Comparing The Cask Of Amontillado And A Tell Tale Heart

One of the most important things to analyze in literature is the point of view, whether a story is told from the point of view of a holocaust survivor or a guard at an internment camp in Nazi Germany for instance might greatly influence the description of the transgressions that occurred. For similar reasons it becomes important especially in poetry and stories to analyze and evaluate the trustworthiness of the narrator a great example is Edgar Allan Poe’s stories “The Cask of Amontillado” and “A Tell Tale Heart,” which are both great examples of untrustworthy narrators in poetry or rather narrators who’s justification for their actions is called into question due to their actions; in this case “murder most foul.” The story of Ying-ying is
not nearly so gruesome nor perhaps as extreme as the above examples, however many speculate that the narrator Yuan Zhen tells the tale of his friend Zhang is not the fictional gentleman in the story who betrays his lover but rather the story’s author incarnate, a Mr. Yuan Zhen. If this is the case then the ramifications of such an understanding could greatly influence and alter the meaning behind such a story. If indeed Yuan Zhen perpetuates himself as Zhang than Ying-yings story is not a moral tale of wicked women or the beguilement of man but rather a lover’s lament. By narrating, inserting himself into the “fictional” tale as a friend of the main character, and indeed being the main character Zhang is able to protect the reputations of those involved in his transgression, to vent his true feelings under the guise of a cautionary tale, and to confess himself and his misdeeds without the societal backlash that would have followed had such events been brought to the attention of the Tang public. The consequences for a woman in Chinese society at this time for giving up her virginity before marriage would be major damage to their image, the image of their family, and seriously damaged marriage prospects.
It is no wonder then that Zhen chose to portray his past experience as a fictional tale. A situation in which he could to a degree protected his past lover from humiliation. Something that would be in exact opposite of the actions of his proxy Zhang, who at one point in the text advertises the relationship by “[showing] her letter to his friends… as a result many people at the time heard of the affair.” “Her” of course is a reference to Ying-ying in this instance. In the story this betrayal lead to the affair becoming well known among Zhang’s friends and as a plot point is significant to later interpretations of the tale of Ying-ying within Ying-ying’s Story. While in the story this betrayal is fresh and an affront to both Ying-ying and the reader the real Yuan Zhen uses this opportunity to insert himself into the story in order to express his true feelings poetically through the “completed” poem “Meeting the Holy One.” Which in the text would serve as a rephrasing of transpired events but in the context of self-authorship could then be viewed as genuine expression of deep emotional feeling from Zhen to his
ex-lover. It is in the poem “Meeting the Holy” that the true emotions of Zhen are expressed and affirmed especially in the final stanza “The sea is so vast, truly hard to cross;/and the sky is high, not easy to reach./Goddess moving in cloud, nowhere now to be found;/ and Xiao-shi is there in his high chamber.” This stanza has a focus on things that traditionally separate lovers; distance, death, inopportunity, and in the case of Zhang his career and or his standing in society.
What is important about this is the representation of this poem within the story as recently finished, in other words it is likely that Yuan Zhen wanted to put special emphasis on the above stanza which when read can in turn be interpreted as a lamentation of Zhen’s personal standing in real life keeping him away from his love. This poem under the guise of a poetic summation shows not the cold response to Ying-ying’s letter that Zhang gives in an explanation to Zhen but rather the actual pain that Zhen feels in the real life scenario. Something that is affirmed by Zhang’s reaction to Ying-ying refuses to see him when he visits her a year later. The fact that Zhang’s, “pain at such a rebuff showed on his face,” is a clear indication of Zhen’s feelings in real life for which Zhang is but a
proxy. The reason that all of these steps are necessary for Zhen to express his feelings about his ex-lover and in a way to come clean about it all, is because of the societal backlash that he as a successful poet and literati is trying to avoid. This backlash he actually outlines in an answer; as Zhang, to his friend Zhen when Zhen asked him to explain the affair. In his explanation Zhang recounts the tale of the two kings “ Long ago, King Shou-xin of Yin and King You of Zhou controlled domains that mustered a million chariots, and their power was very great… in both cases women ruined them… even today their ignominy has made them the laughing stock of the world.” Simply put, in order to avoid humiliation of his dishonor Zhen could not allow the story of him and his lover to get out. Settled with a heavy emotional burden and with no way to vent Zhen instead turned his personal experience with a story so that he would no longer half to actively hide his personal transgressions. In this way Zhen was allowed to acknowledge and immortalize his lost love and his own heartfelt story. Of course simply changing the names would not be enough to make this story acceptable to society so he had to add moral meanings revealed in the following quote, “Zhang was someone who knew how to amend his errors.” Not only would one take this away from the story but also the flaunted notion that overtly beautiful women such as Ying-ying will try to beguile and curse men leading them to a downfall whether it be moral, societal or fatal. So while many would take away from this story how to avoid losing one’s virtues after making an error and instead amending said error, and to have special caution when it comes to falling in love with beautiful women; while sound advice, One would in turn pass up the latent expressions of feeling that Zhen has cleverly interwoven within the story, with regards to his own personal tale of woe. Yuan Zhen’s fictional tale “Ying-ying’s Story” is in reality an autobiographical work in which Yuan Zhen perpetuates himself as Zhang making it not a moral tale of wicked women or the beguilement of man but rather a lover’s lament: by narrating, inserting himself into the his own life story as a friend of the main character a proxy for himself. He is able to protect the reputations of those involved in his transgression, to vent his true feelings under the guise of a cautionary tale, and to confess himself and his misdeeds without the societal backlash that would have followed had such events been brought to the attention of the public. It is with this in mind that Zhen expertly wove latent and subtle revelations of his own into the text that when read with the realization that the text is autobiographical reveal his true meanings and emotions much more clearly. One can only imagine the true depth of the love Yuan Zhen bore for the Ying-ying of his life. An amount so great that it could not be withheld, a love and a story that he had to share with the world despite the very real consequences that society might have imposed had the nature of this tale been affirmed in his time. It Is with this latent fondness that a reader might be able to change their initial response to the text which in many cases especially for a more contemporary reader is simple outrage at the justifications a young man makes to abandon the women he purports to love. With time and rereading of the text each reader is capable of understanding the underlying autobiographical tones of the books that change the meaning completely.