Comparitive Essay

Analysis of “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Story of an Hour” The similarities and differences are quite bold. There are also some similarities that are very minute and you really have to be paying attention to grasp the relationship between the two stories. There are also several differences between the stories. Poe uses murder, revenge, and horror in his story where as Chopin uses calming images to show death. Both stories have a theme of death and deceptions. Poe’s story features revenge and secret murder. He actually names himself judge, jury and executioner in this story. He is telling this story some years later in life. He is actually narrating this and confesses this tale. Poe, Montresor, has been has been insulted by his friend and feels that he needs to get revenge. This friend, Fortunato, who claims to know his wines, claims he knows the difference between two certain wines. He insists to go down into Montresor vaults and taste these wines. He will not let his competitors get the best of him. The deception has been laid. The narrator keeps offering to bring him back but he refuses even though his cough is getting worse. He continues to drink more and get drunk the further they go down into the crypts. They continue to explore the crypts further down and Fortunato gets drunker by the cough and eventually Poe shows him a trowel, an implication that he was a stonemason. They walk into a room that has bones on three of the walls and the bones from the fourth wall have been thrown on the floor on the exposed wall is a small recess where the Montresor’s revenge will take place. Fortunato heavily intoxicated backs into the recess and Montresor chains him in and begins to wall up the recess. As the alcohol wears off Fortunato begins to moan terrified and helpless. He falls silent as the layers rise and he realizes that Montresor isn’t joking but his final plea is “For the Love of God!” Chopin’s story also talks of death but it uses