Edgar Allen poe by Cayman Knox

Vulture

mmgarcia31 — 2024-09-09 18:10:49 UTC

The old man in the story was also referred to as a vulture, which symbolizes death and rebirth.

Eighth night

mmgarcia31 — 2024-09-09 18:17:13 UTC

"just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept"

mmgarcia31 — 2024-09-09 18:18:47 UTC

Every night the girl would look upon the man while he slept and the number twelve represents God's power and authority. The girl is watching over the man as a God.

"He had been saying to himself—'It is nothing but the wind in the chimney'"

mmgarcia31 — 2024-09-09 18:20:28 UTC

During times of witchcraft, chimneys in homes were believed to be a gateway for bad spirits and ‘witches’ and it was considered one of the greatest threats to the home. The old man says this to calm himself when he hears noises, although his chimney is also portraying the invitation of unwelcome guests.

Evil Eye "a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones"

mmgarcia31 — 2024-09-09 18:22:33 UTC

An evil eye symbolizes a curse and bad omen, and the "veil" over it refers to the eye being blind, which also represents ignorance. This shows that the girl in the story is taking advantage of the man's ignorance because she knows he can't see her with one of his eyes.

"It was the beating of the old man’s heart"

mmgarcia31 — 2024-09-09 18:23:12 UTC

"beating of a drum"

mmgarcia31 — 2024-09-09 18:23:34 UTC

Black Cat- Evil

lcurrey3 — 2024-09-10 15:18:46 UTC

"black cats as witches in disguise"

Both black cats and witches are symbolized as an evil spirit or has a connecton to the supernatural.

Bone Wall

cknox43 — 2024-09-10 16:48:17 UTC

In the story, the main character describes himself building a wall layer by layer which is a form of architecture and free masonry. In the story it states "As I said these words I busied myself among the pile of bones of which I have before spoken. Throwing them aside, I soon uncovered a quantity of building stone and mortar. With these materials and with the aid of my trowel, I began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche... I laid the second tier, and the third, and the fourth" (Poe). The main narrator also takes the effort to pint out the different layers, which could represent the levels of sins or pillars as they are positioned deep underground closer to "hell".

Eyes

mmgarcia31 — 2024-09-10 17:36:53 UTC

Numbers

mmgarcia31 — 2024-09-10 17:38:14 UTC

Animals

mmgarcia31 — 2024-09-10 17:39:23 UTC

Catacombs

cknox43 — 2024-09-10 17:43:55 UTC

The story mainly takes place in the catacombs below Paris, which is a maze made of walls of graves and bones, so very every. The catacombs symbolize the death and demise and almost burial of Fortunato, while the narrator leaving the catacombs symbolizes his rebirth

Black Cat- Alcohol

lcurrey3 — 2024-09-10 17:44:22 UTC

"through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance"

Fiend Intemperance is the dependence on alcohol and is considered his character trait.

" four o’clock—still dark as midnight"

mmgarcia31 — 2024-09-10 18:00:53 UTC

The old man was killed at 4 o'clock. 4 = journey of death to life, which is showing the old man being killed but then rebirthing into a divine being. This also connects with him being referred to as a vulture, which represents death and rebirth.

"three men"

mmgarcia31 — 2024-09-10 18:01:47 UTC

Three officers showed up at the door after the girl killed a man, and the number 3 represents religious completion. After the girl invites the officers in and they stay for a while, the girl starts hearing the beating of the dead man's heart and gets paranoid and confesses to killing him. In this story, the power of God in the three men got to the girl's head and led her to confession.

"Yes, he was stone, stone dead"

mmgarcia31 — 2024-09-10 18:03:02 UTC

In Christianity, stones were seen as objects endowed with God's presence, and for people to communicate with the divine. This related to the story because his heart begins to beat again to communicate with the killer.

Midnight

cknox43 — 2024-09-10 18:05:22 UTC

When the narrator is leaving the catacombs, he notes the time to be midnight, which is an important symbol to the story because it represents the time where the threshold between reality and the unknown where extraordinary events occur, such as the Montresor buried Fortunato alive in the catacombs after they displayed acts of companionship

Tell Tale Heart

cknox43 — 2024-09-13 17:01:43 UTC

In the story, the narrator mentions how they killed the man on the eighth night, "Upon the eighth night... Death, in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him" (Poe), and eight symbolizes victory, prosperity, and overcoming. So to the narrator, the eight night was his victory where he finally escaped the vulture eye that haunted him and achieved contentment.

Tell Tale Heart

cknox43 — 2024-09-13 17:45:46 UTC

The narrator describes how he's constantly haunted by the old man' vulture eye. In the story he states "He had the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees—very gradually—I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever." (Poe). Eyes are known to symbolize truth or some sort of gateway to the soul, so in a sense, by the narrator plotting to kill the man he is trying to rid himself of the truth which is that the narrator is mentally ill.

Architectural/ freemasonry symbols

cknox43 — 2024-09-13 17:46:49 UTC

Black Cat

lcurrey3 — 2024-09-13 17:51:11 UTC

"like Pluto, it also had been deprived of one of its eyes."

Black Cat

lcurrey3 — 2024-09-13 17:53:18 UTC

"deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket!"

Black cat

lcurrey3 — 2024-09-13 17:56:12 UTC

"a fury to which I now blindly abandoned myself"

Black Cat

lcurrey3 — 2024-09-13 18:06:14 UTC

"By means of a crow-bar I easily dislodged the bricks, and, having carefully deposited the body against the inner wall, I propped it in that position, while, with little trouble, I re-laid the whole structure as it originally stood. Having procured mortar, sand, and hair, with every possible precaution, I prepared a plaster which could not be distinguished from the old, and with this I very carefully went over the new brickwork. When I had finished, I felt satisfied that all was right. The wall did not present the slightest appearance of having been disturbed."

Black Cat

lcurrey3 — 2024-09-13 18:07:40 UTC

"Upon the fourth day of the assassination"

4 means the journey from death to life
the theme of duality switches it to be the meaning of life to death.