Lullaby

Hannah Rogawski January 30, 2008 English Four Paragraph Duality Essay

Duality is an extreme conflict raging between a person's mind and heart. This internal dispute may cause tension and controversy, causing the unlucky fellow to act rashly and impulsively. The inner disagreement between the heart and the mind is very crucial to Edgar Allan Poe, a world famous author, in his timeless short stories: “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell Tale Heart.” In these classic tales, Poe represents the dichotomy of man by showing how his character's mind and heart sometimes are contradictory. The narrator in Poe’s story, “The Cask of Amontillado,” clearly displays Poe’s concept of duality. Firstly, the mysterious narrator, Montresor demonstrates duality when he allows his mind to dominate over his heart. When Montresor is vigorously walling up the entrance to the niche, with Fortunato trapped inside, he hears him fearfully screaming, and “I hesitated- I trembled. Unsheathing my rapier, I began to grope with it about the recess: but the thought of an instant reassured me” (292) When the doomed victim begins to scream, Montresor ceases his labors. While his heart tells him to halt, and allow the man to go free, a thought came from his mind, a thought that ordered him to continue to ruthlessly confine Fortunato inside the mine. His mind dominates over his heart, which reveals the argument between his mind and heart. Additionally, Montresor displays duality when he permits his heart to drive him to feel guilty. After his task was succeeded, and Fortunato was stonedead, he complains “My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs”(293)Although he constructed this entire plan for a long time, for a brief moment he feels remorseful. His mind persuades him to believe he feels this way because the dampness in the air is making him sick, when in reality, his conscience is heavy with shame. This emotion demonstrates the

disagreement between the mind and the heart. Poe presents the notion of duality in “The Cask of Amontillado” through the battle between Montresor’s mind and heart. Furthermore, the unnamed narrator in Poe's story “The Tell Tale Heart”, also illustrates the concept of duality. The mysterious storyteller demonstrates his heart's domination when he turns himself in. As the officers sit relaxing in the victim's bedroom, the unidentified man hears the beating of his own heart, and “Villains!' I [shriek]. 'Dissemble no more!! I admit the deed – tear up the planks – here, here! It is the beating of his hideous heart!” (8) The anonymous narrator hears the furious beating of his own heart, and believes it to be the beating of the murdered man's heart. Thus, he confesses it was he who assassinated his employer. This reveals the theory of duality when his heart controls his movements, instead of his mind. However, the nameless narrator also presents his mind's domination over his heart. When he is determining whether to kill the old man or not, “With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room... I pilled the heavy bed over him.” (6) The ruthless narrator suffocates his employer by wrenching the hefty bed on top of the frail old man. Because he did not allow his compassionate heart to control his mind he reveals the idea of duality. In the bloodcurdling story “The Tell Tale Heart” duality is conveyed through the unspecified narrator. Edgar Allan Poe clearly exhibits the concept of duality through his perennial favorites: the short stories “The Tell Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado”. Duality, the furious war between man’s mind and heart, is not only existent in Poe’s literature, but in the average human being as well. Any internal struggle, a clash of ideas between a man and himself, is a form of duality. One must exalt himself above his lower self, and choose the righteous decision, regardless of what his mind or heart might protest.