A Cask of Amontillado and The Tell Tale Heart

Setting

• The Cask of Amontillado takes place mostly in the Catacombs where Montresor kills Fortunato by chaining him up and barricading the exit so he could not escape.
• The Tell Tale Heart takes place over a number of nights in a house that the narrator stares at the owner at night plotting his chance to kill.
• Both Stories take place somewhere remote and isolated from others.

Mood

• A creepy and suspenseful mood is created while reading The Tell Tale Heart.
• A Cask of Amontillado gives the reader a feeling that something big and essential is going to happen, but you just don't know when.

CHaracters

• Montresor from A Cask of Amontillado lures Fortunato to the cellar by getting him drunk and making him jealous by considering asking someone else to go with him.
• The narrator from The Tell Tale Heart doesn't necessarily lure the old man to his death, he simply watches him while he sleeps, planning his attack.
• The ability for Fortunato and the old man to fight back was neutralized by the fact that Fortunato was intoxicated and the old man was asleep.

Story Finallies

• A Cask of Amontillado ends with Montresor, the murderer, walking away without getting caught and not regretting what he did.
• The narrator from The Tell Tale Heart, the murderer of the old man, gets caught at the end, because of his insanity acting up on him and causing him to regret what he did (e.g. "But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now - again! - hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!"

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