the story, the narrator rejects his deteriorating state and protests that he is not mad and was fully aware of his actions while relying on the proof of his clever and cautious disposals of the victim. Although the narrator insists on his sanity, Poe presents contradictory evidence and reveals the true madness.
The narrator interprets his behavior from his own opinion in “The Black Cat” by his fearful fascination with the cat’s seemingly supernatural abilities, but the narrator interprets his behavior from others’ opinions in “The Tell-Tale Heart” when protesting his insanity in the introduction of the story. The narrator in “The Black Cat” notices his own behavioral downgrade through the treatment of his wife and pets. However, the speaker accuses the police for mocking his agitation at the sound of the beating heart in “The Tell-Tale Heart.”
Meticulous attention rivets the speaker to his victim’s emotions and the potential discovery of the body. Poe has the narrator plan ahead in “The Cask of Amontillado” by storing supplies in the cellar with which to murder his enemy and flawlessly execute the crime. The narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” cleverly disposes of the body without blood or dust’s revealing the fate or location of the victim. Lastly, in “The Black Cat” the narrator disposes of the debris from the wall and repaints the wall to hide all recent disturbance.
Poe’s most emphatic revelation of the narrator’s insanity comes from the character’s indistinguishability between the physical world and the world of the mind. The speaker cannot overcome the fact that his delirious imagination corrupts the data of the senses. The narrator constantly twitches uncomfortably with small, terrified movements while talking or mumbling to himself repetitiously.
The speaker hears and sees nonexistent things which only assist in his appearing mad to the reader. The narrator believes that the cat, Pluto, is a witch in animal form in “The Black Cat,” and in “The Raven” the speaker believes the carrion bird is actually conversing with him. The loud beating of a dead man’s heart concludes that the speaker of “The Tell-Tale Heart” imagines unreal possibilities.
Edgar Allan Poe has striking similarities in his work that link the topics of his tales together. Each story creates its own world of insanity while remaining united with reality enough to stir nightmarish fear within the reader.
__
Agatha Tyche
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