Edgar Allen Poe’s tales
- The Tell-Tale Heart
- The Raven
- The Cask of Amontillado
Three of my favorite tales of Edgar Allen Poe popped up on my YouTube feed and I just couldn’t help myself. I mean…I was forced to read them in high school. But, this time around, it was purely for fun. And that’s where I can get the most out of reading.
The Tell-Tale Heart, for all intended purposes, is about a person who killed an old man because of his “vulture-eye“. It’s a very unsettling reason to kill someone but I’ve heard worst. (Criminal Minds, anyone?) The story is told in the first person by, in literary terms, an unreliable narrator due to his crumbling sanity.
It’s worth pointing out that the gender of the narrator wasn’t clearly specified. This means that, quite literally, any reader can immerse themselves in this story. It is also important to point out that this story tells the tale of the ” perfect crime” as the narrator killed the old man, dismember him and concealed him under the floor to remove the evidence of the deed. The perfect crime, right? Yeah, the narrator thought so, too.
So much so, that, when the police were called, the narrator invited them into the old man’s room and converse with them. Confident and easy going was the narrator’s demeanor…until a ring in the ear starts becoming uncomfortable. Even better, the ringing sound turns into a beating sound. Then, the beating sound turns into a throbbing sound. Actually, it turned into the sound of a throbbing heart. Haha! Yeah, the perfect crime, my arse. Bet you didn’t count on the conscience playing a role. Just broke down and confessed the crime after the sound got loud enough.
The Cask of Amontillado tells the same tale of committing murder but in a different formation. This time, the narrator has a name, Montresor, and he’s out for revenge to a man, Fortunato, who insulted him. So, to complete this crime, Montresor got Fortunato drunk and convinced him to accompany him in the wine cellars of the latter’s palazzo, where they wander in the catacombs, with the promise of Amontillado. He even made sure that Fortunato was intoxicated the entire time.
When X makes the spot, Fortunato was quickly chained and bound to the wall and Montresor began to create a wall of bricks to trap him. This sobered Fortunato up pretty quickly and tried to call for help which Montresor. He tried to reason with his “friend” but to no avail. Finally, he was forced to succumb to his fate as Montresor placed the last brick and left him to die.
Even fifty years later, the crime was never reported; only the readers are aware of it. Still…pretty drastic way to get revenge…especially over an insult.
Finally, my one of favorite poems, The Raven. This dark poem tells the story of a talking raven and its mysterious visit to a distraught lover which leads the man sinking slowly into madness. I mean, if a talking raven was only saying “Nevermore”, over and over, to me…yeah, I would start looking my mind, too. Especially after losing a loved one…that’s just too much.
You know…sinking into madness can be another way of saying that the narrator died of a broken heart. I mean, I’ve read stories and articles of such incidents. Still, I found this poem to be more sad than dark. It shows how guilt can really take a toll on a person.
Edgar Allen Poe can do no wrong with me. He’s always going to get an A+. Well, let me read the rest of his work before I say that.
