Research Paper on:
Poe/Cast of Amontillado and Tell-Tale Heart

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
the minds of his protagonist compelling them to murder. A theme that is frequently encountered is where one character, due to age or circumstance, holds power over the fate of  another character in the narrative, and Poe deals with the corrupting influence that this power has on that character, while also describing the effect of this abuse of power on  others. This theme is prevalent in both "The Cast of Amontillado" and "The Tell-Tale Heart"; however, examination of these narratives also reveals the considerable variety that Poe brings to the  expression of this theme in each story, as in "The Tell-Tale Heart," the characterization of the protagonist indicate complete insanity, while the protagonist in "Cast of Amontillado" is coolly rational.  From the onset of "The Tell-Tale Heart," Poe makes it clear that the unnamed narrator is insane, as the narrator himself refers to the charge of insanity, "How, then,  am I made," as he asserts that he will prove his sanity by relating the "whole story" "healthily" and "calmly" (Poe "Tell-Tale Heart"). In the second paragraph, he asserts that  he did not kill the old man, who he readily admits had never wronged him, out of ill feeling or a desire for the mans money. He insists that he  "loved the old man" and had "no desire" for his gold (Poe "Tell-Tale Heart"). Why then, did he become obsessed with the idea of murdering him? Even the protagonist seems  confused on this point, as he says, "I think it was his eye! yes, it was this!" (Poe "Tell-Tale Heart"). The phrase "I think" and the sentence construction in general  suggests that this thought has just occurred to him. Therefore, it could not have been his motivation as the narrator claims. Rather