Comparison the black cat and the tell tale heart

This paper will highlight the similarities and differences between the two tales. The characters and the setting of the two stories appear to be different but many authors have argued that in real sense, they are similar. Superficially, the two short stories are happen in a house and have scary scenes during the night time. However, they are both stories told as the narrator remembers the past happenings while he is in jail. For instance, in the beginning of the two stories, the initial lines reveal recounting of some happening. In their narration, they portray excuses of their actions through confessing. By confessing, they believe that their actions were not absurd but excusable. In addition, in ‘The Black Cat,’ the protagonist of obsession was an animal whereas in ‘The Tell-Tale Heart,’ the point of concentration is the old man’s eye.

In both stories, the obsession is cast on one thing that consequently leads to the fall of the main protagonist. Poe utilizes the differences in the two stories by bringing out the manner in which the major character in each tale shows his hatred. In ‘The Tell-Tale Heart,’ the protagonist was very uncomfortable not by the eyes of the animal but by the eyes of the old man. As Poe writes, the narrator described the man’s eyes that they looked like those of a vulture- ‘a pale blue, with film over it,’ states Poe (702). Every daytime and night, the protagonist would walk slowly towards where the old man was to observe his eyes and find out if they were open or shut, but the old man was always sleeping soundly.

One time, he got what he was looking for, the widely opened eyes of the old man. This made the protagonist very angry (Poe). In both stories, Poe hints to the writers of what is about to come. The two stories focus on the human trace into evil and shows that evil cannot win. Fear and moments of darkness are subtly expressed throughout both stories. In ‘The Tell-Tale Heart,’ the protagonist brags about his being invincible and later he is crashed for his evil deeds because of insanity and guilt. The same way, in ‘The Black Cat,’ the protagonist murdered without being convinced but later on, he voluntarily confesses his evils to the police. Poe, Edgar Allan. The Complete Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe.