Role of Madness in Edgar Allan Poe's "Tales of Terror"

This paper will explore the role of madness in three of Edgar Allan Poe's "Tales of Terror," specifically "The Tell-Tale Heart," first published in the Pioneer of Boston in January of 1843 and edited by the American poet James Russell Lowell; "The Cask of Amontillado," first published in Godey's Lady Book of Philadelphia in November of 1846, a highly popular periodical owned and operated by Louis Antoine Godey and "The Fall of the House of Usher," originally printed in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine of Philadelphia in September of 1839. This trilogy stands today as the quintessential examples of Poe's application of psychological madness as manifested through the words and actions of the unknown narrators in "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Fall of the House of Usher" and the vengeful Montresor in "The Cask of Amontillado."

Edgar Allan Poe's "Tales of Terror"

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