Brittany Dellinger. Ms. Walker. Eng 231 K6C. 20 April 2017.

Brittany Dellinger Ms. Walker ENG 231 K6C 20 April 2017 Sanity of the Mind: Edgar Allan Poe â€Å"Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.† - Edgar Allan Poe The â€Å"Tell-Tale Heart† and â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† are both well-known short horror stories written by Edgar Allan Poe. Both short stories share similar themes and atmospheres. They are dark, creepy, sometimes humorous and sometimes very frightening stories both narrated by a main character in a first person point of view. Both stories tell the tale of a carefully planned and constructed murder. Exploring the differences in the setting and atmosphere of these stories, the individual motives these characters had for committing one of the most†¦show more content†¦This story begins around dusk when the narrator, Montresor, comes upon the antagonist, Fortunato. As the evening darkens, so does the plot of this short story. Montresor leads Fortunato into his vaults where he keeps his most prized wines. The vaults go very deep, are very da rk, and are covered in nitre, which is a mineral that grows upon the damp walls of the vaults and irritates Fortunato’s throat. As the story reaches its climax, Fortunato is led into the deepest and darkest part of the vaults where his fate is awaiting him. In both of these stories, the atmosphere was heavy with the dread of claustrophobia. In â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart,† the narrator was not only trapped inside of his own deluded mind, he was also trapped inside this house with the illusion that he absolutely must murder this kind old man. He is unable to think about anything else until this task is completed. The sticky feel of claustrophobia intensifies when the reader realizes the dismembered old man is hidden underneath the floorboards of the room, in a very small and cramped space that would require his body to be chopped up before he could fit in. In â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado,† the vaults are enormously claustrophobic. The walls are damp, there are no windows or fresh air, and the antagonist will ultimately meet his demise by being trapped in a small and dark space in the vaults. Poe understands the basic human fear of being enclosed in a small space and uses it to horrify his readers many