“The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843)

An unnamed narrator opens the story by addressing the reader and claiming that he is nervous
but not mad. He says that he is going to tell a story in which he will defend his sanity yet
confess to having killed an old man. His motivation was neither passion nor desire for money,
but rather a fear of the man’s pale blue eye. Again, he insists that he is not crazy because his
cool and measured actions, though criminal, are not those of a madman. Every night, he went
to the old man’s apartment and secretly observed the man sleeping. In the morning, he would
behave as if everything were normal. After a week of this activity, the narrator decides,
somewhat randomly, that the time is right actually to kill the old man.
When the narrator arrives late on the eighth night, though, the old man wakes up and cries
out. The narrator remains still, stalking the old man as he sits awake and frightened. The
narrator understands how frightened the old man is, having also experienced the lonely terrors
of the night. Soon, the narrator hears a dull pounding that he interprets as the old man’s
terrified heartbeat. Worried that a neighbor might hear the loud thumping, he attacks and kills
the old man. He then dismembers the body and hides the pieces below the floorboards in the
bedroom. He is careful not to leave even a drop of blood on the floor. As he finishes his job, a
clock strikes the hour of four. At the same time, the narrator hears a knock at the street door.
The police have arrived, having been called by a neighbor who heard the old man shriek. The
narrator is careful to be chatty and to appear normal. He leads the officers all over the house
without acting suspiciously. At the height of his bravado, he even brings them into the old
man’s bedroom to sit down and talk at the scene of the crime. The policemen do not suspect a
thing. The narrator is comfortable until he starts to hear a low thumping sound. He recognizes
the low sound as the heart of the old man, pounding away beneath the floorboards. He panics,
believing that the policemen must also hear the sound and know his guilt. Driven mad by the
idea that they are mocking his agony with their pleasant chatter, he confesses to the crime and
shrieks at the men to rip up the floorboards.

Analysis:
Poe's story is a case of domestic violence that occurs as the result of an irrational fear. To the
narrator that fear is represented by the old man's eye. Through the narrator, Poe describes this
eye as being pale blue with a film over it, and resembling that of a vulture. Does the narrator
have any reason to fear the old man or his eye?
Poe writes this story from the perspective of the murderer of the old man. When an author
creates a situation where the protagonist tells a personal account, the overall impact of the
story is heightened. The narrator, in this particular story, adds to the overall effect of horror by
continually stressing to the reader that he or she is not mad, and tries to convince us of that
fact by how carefully this brutal crime was planned and executed.

“The Black Cat” (1843)

