The reader is invited into the inner workings of the narrator of "The Tell-Tale Heart" and Montresor's sinister minds. Montresor starts from the beginning pleading for his sanity; "It must be understood that neither by word or by deed had I given Fortunado cause to doubt my good will. .to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation" (209). The same is true in "The Tell-Tale Heart", the narrator wants us to believe his sanity only to confirm our thoughts that he really is mad, "You should have seen how wisely I proceeded- with what caution- with what foresight- with what .

             dissimulation I went to work!" (543). When an author creates a situation where the protagonist tells a personal account, the overall impact of the story is heightened. This allows the audience to see what the narrator is really thinking, his own perception in justifying murder.

             Human nature is a delicate balance of light and dark or good and evil. Most of the time this balance is maintained. However, when there is a shift the dark side surfaces. How and why this dark side emerges differs from person to person. In "The Tell-Tale Heart", it is the "vulture eye" of the old man that makes the narrator's blood run cold, in "The Cask of Amontillado", it is a "thousand injuries of Fortunado." It is this irrational fear which evokes the dark side, and eventually leads to murder. The narrators repeatedly insist that they are not mad, but the reader soon realizes that both of the narrators' fears have consumed them. .

             Both narrators have shut out human emotion as much as they could. Yet they both have moments of pity for their victims. In "The Cask of Amontillado" it is one brief moment followed by an explanation, "My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so" (214). He catches himself feeling sorry for Fortunado but is too proud to continue.