For example, in Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," the story opens with a first-person narrator, Montresor, speaking about the death he has in mind for his friend Fortunato. By the anger and remorse that Montresor has for Fortunato, one might think that the great insult is a recent occurrence. It is not until the very end of the story that we realize that the entire event occurred fifty years ago, a subtle detail, further enhancing Montresor's obsession. David Herbert Lawrence says that "to the characters in Poe's story, hate is as inordinate as love. The lust of hate is the inordinate desire to consume and unspeakably possess the soul of the hated one, just as the lust of live is the desire to possess or be possessed by the beloved, utterly."2 Poe's stories often have narrators that feel extreme hate or extreme love for another character in the story.
In "The Black Cat" the narrator is obsessed with pets; he has one special pet, which is a beautiful black cat. Although their original relationship with each other is one of respect and love, the situation soon changes. The narrator becomes possessed with the hate for the cat, the more so as he sees the love the cat returns in response. He turns against his wife and mutilates the "brute." (p.11) By the end of the story, he killed his wife in an attempt to kill the cat. Afterwards, the narrator does not even feel remorse for the wrongful death of his wife. Instead, he is just happy that the cat disappeared. This is just another instance in which the reader wonders what is the driving force behind the narrator's insanity.
Even though there are many more elements to Edgar Allan Poe's short stories than just his creative use of narration and setting, these are characteristics, which have attracted the most attention. Yet this is merely a tool Poe uses to enhance his message of his view of the world. The distinction between right and wrong in Poe's stories is a very powerful theme, ever present in his horrific accounts.