same as summary

-- Anonymous, October 24, 2004

Answers

moose

-- Anonymous, October 27, 2004

The question presumes Poe IS like those narrators and he is not. First, he never killed anyone. Second, Montresor is a petty noble, an unsympathetic villain in American eyes of that century. The Black Cat man is overcome with maniacal violence and delusions because of drink, and pretty much is in awe of that experience. That is more a Poe fear than a Poe reality in much the same way the Pet Sematary dad of Stephen King is more a personal nightmare.

That said: resemblances. Poe loves to be maliciously clever(Montresor) and outwit his doofus enemies. Poe plots circles around the reader and this is a cautionary tale for anyone who thinks they are NOT beiing used and tweaked by the maestro. Poe did know about the wild influence and destructiveness of drink(The Black Cat). He got involved in couple brawls probably reinforced by the bottle- but that was not due to the bottle but to grudges. Poe was(or enjoyed)superstitious, at least in enjoying the thrill of things he never really could believe in rationally. That is the Romantic poet in him, cultivating altered states of perception and supra-rational emotion to achieve new and fantastic art.

Poe at least betrays some of the intuitional workings of his mind, some understanding from life experience, some fear, some wishful thinking. But the characters are not Poe, the resmeblances sometimes unintentional and exagerated. It is the prupose of the story which might reveal more about Poe, but the revenge motif and the violence fear(under the influence) cannot be exactly related to any particular historical evidence.

-- Anonymous, October 27, 2004