ipl-logo

Comparing The Black Cat And The Cask Of Amontillado

658 Words3 Pages

In “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe, the nameless narrator took a dark turn when alcohol was introduced. His alcohol abuse caused him to go from his pet-loving, gentle self to an abusive murderer. After murdering his cat and wife, he wanted to make sure that his effort did not go unnoticed. In “The Cask of Amontillado” the main character, Montresor, used alcohol to lure his friend into his family's catacombs. Little did Fortunato know, Montresor was taking him to his death. Montresor was obsessed with getting his revenge, and it caused him to commit murder. Although Edgar Allan Poe's short stories “The Black Cat” and “The Cask of Amontillado” both include characters obsessed with alcohol and bodies hidden in the walls, “The Black Cat” proves to be more horrifying due to the abuse and killing of the cat along with the desire for the murder to be known. Alcohol played a large part in both of these short stories. In “The Black Cat” the narrator was an alcoholic. He …show more content…

In “The Black Cat” the narrator did not plan to kill his wife so he acted quickly. The narrator buried an axe into his wife’s brain and she fell dead on the floor.“ Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain” (Poe,”The Black Cat” 5). In “The Cask of Amontillado” Montresor simply chained Fortunato to the granite, walled him up and left him to die. There was no blood or gore. “A moment more and I had fettered him to the granite” (Poe,”The Cask” 143). In “The Cask of Amontillado” Montresor got away with the perfect murder, but in “The Black Cat” the narrator wanted people to know what he had done. He was unsatisfied with the murder going unknown. He did not want his effort to go unnoticed. “ I burned to say if but one word, by way of triumph, and to render doubly sure their assurance of my guiltlessness” (Poe,”The Black Cat”

Open Document