The Tell-Tale Heart and the Cask of Amontillado
...up tires on the exit. Fortunato thinks it is a joke, but he screams and no one answers. Montresor hesitates for a moment after Fortunato is calling for him but continues to finish the task. Many short stories have similarities and differences. The short stories “The Tell Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado” have many similarities and major differences which are probably because they are both written by the same individual. The first similarity would be that they both begin and follow through with the main character narrating the story. In “The Tell Tale Heart” the narrator is explaining the story not to long after it has happened. Unlike “The Tell Tale Heart,” the Cask of Amontillado is being told by the narrator almost a half of a century later. Another similarity would be the actions of the two characters. The narrator of “The Tell Tale Heart” had been plotting to murder the old man from the beginning of the story. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor had also been plotting the murder he was going to commit for some time. A major difference between the two murders is the motives. The characters motive in “The Tell Tale Heart” is that the old mans “hideous” eye had aggravated and disgusted him and it got to him so much that he felt he had to kill him. It was nothing against the old man though. In “The Cask of Amontillado” his motive is that of revenge. Montresor is getting Fortunato back for the many embarrassments and insults he has imposed on him. Another similarity would be the two characters’ attempts to cover the evidence of murder. In “The Tell Tale Heart,” after the main character commits the murder he cleverly dismembers the body and places it under the apartment’s floor boards. In “The Cask of Amontillado” Montresor takes Fortunato deep into the family catacombs where not even a scream can be heard. Montresor tricks Fortunato and locks him up in shackles. He then builds a brick wall in front of him and leaves him there. Unlike “The Cask of Amontillado,” the character of “The Tell Tale Heart” does not get away with the murder. When police come to search the apartment he hallucinates and thinks he is hearing the old man’s heart beating. The beating becomes so erratic that he thinks the policemen hear it and that they know he killed him. His hallucinations get to him and he reveals where the body parts are hidden. In “The Cask of Amontillado” Montresor seals Fortunato in the catacombs and never tells a soul. The similarities in both stories are that the victims do not know what was coming to them. In “The Tell Tale Heart” the killer is determined to kill the man. He has no objective, he in fact loves the man, but he just wants to get rid of the man’s “evil eye”. He is very determined because he waits seven days and seven nights to accomplish what he wants to do. In “The Cask of Amontillado” it is the same, the so called friend is too determined to get revenge, and he waits until it was the right time. Unlike “The Tell Tale Heart” in “The Cask of Amontillado” the friend did not physically kill Fortunato; he just leaves him ...