This shows that she had no other plans but to get revenge on her son’s murderer and that as she was staring at Sardinia she was thinking of a plan to get revenge. For her plan to work, she would have to be committed and be determined right from the start.
“I will avenge you. Do you hear me? It is your mother’s promise”
This shows that she would stick with the challenge all the way. Her ruthlessness to put her plan into action was never doubted. She was always determined and eager to avenge her son.
“His old mother was the only person who never forgot”
This is a deeply sympathetic quote as it shows how much she loved him and how she would avenge him. In carrying out her plan, she showed no mercy. At the end of the story Widow Saverini feels relieved and very happy. She eventually sleeps for the first time since the death of her son.
“That night she slept soundly”
This demonstrates that her grief stricken state was eased after her plan had worked.
There are many quotes that could show how innocent Antoine is.
“Antoine Saverini was treacherously knifed”
This quote shows that it was a vicious killing and that he was living in an environment full of danger and that he was an innocent man but knifed after a quarrel. Also it was a random violence and it could have happened to anyone on any other day.
We are made to dislike Nicolas Ravolati as he was the man who killed Antoine on purpose and without any reason. Also the fact that he ran away is another reason to dislike him.
“treacherously knifed by Nicolas Ravolati, who escaped to Sardinia the same night”
This is a quote of sympathy towards Widow Saverini and disgust and hate towards Nicolas Ravolati as he killed someone in such a bad way. The murder that Nicolas Ravolati committed could only be justified if one of Antoine’s family had killed a member of Nicolas’s family - and he was taking revenge - but we don’t know that, and it could be only out of disgust and hatred which would not be justified as he would be breaking the law.
We learn a lot about Frisky the dog. We learn that she is loyal to herowner and we learn that she is also a very tough dog. There are many points about her loyalty to her owner. Frisky howls and sits and looks at the death bed of Antoine as the dog learns what has happened to her past owner.
“And howled into space. Since her master’s death, she often howled in this way, as if calling him. She would not be comforted, as if her animal soul also carried an indelible memory. As Frisky howls she sits by her owner as if to say “I need some comfort”. Frisky’s grief at Antoines death is shown in many places as she howls in the night because she misses him so much.
“One night, as Frisky began to howl”
This shows a lot of heartbreaking emotion and sympathy aimed at Frisky as the dog has lost Antoine, her owner. Her savagery is shown in many ways through out the story. Indeed her savagery gets more vicious and brutal. When Widow Saverini trains Frisky to get angry and brutal in order for her to get revenge on Nicolas Ravolati, she starves him to make him hungry and the more hungry he is the more angry he gets.
“With one terrific bound the animal leaptat the dummy’s throat, and with her paws on the shoulders began to tear at it. She dropped to the ground with some of the meat in her mouth; then he returned to the attack, burying her teeth in the string, and tore out more bits of sausage and dropped once more to the ground and again attacked with made fury”.
This quote describes strongly that Frisky was ready to get revenge for Antoine on Nicolas Ravolati, it shows great loyalty to Antoine and to Widow Saverini.
“The starving animal leapt at him and seized his throat”
This shows that Frisky was prepared to kill someone
At the start of the story, it says that life is hard and Bonifacio is a really rough area. Such words as
“precipitous, sparsely, treacherously, remorselessly and countless” all describe what life was like, or what type of area it was. All these words are good descriptive words.
“Remorselessly” means that the area was tough and hard.
“Preciptous” means that the houses were on a high steep area.
The words set out that the area is rough from the start, and it makes the atmosphere more sinister and tense as you don’t really know what is going to happen. The description at the start of the story shows that life is hard, that everyone has their own way of living their lives and that people have got to be careful of what they do, since in a rough area you never know what will happen next. The suspense is built up by the training of the dog, as each day the widow keeps the dog waiting for her food, keeping her hungry until the big day of savagery. It is also not clear at first why the widow is doing all the training which increases the suspense. The preparation for the death builds up suspense as she goes to the confession box and receives the sacrament one Sunday, The sudden vicious unexpected climax is very sinister as the writer builds up tension as the widow and Frisky get closer to Nicolas Ravolati. The vicious assault by Frisky to kill Antoine’s murderer comes as a brutal climax. It is a satisfying end for Widow Saverini as she has got revenge for her son and avenged him, and finally sleeps for the first time since her son’s brutal death.
The story was written in 3rd person narrative form which meant that it was an omniscient reader. The 3rd person narrative form is really good as there is plenty of detailed descriptive writing including scenery and death.. Many things in the story were outstanding and descriptive - mainly the training of the dog and the way the two deaths happened. The story needed long descriptive passages to cover all the key points.
In the story “The Tell Tale Heart” a mad man is obsessed with an old man’s eye and decides to do something about it. Even though he adores the old man, he decides to kill the man so that he can get rid of the eye. At midnight on most nights, the mad man sneaks into the old man’s bedroom to see if the eye is open. He realises that the eye will not be open but despite that he springs on to the bed and suffocates the old man. He buries the old man under his floor boards thinking that no-one will find out. After a while as part of their investigation the police search the flat. He ends up feeling so guilty and is annoyed about a ringing noise that he gets from the old mans heart or so he thinks, that he ends up confessing to the murder to the police. The title is a very descriptive title, it could mean many things. It was the heart that drove him mad really, the noise from the dead man’s heart left the mad man feeling guilty and so he had to speak to the police and tell them what he did. The theme of the story is obsession, the obsessive noise from the ringing of the mans heart, and the obsession of the mad man visiting the old man’s room every night to look at the eye that he was obsessed with.