On the eve of his death, an unnamed narrator opens the story by proclaiming that he is sane,
despite the wild narrative he is about to convey. This narrative begins years before, when the
narrator’s honorable character is well known and celebrated. He confesses a great love for
cats and dogs, both of which, he says, respect the fidelity of friendship, unlike fellow men.
The narrator marries at a young age and introduces his wife to the domestic joys of owning
pets. Among birds, goldfish, a dog, rabbits, and a monkey, the narrator singles out a large and
beautiful black cat, named Pluto, as his favorite.
Though he loves Pluto, the narrator begins to suffer from violent mood swings, predominantly
due to the influence of alcohol. He takes to mistreating not only the other animals but also his
wife. During this uncontrollable rage, he spares only Pluto. After returning home quite drunk
one night, the narrator lashes out at Pluto. Believing the cat has avoided him, he vengefully
grasps the cat, only to be bitten on the hand. In demonic retaliation, the narrator pulls a
penknife from his pocket and cuts out one of the cat’s eyes. Though the narrator wakes the
next morning with a partial feeling of remorse, he is unable to reverse the newly ominous
course of his black soul. Ignored for certain now by the wounded cat, the narrator soon seeks
further retaliation. He is overwhelmed by a spirit of PERVERSENESS, and sets out to
commit wrong for the sake of wrong. He hangs Pluto from the limb of a tree one morning.
On the night of Pluto’s hanging, the narrator’s family’s house burns down, but he dismisses
the possibility of a connection between the two events. The day after the fire, which destroys
all the narrator’s possessions, he witnesses a group of neighbors collected around a wall that
remains standing. Investigating their shouts of amazement, the narrator discovers the
impression of a gigantic cat—with a rope around its neck—on the surface of the wall. The
narrator attempts to explain rationally the existence of the impression, but he finds himself
haunted by this phantasm over the course of many months. One night, while out drunk, the
narrator discovers a black object poised upon a large barrel of alcohol. A new black cat has
appeared, resembling Pluto but with a splash of white on his fur.
As with Pluto, the narrator experiences a great fondness for the mysterious cat, which no one
has seen before. The cat becomes part of the household, much adored by his wife as well.
However, following the earlier pattern, the narrator soon cannot resist feelings of hatred for
the cat. These murderous sentiments intensify when the narrator discovers that the cat’s splash
of white fur has mysteriously taken on the shape of the gallows, the structure on which a
hanging takes place. The white fur reveals the mode of execution that claimed Pluto, and the
narrator pledges revenge.
One day, descending into the cellar of the building with his wife, the narrator almost trips over
the cat. Enraged, the narrator grabs an axe to attack the cat, but his wife defends the animal.
Further angered by this interference, the narrator turns his rage at his wife and buries the axe
in her head. Faced with the evidence of his crime, the narrator considers many options for the
body’s disposal, including dismemberment and burial. The narrator eventually decides to take
advantage of the damp walls in the basement and entomb the body behind their plaster.
Without any difficulty, the narrator creates a tomb in the plaster wall, thereby hiding the body
and all traces of his murder. When he finally turns to the cat, it is missing, and he concludes
that it has been frightened away by his anger.
On the fourth day after the murder, the police arrive unexpectedly at the narrator’s apartment.
Cool and collected, the narrator leads them through the premises, even into the basement.
Though facing the scene of the crime, the police do not demonstrate any curiosity and prepare
to leave the residence. The narrator, however, keeps trying to allay their suspicion.
Commenting upon the solid craftsmanship of the house, he taps on the wall—behind which is
his wife’s body—with a cane. In response to the tapping, a long, loud cry emanates from
behind the wall. The police storm the wall and dismantle it, discovering the hidden corpse.
Upon its head sits the missing cat.

Analysis:
Like in the ‘Tell-Tale Heart the narrator’s descent into madness can be seen in this story. As
the he begins to tell his story (flashback), the reader discovers that the man's personality had
undergone a drastic transformation which he attributes to his abuse of alcohol and the
perverse side of his nature, which the alcohol seemed to evoke. The reader also discovers
(with the introduction of Pluto into the story) that the narrator is superstitious, as he recounts
that his wife made "...frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, [that] all black cats [are]
witches in disguise." Even though the narrator denies this (much as the narrator in "The Tell-
Tale Heart" denies that he or she is insane), the reader becomes increasingly aware of his
superstitious belief as the story progresses. The introduction of alcohol as a plot device is also
significant because Edgar Allan Poe was a reputedly uncontrollable drunk throughout his
lifetime. For many years, his biographers asserted that he died of alcohol poisoning in a gutter
in Baltimore. More recent biographies insist that the exact cause of Poe’s death cannot be
determined. Regardless, it is certain that Poe suffered from the deleterious effects of alcohol
consumption throughout his life.

1) The narrator’s social behaviour when he was a child:

kind to animals loved them, cared for others, weak, outsider, lonely strange to
others
2) The narrator’s relationship to his wife:
towards the end more and more aggressive, balanced, not too intense, superficial
(doesn’t love her but her affection for animals)
3) The narrator’s alcohol abuse and its effect:
violent, neglects feelings of others  ill-used pets (except for Pluto)
4) The narrator’s attitude to Pluto and his new cat:
Pluto: respect, close relationship, intense feelings
New cat: similar, even more intense

“The Pit and the Pendulum” (1843)

