Comparing The Cask Of Amontillado And A Tell Tale Heart

One of the most important things to analyze in literature is the point of view, whether a story is told from the point of view of a holocaust survivor or a guard at an internment camp in Nazi Germany for instance might greatly influence the description of the transgressions that occurred. For similar reasons it becomes important especially in poetry and stories to analyze and evaluate the trustworthiness of the narrator a great example is Edgar Allan Poe’s stories “The Cask of Amontillado” and “A Tell Tale Heart,” which are both great examples of untrustworthy narrators in poetry or rather narrators who’s justification for their actions is called into question due to their actions; in this case “murder most foul.” The story of Ying-ying is
It is no wonder then that Zhen chose to portray his past experience as a fictional tale. A situation in which he could to a degree protected his past lover from humiliation. Something that would be in exact opposite of the actions of his proxy Zhang, who at one point in the text advertises the relationship by “[showing] her letter to his friends… as a result many people at the time heard of the affair.” “Her” of course is a reference to Ying-ying in this instance. In the story this betrayal lead to the affair becoming well known among Zhang’s friends and as a plot point is significant to later interpretations of the tale of Ying-ying within Ying-ying’s Story. While in the story this betrayal is fresh and an affront to both Ying-ying and the reader the real Yuan Zhen uses this opportunity to insert himself into the story in order to express his true feelings poetically through the “completed” poem “Meeting the Holy One.” Which in the text would serve as a rephrasing of transpired events but in the context of self-authorship could then be viewed as genuine expression of deep emotional feeling from Zhen to his
What is important about this is the representation of this poem within the story as recently finished, in other words it is likely that Yuan Zhen wanted to put special emphasis on the above stanza which when read can in turn be interpreted as a lamentation of Zhen’s personal standing in real life keeping him away from his love. This poem under the guise of a poetic summation shows not the cold response to Ying-ying’s letter that Zhang gives in an explanation to Zhen but rather the actual pain that Zhen feels in the real life scenario. Something that is affirmed by Zhang’s reaction to Ying-ying refuses to see him when he visits her a year later. The fact that Zhang’s, “pain at such a rebuff showed on his face,” is a clear indication of Zhen’s feelings in real life for which Zhang is but a