B. The Tell-Tale Heart
1. Round- the narrator/tenant
2. Flat- the old man and police officers
C. The Cask of Amontillado
1. Round- narrator
2. Flat- fortunado
IV. Conclusion
Edgar Allan Poe was a novelist and poet that defined the way literature could be written and interpreted. He strayed from conventionalism, sticking to a standard that was truly unique. He was surrounded by a life of poverty and alcoholism, which in turn influenced much of his writing, and made for a plethora of revolutionary short stories. Edgar Allan Poe created a style of his own featuring defining stylistic characteristics of point of view, themes of horror, setting, and character in his works “The Black Cat”, “The Tell-Tale heart”, and “The Cask of Amontillado”.
Point of view helps to create different perspectives and insight that allows the reader to form their own conclusions. Poe has a parallel theme of first person narrative point of view that occurs throughout these three stories. Each character takes the role of the story- teller, carefully and descriptfully re-telling the accounts of their incidents. In the very beginning of each story, insight is gained to this perspective such as in the opening to “The Black Cat” ,“For the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief….very natural causes and effects.” (Black Cat 381). The reader gains personal access into the stories as these narrators tell their personal viewpoints. These main characters control the action and become trusted partners in the readers experience so they can more easily gasp the protagonist’s realities.
Poe uses this particular first person point of view to heighten the suspense and horror. These main characters go on with life trying to convince themselves that they aren’t sick, as they are committing such vicious and heinous acts against humanity “If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer…” (Tell-Tale 356). This is also evident in the Tell- Tale Heart as the narrator proclaims “True- nervous- very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?” (354). They become meretricious narrators, carefully deceiving themselves of the root of their evils, thus creating dramatic irony. This point of view chosen by Poe eliminates the need for superfluous material from background characters and outside sources, and enhances his alluring writing feature of horror and disgust.
Through Poe’s use of descriptive language and incredible attention to detail he creates themes of horror than are evident in each of these short stories. Each story recalls the events of multiple murders that have either been carefully conceived or spontaneously acted out. These chilling stories encapture you and leave not too much room for the imagination to wander ,such as in this excerpt from “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “ First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off te head and arms and legs” (Tell-Tale 356). This image is very vivid and puts the reader directly in the middle of the main action. In “The Black Cat”, a harmless creature, a black cat, becomes the root of all evil that results in the death of the cat and the eventual brutal murder of the narrators wife “In the next, a dozen stout arms were toiling at the wall….the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder…”(Black Cat 387). The Tell-Tale heart is the story of one mans superstitions of the evil eye and the events that lead to him murdering and dismembering an elderly man “I removed the bed and examined the corpse…he was stone dead.” (Tell-Tale 356). In “The Cask of Amontillado”, a careful scheme of premeditated murder unfolds as the narrator lures his prey to his unsuspecting death, being blocked into a palazzo cellar “Throwing them aside, I soon uncovered a quantity of building stone and mortar. With these materials and with the aid of my trowel, I began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche” (Amontillado 345). Poe vividly re- accounts these acts through the eyes of this deceitful narrator and creates a horror and disgust that is oh so real and palpable as in His visualization of the murder in “ The Black Cat”, “I withdrew my arm from her grasp, and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot, without a groan” (Black Cat 386). The use of this horror grabs and maintains the readers attention, and is further perplexed through the environments he creates with his settings.
Setting can help to achieve the overall mood a writer is trying to obtain. Poe purposely creates settings that fabricate dark and mysterious imagery in the reader’s mind. His use of description takes the mind on a journey into these dark and evil places where the protagonist characters follow through with their evil notions:
At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. Three sides of this of this interior crypt were still ornamented in this manner. From the fourth side the bones had been thrown down, and lay promiscuously upon the earth, forming at one point a mound of some size (Amontillado 544).
In each of these short stories the setting is a some sort of depressing place, whether it be told from a lonely jail cell, a dark residence of an elderly caretaker, or the deep, dark catacomb under a palazzo. The settings create strong overtones and quickly dictate the moods of Poe’s stories. His Style of setting, even though in different forms such as a residence or jail cell, is executed with much clarity. The theme of horror is carried out and put into reality in these dreadful places where evil prevails “For a purpose such as this the cellar was well adapted…and made to resemble the rest the cellar” (Black Cat 386). These settings give way to the characters personalities and enhance the mood and existence of evil each one of their personalities hold.
Characters make the story what it is. They evoke emotions from the reader and are the basis for what literary critics and everyday readers alike form their opinions on. Characters can be relatable, or as far-fetched as the immoral protagonists Poe has created. The protagonists in these three stories prove to be round characters as they are well developed and closely involved in the main action. There are a few background characters in these stories such as the old man and police in “The Tell –Tale Heart”, the wife and cat’s in “The Black Cat”, and Fortunato in “ The Cask of Amontillado”. These characters, although extremely relevant to each story, are flat and not very well developed. Poe chooses to use his protagonist as the main character and the driving force for the plot.
There is a bit of irony in each of the characters Poe created and most likely a purpose for underlying symbolisms he used. Inferences can be made for his use these ironic character traits he created. The old man in the “Tell-Tale Heart” had a crazy eye, which could be associated with evil eyes of vultures “He had the eye of a vulture-a pale blue eye, with a film over it.” (Tell-Tale 354). Evil eyes meant bad luck, and this poor old mans defect resulted in the superstitions of his tenant getting the best of him. In “ The Black Cat”, superstition also got the best of the protagonist who was antagonized by the stereotypical evils of a black cat “I seized him; when, in his fright at my violence, he inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth” (Black Cat 382). Poe named Fortunado with the intent of creating irony,” The thousand injuries of Fortunado I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.” as fortunado quickly learned, his fortune was meant to be an un-timely death at the hand of his avenger (Amontillado 542).
Edgar Allan Poe used his writing to evolve his works into a style that is distinctly “Poe”. His use of point of view, themes of horror, setting, and characters in “The Black Cat”, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Cask of Amontillado” help to show the uniqueness of his style. He created these chilling and enraging stories to play with the reader’s emotions and to take them to a demented mind state where not many wander. His style is well known today and one that revolutionized American fiction.
Works Cited
Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Black Cat.” Sixty-Seven Tales: as well as the Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket The Raven and other Poems. Edgar Allan Poe. New Jersey: Gramercy Books, 1985. 381-387.
---. “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Sixty-Seven Tales: as well as the Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket The Raven and other Poems. Edgar Allan Poe. New Jersey: Gramercy Books, 1985. 354-357.
---. “The Cask of Amontillado.” Sixty-Seven Tales: as well as the Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket The Raven and other Poems. Edgar Allan Poe. New Jersey: Gramercy Books, 1985. 543-545.
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