Topic > Overwhelming Obsession in "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat"

An overwhelming obsession and guilt often lead to deadly consequences. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat,” Edgar Allan Poe introduces us to two men who each commit brutal murders motivated by an overwhelming obsession. The narrators differ in their dispositions but are victims of the same circumstances. The narrator of "The Tell-Tale Heart" prides himself on the cunning of his action and being able to tell it extremely calmly despite his usually nervous state, while the narrator of "The Black Cat" is haunted so horribly from his guilt for trying to erase the entire event from his memory. Although the murders are very different – ​​one premeditated, the other spurred by temporary rage – both narrators are haunted by their dark deeds. Because of the guilt these two men feel, they eventually give in to their self-destructive tendencies and cause their own downfall. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In “Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator is characterized by his oblivious approach to his own madness. “In a vain attempt to prove his sanity by detailing how carefully he planned the gruesome act, the narrator makes it abundantly clear from the start that he is dangerously deranged” (Howard). Daring the reader to call him crazy only serves to make him seem even crazier. He also makes it very clear that he has nothing but love in his heart for the old man, but was driven to do so "because he was tormented beyond distraction by the old man's eye." This shows that the narrator does not lack simple human compassion, but that his obsession with the "Evil Eye" is driving him to madness. “On closer inspection a sadomasochistic element emerges” (Pritchard). The narrator decides to kill the old man and describes "with evident pleasure how calculating he was about to do so" (Howard). Even when he is about to kill the old man, he takes so much pleasure in the old man's fear that he "might as well have laughed." The reader is aware that the narrator feels empathy for the man he is about to kill: "the old man moaned softly and the narrator knew it was the sound of someone overcome by mortal fear, because he too had experienced that terror in the depths of the night ." But, the narrator continues, "I knew what the old man felt and I pitied him, even as I chuckled in my heart." This narrator's pleasure-oriented nature makes murder all too easy. With extreme calm he dismembers the body and hides it under the floorboards, making it impossible for anyone to know about the murder. However, like the narrator of "The Black Cat", he is unable to accept that he got away with it and ultimately condemns himself. “The Black Cat,” not unlike “The Tell-Tale Heart,” is about a narrator who struggles with deception, both of himself and of the reader. "Despite the narrator's explicit assertion of sanity in the first paragraph of the story, he immediately shows himself to be deceived by calling his story 'a series of simple domestic events.'" He deceives himself by downplaying his wife's murder, while rendering cruelty to his favorite pet more than he can bear. The narrator begins his story by describing his early love of animals. "His first reference to admiration for the 'unselfish and unselfish love' of animals reveals the narrator's blindness; ironically, his contemptuous words, 'the miserable friendship and thin loyalty of mere Man,' apply to himself ." This shows that, unlike the narrator of "The Tell-Tale Heart", he has a deficiency when it comes tohuman compassion and love. Although he references his love for his cat, he never makes note of loving his wife. In fact, he admits "and vaguely perceives that he has lost 'the humanity of feelings' that his wife retained." Thus the narrator's wife becomes a force for good that he must destroy. Furthermore, it seems that this narrator feels guilt and disgust towards himself, even if he won't admit it to himself. “The sheer emphasis or proportion in the story – the large number of words he spends on cats contrasted with the brevity of his observations on the mistreatment and murder of his wife – indicates the deficiency both in the narrator's intuition and in his feelings. " He is blind to the fact that his guilt made him put off mentioning his greatest transgression, the murder of his wife, until the end. It is evident that the guilt the narrator will not allow himself to feel is the reason he cannot afford to get away with murder. "When the brick wall is knocked down, the black cat is found perched on the corpse's head, a further clue to the narrator's guilt and its causes" (Prinsky). The narrator cannot bear to relive what he has done, so he breaks down and confesses everything. Despite the great differences between the two narrators, they share a common characteristic: a suicidal or self-destructive nature. In "The Tell-Tale Heart", while the police are questioning the narrator and as he is pretty sure they have no idea what happened, "he hears what sounds very much like the old man's heart beating again, and becomes very anxious , talking loudly and walking around the room, hoping the police don't hear the heartbeat." In his nervousness, he fails to see that it is not the old man's heart, but his own that betrays him. Finally, overcome with guilt for what he had done, "he admits his crime and urges them to tear up the boards and uncover that horrible heart." The narrator's suicidal nature also shines through in his obsession with the eye: "The narrator destroys the 'evil eye,' thus ensuring his own destruction, or at least incarceration." Furthermore, as he kills the old man, he gives himself away by screaming. “Fearing that the neighbors would hear the heartbeat getting louder and louder, the anxious maniac screams as he beats the old man, and the neighbors certainly heard it” (Howard). The narrator seemingly sabotages or punishes himself because of the guilt he does not allow himself to feel. In "The Black Cat" the situation with a self-destructive narrator is very obvious. The events in the end are exactly the same as in "The Tell-Tale Heart": the police come to question, the narrator feels proud that he gets away with it thanks to the cunning of his concealment, and then there is the betrayal. "As the police are about to leave the cellar, the narrator, apparently with defiant bravado but in reality with an unconscious sense of guilt that tries to hold them back so he can be arrested and punished, points out to them the solidity of the walls of the house, banging with a stick in the exact spot of the hidden tomb." The narrator, while not openly confessing to his crime, gives the police another chance to carry out his act. In a certain sense he is punishing himself for the many mistakes he has made. However, in the end, the narrator is still blinded because he cannot understand that it was his fault. "Rationalizing to the end, the narrator blames the cat for his misdeeds and his capture: 'the horrible beast whose art had seduced me into murder and whose informing voice had delivered me to the executioner'" (Prinsky). it's just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay The two narrators of “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat” may be very different=1.0>