I am doing a literary criticism research paper on "The Black Cat", "Tell Tail Heart", and "Cask of Amontillado". Please give me some ideas (3 Preferable) on how I can relate these stories together. So far I know they are all written in first person singular and they both contain murders that were driven by insanity. -PLEASE HELP ME-

-- Anonymous, April 20, 2000

Answers

You're correct about the murder part. I've read all three stories you mention, and I noticed that in all three, he (Poe, using first person) says he buried the victim-

1.) In the wall in "The Black Cat" 2.) Under the floor in "The Tell-Tale Heart" 3.) Behind a wall of stones (?) in "Cask of Amontillado"

In the Tell-Tale Heart, he ends sort of having an insanity attack and confesses to killing the old man. In the Black Cat, he ends up walling "the beast up within the tomb." I don't quite remember the Cask of Amontillado; maybe you can look into that.

Hope I helped some.

-- Anonymous, April 29, 2000