English Literature Coursework Essay

Compare and contrast at least two short stories by Edgar Allen Poe, paying particular attention to setting, atmosphere, characterisation, theme and language. Throughout this essay I will be comparing and contrasting Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Black Cat’ and ‘The Cask of Amontillado’. Edgar Allen Poe had a particular preference to what though was good writing he believed that a story should build suspense and tension and all techniques should be used to build this tension for a big finish, his ‘unity of effects’. Many of Poe’s stories are very gothic and sinister, this can be seen to have been influenced by the long chain of very traumatic events in his life such as losing both parents, losing his wife, alcoholism and hallucinations. He should never be called crazy himself but his stories often involve ‘crazy’ narrators and characters. I will firstly start of with the setting in ‘The Cask of Amontillado’, this is a story set in old Italy in which our main character ‘Montressor’ has been gravely insulted by ‘Fortunato’ and to find his revenge he buries him alive deep underneath his mansion. The setting in the Cask is sinister and also ironic. Its set in a mansion during the carnival, the mansion itself is very gothic and creepy which gives us the gothic element, but the fact that its set during carnival is very ironic as carnival is supposed to be a time of joy and gaiety not a time for evil murders such as this. The reason this murder actually takes place is also due to the carnival, as during it a lot of social boundaries are dropped and laws are less firmly enforced which gives him this chance to ‘get away with murder’. The deed itself is set deep in Montressors cellar, his catacombs, which provides is with a very gothic atmosphere. The deeper they descend into the cellar can also been seen as irony for descending into hell which gives us another layer to the setting of this tale. ‘The Black Cat’ is a story set all at home in which a very strange series of events take place and the narrator who was once a very fond animal lover becomes their enemy and ends up killing one cat and attempting to kill his second but instead kills his wife, who he walls up in his cellar and accidently walls up the cat alive with her. During this time we witness his slow decent into utter madness. The setting as I said is all at the narrator home, this is ironic as the home is where we are supposed to feel most secure and most safe but it this tale its where these crazy and rather disturbing events take place, this affects the reader in a way which makes them think that the home is maybe not so secure as they once thought and challenges their views of safety and security. The safety of home is a total contrast to the sinister events that take place. This is similar to the Cask as all deaths in both stories take place in the narrators home, but is contrasted as in the Cask he was more in control of where the death could have taken place as he was more ‘sane’, but it in ‘The Black Cat’ he is less in control and the death of his wife was more spur of the moment. The murder in the cask was very much thought out and everything was planned to the last detail but in the black cat he is often drunk or not in a safe state of mind when the murders are committed. I will now compare and contrast the atmosphere in both stories. In the Cask Poe creates a gothic atmosphere by describing the scenery very vivid and in a hugely gothic detail. Such as ‘upon the damp ground of the catacombs of the montressors’ which gives up a vivid image of a huge damp cellar lined with cob-webs and rats. Also the ‘madness’ of the carnival is ironic for the madness of the deeds that’s going to take place. In the black cat the gothic atmosphere is created by the huge range of gothic literature and very dramatic writing. During the story there are series of very perverse doings such as the pair of deaths one being a cat and the other his wife. There are also lots of hints towards to supernatural elements starting off with the connection between black cats and witches by the narrator’s wife, which we can assume played on his mind throughout the story and may have lead to part of his downfall. Both stories have a huge intensity and a great build up of tension. Both stories create terror and a gothic atmosphere. Now I will discuss the largest of all subjects from the two stories, the narrators. The narrator in the Cask is a very proud man and not easily annoyed as Poe says that he say bared most of Forunato’s but once he is gravely insulted he believes he has to go to the extremity of murder to gain his revenge and regain his dignity. I’d say the character is actually rather reliable as he doesn’t seem to be ‘insane’, just getting revenge the only way he thinks he can, and he often mentions that what he’s doing is just part of human nature and everyone does it just maybe not on this scale. His state of mind is pretty secure, he seems to know exactly what he’s doing and just how he’s going to do it and everything seems very much planned out to the utter last detail. His only slip would seem to be right at the end when he starts to call out Fortunato’s name where it would seem that he’s starting to feel regret already for wha t he’s doing. He’s very manipulative as he knows exactly what things to say to