There are only two main characters in this story, the old man and the mad man. We don’t really get much detail about the old man apart from the fact that he shouldn’t have died; and the mad man - we just know that he thinks he is so clever.
“You should have seen how wisely I proceeded”
This shows that he thinks that he’s the best and that he is so intelligent. That he is fixed on destroying the eye even though he likes the man.
“I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye”
This shows that he is obsessed with the eye and that he is mad.
“Why will you say that I am mad?”
This shows that he doesn’t think he is mad.
The fact that he did not have a real motive for killing the old man is a bit strange. He thought that the eye was against him and so he must kill it to make himself safe.
“I think it was his eye. Yes, it was this. One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture”.
This shows that he was mad to think that about the eye. The mad man keeps on congratulating himself on things, is easily triumphant and thinks that he is the best.
“I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph”
This emphasises the point about being triumphant about everything. The mad man seems to like the fact that the old man is terrified that something might happen to him or that someone is in his room. He enjoys it all.
“Who’s there” This was said by the old man and it shows that the old man was scared - but the mad man still carried on and killed him.
From the start of what he did, we know that he was not normal as he kept on applauding and congratulating himself even though he did not do anything special and kept on saying he was not mad.
From start to end, the madness of the man is obvious and this fact makes us sense that something might happen. The suspense is built up in the story as the mad man keeps on going back to the old man’s room every night to check if the eye is open.
“And this I did for seven long nights - every night just at midnight - but I found the eye always closed”
The story has a fast pace to it; and goes from one descriptive part to another. The suspense commences before the killing as the mad man is waiting for the right moment to pounce and kill.
“I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room, he shrieked once, once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor”
This shows that is was a quite horrific death. At the end of the story a great deal of suspense is built up as you just don’t know if he will confess or keep his guilty secret as a result if the ringing noise.
“The ringing became more distinct, it continued” and
“I admit the deed” “tear up the planks, here, here!!”
This shows guilt and is an emotional moment as he finally admitted to the murder when the ringing noise became too much for him.
The Tell Tale Heart” was written in 1st person narrative form which gets inside the narrator’s heart and feelings. You can feel what he feels and see what he sees. The mad man keeps using repetition to say that he is not mad but in fact it reinforces the fact that he is.
“Why will you say that I am mad” and “How then… am I mad?”
These two quotes show that he doesn’t believe that he is mad., but he can’t tell the truth as he is repeating himself. As the sentences get broken up they act a bit like him, his mind is broken up as he doesn’t know what is happening
“Almighty God? No, No! The heard - they suspected”
This quote shows the sentences being broken up into smaller ones and it is a bit like his mind.
There are many similarities between the two stories. Firstly, both stories have a planned murder in them. In “Vendetta” the planned murder is revenge on Nicolas Ravolati because he killed Antoine Saverini and Widow Saverini planned to get Frisky to tear out his throat and leave him to die and in “Tell Tale Heart” the mad man plans to go to the old man’s room every night to see if his eye is open. He goes there to kill the old man’s eye which irritates him, and in the end kills the man even though he likes him.
In both stories the protagonist uses patience in waiting to kill the people. In “Vendetta” the Widow Saverini trains the dog Frisky day and night so that the dog gets angry and aggressive and in the end the widow gets revenge for her sons death and in “Tell Tale Heart” the mad man uses patience in waiting for the right moment to leap and suffocate the old man. Both plans in the stories are cunning.
Both stories use big descriptive passages to set the mood of the story. The mood of the “Vendetta” story is sadness about the loss of her son and death. When it describes the revenge that the widow eventually exacted on Nicolas
“Pressing her cold lips against the dead mans lips. Then Frisky began howling again uttering a long drawn out moan, monotonous, piercing, sinister”. This quote shows sadness and determination for revenge. In “Tell Tale heart” the mood described is guilt and sadness as the mad man does not really want to kill the old man but he has to as he hates the eye.
“I loved the old man. He had never wronged me” and “Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold”.
Both of these quotes show that the mad man didn’t want to kill the old man but he was compelled to in order for him to feel better. Both of the stories are set at around the same time which is another similarity.
There are different ways of death in the two stories. In “Vendetta” the woman uses her dog to seize at the throat of the son’s murderer and in the “Tell Tale Heart” the mad man kills the old man himself with his hands. Widow Saverini gets away with the murder that she committed, as there was no one around, whereas the mad man didn’t as he confessed to the police. The police were in his house when he got the ringing sound in his ear and he couldn’t take it any more and confessed. I think it is satisfying to the reader as Widow Saverini’s murder was justified as Nicolas Ravolati killed her son and it was a vendetta and the other wasn’t as there is no reason to kill someone because of an obsession. Both stories have different motives. In “Vendetta” Widow Saverini murdered for revenge, in “Tell Tale Heart” he only killed the old man because of his eye. In “Vendetta” I think that the readers could understand why she killed Nicolas Ravolati but in “Tell Tale Heart” it is hard to understand why someone would kill because of an eye. There are different narrative forms in the two stories as well. The “Vendetta” story is in 3rd person narrative form and is an omniscient reader and the “Tell Tale Heart” is written in 1st person narrative form and written from the murderers point of view. This has a big effect as you can see in “Tell Tale Heart” what he is thinking at the time and it is as if there is a bond between the narrator and the reader. In the “Vendetta” story, 3rd person narrative form is effective as it has bigger and better description of place, person, death and scenery.
I liked the “Vendetta” story best as there was more violence and blood, more description and detail. Description in this story helps to make it tenser at times and builds up suspense towards the time of the death.
I didn’t really like the “Tell Tale Heart” as I found it difficult to comprehend his motive for killing the old man. It didn’t have many gory or gruesome parts in and not much description was included in the story.
