If you can explain to me the similarities and the differences between The Black Cat and The Tell Tale Heart, you help would be greatly appreciated! Rought Draft due 3/20. Thanks! :)

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2001

Answers

Ok there were some similarities between the two stories. The narrator in the Tell Tale heart, he killed the old man because of his "evil" eye and he hid his heart in the floor right? He thought he heard the heart thumping and it made him so guilty that he killed the old man for no other reason that of the evil eye. In the Black Cat it was basically the same thing but this time he killed a cat that was so near and dear to him and why did he kill it i don't know and he had promised himself that he will not do it again, So he got another cat and i guess he was getting sick of it so he decided to kill it so he took an ax and yhe instead accidently killed his wife instead and he tried to hide the body in the part of the house and he build bricks around it so noone will know and when the police came they heard someone like scratching on the wall and they took down the brick wall and he accidently buried his live cat along w/ his dead wife. ok i hope this help you out but if you have anymore question about these two stories email me.

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2001

The similarity between both was when both charcters baried their victims. Thank you... and i hope that will answer your question.

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2001

He killed the cat because, one night he was pissed and the cat gave him the irrates (annoyed him), so he gouged out one of its eyes. From then on the cat ran from him, so he captured it and hung it, he then proceeded to get drunk again and found another cat which was identicle to his last one exept for a white patch on its chest and it only had one eye. He took it home and kept it. the patch changed to the shape of a hanging cat. He got really scared and paranoid about the animal, so eventually decided to kill it. His wife stepped infront of the axe and instead of hitting the cat he hit his wife, so he blocked her up in the old fire place and without knowing it the cat as well. The police came looking and he bragged about how strong the wall are, tapped on the spot where hi wife was hidden and the cat yowled alerted the cops, and he was discovered.

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2001

in the tell tale heart the old man has a comman sense of dedication to the old man his eye which made him shiver and that i made the man kill him he kill him on a night that the man was sleeping he forsure know when he would kill the man when he did the old man jump and then was died he did something comman behind the man in the floor which then the neightbors heard the sound and called the police then he heard a knock and told the police a lies where the man was then after he heard the sound of the hidious loud and shreick the man is there i can't take the it anymore

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2001

I believe that a big difference is in the Tell-Tale Heart, the narrarator spends so much time planning it out, that he thinks he has perfected every last detail. *he didn't count on his guilt and the fear of being found out comming back to haunt him...* He plans it all out and then carries it out. In the Black Cat, not only was the murder not planned out, it was fully unintentional. Another difference was in The Tell Tale Heart the beating of the dead man's heart was a psychological terror and was only in his mind. In The Black Cat, the sound was there for everyone to hear.

-- Anonymous, November 07, 2001

Here are some similarities: Both stories have characters with one bad eye. Both written in 1st person POV, the narrator's names are both unknown and the narrator is the murderer. The narrator loved the old man and loved the black cat, however, their bad eye bothered him, the old man's for the way it looked, and Pluto's for it reminded him of the bad deed he had committed. Both stories policemen investigate. Both stories the narrator felt confident that he had hid the bodies and the crimes would not be found out, however, both narrators were wrong. The old man's heartbeat haunted him by growing louder and louder until he turned himself in, and the black cat let out a loud yowl giving away the location of his murdered wife.

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2002

The Tell Tale Heart and the Black Cat are basicly the same story. The black cat is the tell tale heart minus the weird eye, plus a cat.

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2004

The conditions might be different, i.e, in "The Black Cat," the narrator has little control over his emotions, and it is reasonable to assume the cat has caused him to act as he did. In "The Tell-Tale Heart," the narrator has probably always been crazy. Also, "The Black Cat" does not center only on the main character as "The Tell- Tale Heart" does. There are references to neighbors and surroundings, whereas in "Heart" the narrator is trapped in his own mind. But in the end, the demise of both characters is extraordinarily similar. The killing, burial, and discovery by the police is essentially the same. Perhaps the stories wish to say, no matter what your situation, the consequences are the same. Or perhaps Poe had writer's block.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2004

Poe uses the concept of murder in both stories to show the insanity of both of the narrators. In both stories, a horrible murder is committed. But we are so wrapped up in the criminal¡¯s need to justify his actions that we are not affected by the gruesome act that took place. The actions of the narrator are ¡°de-emphasized in order to examine the mind of the criminal.¡± These stories go into the subconscious mental activity that causes a person to, out of nowhere, do something totally insane. Ironically, in both stories, the narrator is so confident that he has hidden the body well that he leads the police to the very spot where the body is. In both stories the narrator hears a sound, which he is sure that everyone else can hear, that eventually causes him to confess his crime. This sound was completely manufactured by the mind of the narrator. i liked the whole bit up there about them not planning on their guilt...good point. EDGAR ALLEN POE IS AMAZING!

-- Anonymous, December 01, 2004