Edgar Allen Poe Essay

In the two short texts The gun barrel of Amontillado and The notify chronicle Heart written by Edgar Allan Poe, the important settings be where both of the victims argon entrapped and also the while mid stern, which is also when both of the murders are committed. This was important because Poe wanted to show the readers the fascination of 19th centurys phobia of existence buried bouncy and the horror of the darkness which contributes to the gothic nature of these stories.The Cask of Amontillado is set in an unnamed European city and about Montresor, the storyteller taking a deadly revenge on his friend Fortunato who he claimed to have insulted him. The Tell report heart is told from an unnamed narrator consign of view, who insists on his sanity after murdering an old man with a caribe eye.In the Cask of Amontillado, the story began at around dip during a circus season. But this location suddenly jumped, as Fortunato was lured foul to Montresors house and into the catac omb. The readers feces cop the obvious antithesis as the carnival alludes to happiness, flavor and the joyful social interactions and the catacomb symbolises evil, darkness and death. Passed by dint of long walls of piled skeletons moisture trickle among the bones., walls lined with human remains These repeated hints of the bones line the catacomb walls foreshadow the storys descent into the underworld and Fortunato walking to his death. The catacomb is a metaphor for a huge deathly tomb which was ironic as Fortunato was walled up here at the end of the catacomb in the recess. It was truly Fortunatos last resting place. In The Tell Tale Heart, the murder also happened at midnight. Every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept. Poe has chosen this enchant hour time as it is the dead of the night where people are scared of the deathly evilness and the horror of it. And through the use of first person narration in both stories, the readers see the twisted logi c of the killers which revealed their insanity. Although the readers have doubts about the narrator, they are also intrigued at this insight of a madman. First of all I dismembered the corpse. I swing off the head and the arms and the legstook up three planks from the flooringand deposited This unbiased tone of describing grotesque acts showed the readers that the narrator has no empathy he is removed from the acts and is a cold blooded killer. From these two stylistic techniques used by Poe, the readers can see the notion of madness of the mind. The narrator was psychotic and disturbed, he believed he was vexed by the evil eye and eventually lost his traction on reality.Poes based both of these stories around the time at midnight, the witching hour. This was important because this is an ancient European folktale. It was believed at this time of the night supernatural creatures such as witches, demons and ghosts are thought to be at their most powerful and also black magic at it s most effective. because Death in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow this all the way shows the old mans fright of the dark and how he linked the darkness and death together. Readers can easily relate to this fear of the dark hours as we feel uneasy in the dark and touchy to see which often causes a skewed perception.In The Cask of Amontillado, Poe clearly showed Fortunato being buried alive. I laid the second tier and the triplet and the fourth. The idea of being buried alive was a concern at Poes time when he was writing these stories. During the 17th century, many previous(p) burials occurred. Over 140 cases of premature burials were recorded and 10 cases in which bodies were cleft accidentally before death. This idea was important in The Tell Tale Heart also, near the end, when the narrator became paranoid. He kept hearing a distinctive ringing in his ear which leaded him to his confession. Tear up the planksit is the beating of his hideous heart. This showe d the notion of being buried alive as he believed the old man was still alive, with his heart beating underneath the floorboard.In conclusion, the important settings of the two stories were the witching hour time and where the victims were murdered. This helped the readers gain the important ideas of the 17th century phobia of being buried alive and also the superstitions and peoples uneasy feeling about the witching hour. One major difference between the two stories is that there are two settings within the story of The Cask of Amontillado while in The Tell Tale Heart, there were just one. This showed the readers the vast contrast between life and death and how easily Fortunato was tricked into the darkness and to his death. But nevertheless Poe has successfully apply the darkness and the silence of the night in capturing the readers attention and interests.