| Poes narration in his short stories ( The Cask of Amontillado, MS. Found in a Bottle, The Purloined Letter) |
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All three stories belong to one author, but they are all remarkably different and it is extremely interesting to see how this is reflected in the manner of narration. The first thing that seems to be in common is that in all these stories (MS. Found in a Bottle, The Cask of Amontillado, The Purloined Letter) Poe chooses the same type of narration: first-person narration. However close analysis shows that these are completely different kinds of first-person narration. (Narration.Types of Narration.)
The most crucial difference that actually affects the stories and the narration is that in MS. Found in a Bottle and The Cask of Amontillado the narrator is the main character, while in The Purloined Letter he is a secondary one. Consequently the amount of information about the narrator himself also differs. In The Purloined Letter the reader knows almost nothing about him. The reason for this is that it is not important for the development of the plot. While in MS. Found in a Bottle the narrator is the key figure of the story and the action is concentrated around him. He gives a lot of rather personal information about himself. The readers can find out something about his family, his education, his interests in life, his state of mind quite a lot of information from which one can already make conclusions about the personality of the hero. As far as The Cask of Amontillado is concerned the reader can understand the personality of the narrator rather well (You, who so well know the nature of my soul), can guess what his family, the Montresors, was that is to say also quite a lot of information is provided. As follows, the essential thing is from which point of view all events are presented. In MS. Found in a Bottle it is the narrator who is in the centre of attention. Everything in the story happens to him. What is more important, the readers see the events only through the eyes of the narrator who experiences everything and tries to reveal it from his point of view. In The Cask of Amontillado the choice of Poe is very unusual: the readers see the reality through the eyes of a murderer. Although his plans are not known at the beginning of the story, it can be felt that something terrible must happen. Step by step the reader goes after the narrator, understands his intentions, sees the actual revenge all this from the point of view of the murderer, probably not quite sane. This device, this type of narration, helps Poe to make the readers feel the horror of the situation, to heighten its effect. While in The Purloined Letter everything is completely different, because we see the events not from the point of view of the narrator at all. Although it is he who conducts the story, the narrator is more like an observer of events who just registers them. In fact his point of view is limited, because actually it is the point of view of his friend Dupin that is important. Especially in the second part of the story where Dupin opens his understanding of the events to the readers, and the narrator is just a listener. We, readers, become the listeners, too. In MS.Found in a Bottle the reader is very closely connected with the narrator. He feels what the narrator feels, he can penetrate into his mind and he knows his thoughts. On the pages of the story the narrator opens his inner world as it were, he shows his emotions, he speaks about his reflections and impressions. By describing the most private feelings such as fear, awe, embarrassment or horror the narrator makes the reader experience the terrible things that were happening to him. This kind of narration is very emotional and subjective. It provides Poe with an opportunity of playing with tenses and with the structure of the sentences. Although the major part of the story is in the past, when the narrator describes his state or feelings he sometimes uses the present tense like, for example, while examining the unusual ship. It heightens the effect of the readers being involved in the events, being a witness of what is happening. The narrator also uses the future tense telling us about his plans of putting the manuscript into the bottle, but actually his future is our present. Such an order of events also contributes to creating the atmosphere of the story. In the very end, at the moment of the highest horror, going nowhere, facing the eternity, the narrator suddenly starts using the present continuous and a lot of dashes and pauses. This makes the reader freeze in the same horror and again feel what the character felt. Compared to MS. Found in a Bottle narration in The Purloined Letter is much more objective. We have practically no access to the mind of the narrator, there are no such thrilling bursts of feeling like in MS. Found in a Bottle and on the whole the narration is much calmer. As Poe doesnt describe emotions in this story, but mainly logical reasoning and conclusions, there is no possibility for him of using such a variety of tenses. He confines himself only to present indefinite in dialogues and past tenses when describes the actions of narrator or Dupin. In this case it only helps Poe to make his readers think logically and creates the mystery of a detective story. In The Cask of Amontillado the readers do have access to the mind of the narrator, and the narration is subjective, but still Poe prefers using only one tense, common for narratives, - the past. Here he refuses to play with tenses and presents more or less chronological order of events on purpose. It helps him to increase the fear of something terrible, which is going to happen step by step. Poe makes the reader expect something, slowly the atmosphere becomes more and more tensed, the horror creeps into the reader and through this the effect of horror-story is created. The structure of the narration itself is also very important. MS. Found in a Bottle is practically a long monologue, penetrating into the hearts of the readers. It makes them feel closely connected with all events happening with the narrator and at the same time sympathize with the main character. While The Purloined Letter is based on dialogues with practically no descriptions. This happens because the inner world of the narrator is unimportant, but opinions, suggestions and thoughts of the characters, which they change with each other in the dialogues, play much more important roles for the plot. Dialogues make The Purloined Letter even more objective we can hear everybody. The narrator just tells how it all happened, he works as a mere observer and doesnt add his feelings and comments, with the exception of a clear description of the Prefect at the very beginning of the story. As far as The Cask of Amontillado is concerned it is a combination of description, monologue and dialogue between the characters. Descriptions help Poe to increase fear, to reveal the sinister atmosphere of darkness. Dialogues in The Cask of Amontillado are not like dialogues in The Purloined Letter, where they are long and the characters discuss a mystery, try to find the answer and exchange opinions. Dialogues in The Cask of Amontillado are short, the phrases are short. Happening in the dark vaults of Montresors house they are a part of one preestablished design, that is to say they help to produce unique singleeffect, the effect of horror. Also the dialogues in this story contribute into creating suspense, they somehow slow down the action and postpone the outcome, making it more terrible. As it can be seen, Poe used no single word in vain and all the devices present in his stories not by chance. They all serve the main purpose making the readers not only see, but participate in the events. He tried to make us feel that everything was true. In MS. Found in a Bottle it is precise knowledge of sea-terms and description of the weather and ships which helps Poe, in The Cask of Amontillado description of the surroundings, and in The Purloined Letter a lot of details each of which is important like in all detective stories. As a result, combination of all techniques used by Poe makes the narration of each story very influential. We believe the author, we perceive the stories as he wanted us to perceive them. It means that Poes aim creating unique single effect and making each story unforgettable is achieved. Poe is a real master of his language and through skilful choice of the type of narration he managed to involve the readers in the mysterious world of his masterpieces. |
