In each of Edgar Allen Poe’s stories of murder and madness, he takes us inside the mind of the murderer from the time he begins until after the deed has been done. Poe gives us a point of view not common in works of horror and suspense: the killers. We read the thoughts and follow the actions of the killer as he plots and follows through with his victim’s demise. All three of his stories are alike, especially “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” However, I found that “The Cask of Amontillado” differ more than any of the other two from each other. While the murderers in “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” are motivated by their own insanity, the character in “The Cask of Amontillado” is driven by pure, old-fashioned revenge and jealousy. A couple main details I noticed about all three tales is that each story is told in first person, and all of the main characters are male. Also, in the end of each of these short stories all men turn out to be no better, if not much worse, than they already were.The “Tell-Tale Heart” begins with the murderer raving about his sanity, and that he commits the crime not because of lunacy but for his master’s “Evil-Eye.” The man describes the eye as if it is a separate entity from the old man, and if it weren’t for the eye he would have nothing against his master. The eye being attached to the old man is just an unfortunate detail. In the following quote the man describes his feelings towards the Evil-Eye and what he decided to do about it: “Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees-very gradually-I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever.” (Poe 173) Night after night the man creeps to his masters door at midnight and slowly opens the door, with caution he prides himself so much for. ...
