Comparison Of Tell-Tale Heart And The Black Cat

Edgar Allan Poe’s deliciously creepy short stories contain characters whose lives are turned upside-down at the hand of Poe’s imagination. Theses wild thoughts are structured in such a way that the characters are completely unaware of their fates, allowing Poe to manipulate and shock even the audience. Each of the characters is different, but in the same way, each is lead to believe in their success, only to be met instead by failure and doom. This arrangement is particularly evident among the narrators of the Tell-Tale Heart and the Black Cat, and also serves purpose in the Fall of the House of Usher. Poe allows each character to complete their mission – the elimination of another person or animal – allowing them a few moments to taste success,
Ultimately, almost every fate is an “overthrow” of the “spirit of perverseness” – usually known as Death.

This Death is what the narrator of the Black Cat is immediately facing – writing to us that “To-morrow [he] dies”. His story, believed to be a depiction of “mere household events”, is one that truly saddens the soul. From “infancy” this man was tame, being “especially fond of animals” and “noted for the docility and humanity” of his heart. It was unthinkable that such a man could become so intemperate and violent. Nevertheless, this “disease” – the “Alcohol” – gave the narrator the “fury of a demon”, allowing him to maltreat his beloved pets and even offer “personal violence” to his dear wife. A combination of superstitious beliefs and the “Fiend Intemperance” is what then enticed the narrator to persecute and murder his “favourite [feline] pet and playmate”, Pluto. “For months” after the event, all was calm, until one drunken night, the narrator meets Pluto again. This triggers such great fear within the narrator that he attempts all in his power to be rid of the cat – to the extent that he
However, not all characters are fated to the depths of the grave. The narrator of the Fall of the House of Usher is the only one left standing amongst all inhabitants and the House of Usher itself. However, the events that he witnesses within the Usher household are that which he never expected – he was only there to “alleviate the melancholy of [his] friend”! Instead, the narrator witnesses the tearing down of man by MS and “acute bodily illness”, the ghastly effects of “constitutional and family” incest and assists in a murder plot. He is exposed to the frightening “phantasmagoric conceptions” of Roderick Usher, such that they “infected” him and had “dominion over” him. Then, the narrator becomes a spectator to the ‘resurrection’ of the Lady Madeline from the grave and watches in disbelief as she and his “boon companion” fall heavily to the floor in “violent and now final death-agonies”. These experiences are none like one would have thought to be when comforting a friend in need! It is no wonder that the narrator “fled aghast” only to watch as the House of Usher was swallowed in the “deep and dark tarn” at his feet. This profound and dismal image had such a great effect on the poor man that he even managed to write in such great detail every affair that took place. All this time he only wanted to comfort his poor friend, but Poe obviously had other plans for