make Fortunato come with him, such as mentioning ‘Luchresi’ as he knows that Fortunato would be in competition with him and would be jealous to see him take it to Luchresi instead of him, he basically uses him as a lure, even though that is all we hear about Luchresi its enough to sway Fortunato into the montressors deep vaults. Now for the narrator in the black cat, at the beginning of the story he is made out to be a very respectful and animal loving character. In the case of this particular character I can easily say that he is unreliable as he is clearly insane. Unlike the narrator in the cask, during his mental disintegration he starts to hallucinate. Such as the ‘enormous, flat’ cat he imagines in house after the death of his first cat, and secondly the gallows appearing in the tuft of white hair on the second cat. The gallows are used as foreshadowing, maybe his death, or another death in his household or his impending capture. Throughout the story the narrators state of mind deteriates slowly, one reason for this could be his alcoholism that had taken control of him. He calls the alcohol ‘fiend intemperance’ which he says had altered his for the worse, this shows that the narrator can see what’s slowly happening to himself but blames it on the alcohol as he calls it a fiend. This adds another layer to the alcohol and leads up to believe that the narrator’s state of mind is not totally secure. So unlike the narrator in the cask we feel that he is rather out of control of his actions and his state of mind. The third subject comparison I will make is in the language of the two stories. In the cask Poe uses a huge array of linguistic devices. There is extensive vocabulary throughout the prose which gives it depth and great vivid detail such as ‘deep dark crypt’; this has two descriptive adjectives and alliteration in a tiny space. This gives the tale imagery of this evil crypt and mysterious vaults. He also uses several instances of repetition to describe and give the story yet another layer or depth and emphasis in particular important events in the prose; ‘a succession of loud and shrill screams’. He also has a wide range of sentence structure, simple, compound and complex. The complex sentences in this prose build tension and then a compound or simple on for impact. All of these techniques create and build tension and intensity. There is also irony, for example the use of appearance versus reality where the narrator presents himself as one way when infact in reality it is clearly obvious they are not. Foreshadowing is also used, this is when a particular event is mentioned or hinted at will become later in the story. Such as when Fortunato is suffering from a cough and upon entering the vaults has a sudden coughing fit after which montressor requests that they leave but fortunate insists that; ‘the cough’s a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough’. This is seen as foreshadowing his future, true he will not die of a cough, but he will die in these vaults. In the black cat Poe uses irony in his very first paragraph, ‘mere household events’ when we know that they are clearly far from mere household events. Poe also uses personification; the most rhetorical is when he personifies the alcohol to give it another layer and it would also give ‘someone’ to blame his irrational behaviour on. The use of irony is noticeable when the narrator reveals that his first cats name was Pluto, who, in Greek mythology, is the lord of the underworld. This could also tap into the supernatural element of the tale which could be the reason for the narrator’s physiological downfall. Poe uses the technique of rhetorical questions to probe at the reader and leave an unanswered question in the readers head. Such as; ‘who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or a silly action, for no other reason that because he knows he should not?’. This particular rhetorical question is basically talking about this perverse side in everyone and about basic human nature, which is something that we can all relate to as readers and could also, be the narrator trying to justify his actions as part of everyday human nature. Poe’s vocabulary is very vicious, emotive and demonic, such as ‘demons’, ‘exhault’, ‘damned’ and ‘agony’. These emotive words play on the emotions and are much better than just normal descriptive words. Once again, like the Cask, intensity is created and built throughout the story, and both have foreshadowing, symbolism and good diction. An example of foreshadowing in the black cat could be the narrator’s hallucination of the gallows appearing in his second cat’s fur, this could be foreshadowing a death that he could be related to including himself. The last category I will be comparing and contrasting is themes in the tale. In the cask Poe explores several themes, such as the dropping of moral boundaries at the time of carnivals and their consequences, such as crime. Poe is just using this extremity to show this. Revenge is also another theme explored in this tale and once again this is an extremity to show that. It is also to explore the narrator’s state of mind and to entertain the reader. In the black cat Poe explores the idea that everyone has a perverse side and uses this extremity to show that. Like the cask, it also explores the narrator’s state of mind and to entertain the reader.