Draw Connections: “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”

Draw Connections: “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”

Edgar Allan Poe’s work is one of the highlights of horror writing in the nineteenth century. Using gothic settings, and increasingly enclosed spaces, Poe frightens readers by telling stories of horrific crimes, which often seem entirely unmotivated. What makes his work especially terrifying is the use of the first-person point of view for the stories: frequently, the reader is hearing directly from the madman who is committing the crime.

Download the annotated “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” documents, and use them to answer the questions below about ways that the stories create a mood and tone of horror through their narrators, settings, and plots.

  1. How is the narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” like the narrator of “The Cask of Amontillado”? What differences do you see in the way they present themselves? How does this have an effect on the tone of the stories?

    Question

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    Chapter 6: How is the narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” like the narrator of “The Cask of Amontillado”? What differences do you see in the way they present themselves? How does this have an effect on the tone of the stories?
  2. How do the settings of “The Cask Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” work as symbols for the acts that the narrators commit?

    Question

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    Chapter 6: How do the settings of “The Cask Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” work as symbols for the acts that the narrators commit?
  3. How is the old man—the antagonist in “The Tell-Tale Heart”—different from Fortunato? What has drawn the ire of each narrator? Why do the narrators think that their antagonists must die? How does this change the way that the narrator presents himself?

    Question

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    Chapter 6: How is the old man—the antagonist in “The Tell-Tale Heart”—different from Fortunato? What has drawn the ire of each narrator? Why do the narrators think that their antagonists must die? How does this change the way that the narrator presents himself?
  4. What is the role of sound in each story? How does sound foreshadow the endings of the stories?

    Question

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    Chapter 6: What is the role of sound in each story? How does sound foreshadow the endings of the stories?