An unnamed narrator opens the story by revealing that he has been sentenced to death during
the time of the Inquisition—an institution of the Catholic government in fifteenth- and
sixteenth-century Spain that persecuted all Protestants and heretical Catholics. Upon receiving
his death sentence, the narrator swoons, losing consciousness. When he wakes, he faces
complete darkness. He is confused because he knows that the usual fate of Inquisition victims
is a public auto-da-fé, or “act of faith”—an execution normally taking the form of a hanging.
He is afraid that he has been locked in a tomb, but he gets up and walks a few paces. This
mobility then leads him to surmise that he is not in a tomb, but perhaps in one of the dungeons
at Toledo, an infamous Inquisition prison. He decides to explore. Ripping off a piece of the
hem from his robe, he places it against the wall so that he can count the number of steps
required to walk the perimeter of the cell. However, he soon stumbles and collapses to the
ground, where he falls asleep.
Upon waking, the narrator finds offerings of water and bread, which he eagerly consumes. He
then resumes his exploration of the prison, determining it to be roughly one hundred paces
around. He decides to walk across the room. As he crosses, though, the hem that he ripped
earlier tangles around his feet and trips him. Hitting the floor, he realizes that, although most
of his body has fallen on solid ground, his face dangles over an abyss. To his dismay, he
concludes that in the center of the prison there exists a circular pit. To estimate its depth, the
narrator breaks a stone off the wall of the pit and throws it in, timing its descent. The pit, he
believes, is quite deep, with water at the bottom. Reflecting upon his proximity to the pit, the
narrator explains its function as a punishment of surprise, infamously popular with the
Inquisitors. The narrator falls asleep again and wakes up to more water and bread. After
drinking, he immediately falls asleep again and imagines that the water must have been
drugged. When he wakes up the next time, he finds the prison dimly lit. He remarks that he
has overestimated its size, most likely having duplicated his steps during his explorations.
The narrator discovers that he is now bound to a wooden board by a long strap wrapped
around his body. His captors offer him some flavorful meat in a dish, but no more water.
When he looks up, he notices that the figure of Time has been painted on the ceiling. Time,
however, has been made into a machine, specifically a pendulum, which appears to be
swinging back and forth. The narrator looks away from the ceiling, though, when he notices
rats coming out of the pit and swarming around his food. When he returns his focus to the
ceiling, he discovers that the pendulum is constructed like a scythe and is making a razor-
sharp crescent in its descent toward him. Its progress, however, is maddeningly slow and in a
trajectory directly over his heart. Even though he recognizes how dire the situation is, the
narrator remains hopeful. When the pendulum gets very close to him, he has a flash of insight.
He rubs the food from his plate all over the strap that is restraining his mobility. Drawn by the
food, the rats climb on top of the narrator and chew through the strap. As the pendulum nears
his heart, the narrator breaks through the strap and escapes from the pendulum’s swing. When
he gets up, the pendulum retracts to the ceiling, and he concludes that people must be
watching his every move.
The walls of the prison then heat up and begin moving in toward the pit. The narrator realizes
that the enclosing walls will force him into the pit, an escape that will also mean his death.
When there remains not even an inch foothold for the narrator, the walls suddenly retract and
cool down. In his fear, however, the narrator has begun to faint into the pit. To his great
surprise, though, a mysterious person latches onto him and prevents his fall. The French
general Lasalle and his army have successfully taken over the prison in their effort to
terminate the Inquisition.

Analysis:
Unlike the hypersensitive characters from other stories, (e.g. the narrator in “The Tell-Tale
Heart,”) this narrator claims to lose the capacity of sensation during the swoon that opens the
story. He thus highlights his own unreliability in ways that other narrators resist or deny. The
narrative pattern resembles that of other stories, such as “The Tell-Tale Heart,” to the extent
that the narrator says and does the opposite of what he originally announces. This story
diverges from the pattern, however, in that this narrator’s descriptions are more objectively
valid—that is, less concerned with proving the narrator’s own sanity. The story is unusual
among Poe’s tales because it is hopeful. The narrator maintains the capacity to recount
faithfully and rationally his surroundings while also describing his own emotional confusion.
Unlike in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” for example, the burden of emotional distress does not hinder
storytelling. The narrative examines the physical and emotional fluctuations of the pure
present, leaving historical and moral judgments to the reader.
Edgar Allan Poe draws upon actual historical events that occurred in the Spanish city of
Toledo, the central command from which the religious persecution of all Jews, Muslims, and
accused "heretics" would be put on trial. The French and "General Lasalle," appear to be
historically nonexistent, however.

In all 3 stories Poe uses the portrayal of explicit violence to create a suspenseful story.
Additionally all 3 narrators have excessive fear of something and 2 of them are insane. As in
many of Poe’s stories excessive biting and mutilation appear in all 3 stories and are recounted
in detail.