Poe Debate Essay

Submitted By miyagi48
Words: 468
Pages: 2

Ryan Goforth
Professor Mattoon
English 1A
23 January, 2013
Homework 7: Poe Debate Squads Both stories by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado” & “The Tell-Tale Heart” have a narrator who is set on indistinct motives as to why they are going to harm another human being. In "The Cask of Amontillado," it is the "thousands of injuries" and "insult" that Fortunato had given Montresor over the years. In "The Tell-Tale Heart," it is the old man's staring and vacant eye. Poe leads us on to believe these narrators are responsible for the murder of their victims’ death which makes it difficult to release either one. If there is a case for the release of one murderer instead of the other I would have drop all charges against the old caretaker. In "The Tell-Tale Heart," it seems like the entire purpose for telling the tale is to prove that he isn't an insane madmen although he may be blind referring to the beginning, “The disease had sharpened my senses- not destroyed- not dulled them.” Montresor in contrast, just seems to want to tell the tale and how he got away with it, not to prove that he is sane or anything. Both narrators share their experience with the victims, and end with their victims' deaths. In "The Tell-Tale Heart" the narrator took his sweet, stealthy time in sneaking silently and undetected into the man's room. This led us on to believe he is not use to killing someone. In "The Cask of Amontillado," the narrator had the spot picked out beforehand, and commanded all of his servants to not leave the house, which ensured an easier escape during the event, so that he wouldn't have witnesses. This led us on to think maybe Montresor has done this before. He tells no one of this incident that is