in the grotesque is also sinful. Committing or witnessing acts of mutilation or murder is depraved. Someone has to be out of balance to seriously consider such ignominious acts. Poe uses perversity to shock, and disgust the reader. Reading about such atrocities brings the reader to a different level of cognition. One sees into the mind of a character that is distorted, and gets a direct show of what is motivating him or her. The main character in The Black Cat kills his wife without any compunction. After he "…buried the axe in her brain," his only apprehension is of how to conceal the crime (Poe 3). He states "many projects entered my mind," attesting to his search for the perfect burial place. The man commits a bloody, brutal murder of a loved one, but is only concerned with himself. Delight is actually taken in the death, because he is able to get a good night sleep. "The guilt of my dark deed disturbed me but little;" he has no regrets and nothing to fret about. Pleasure is obtained from the death, not the act, but the rewards of it. Hiding the body in the false chimney illustrates his lack of respect for his wife. He is pleased with himself for finding such a clever hiding place, but she is not attributed a proper burial. Perversity embodies this man. He is disturbed. Montressor, in The Cask of Amontillado, is a pervert. He enjoys watching Fortunato suffer. Pleasure seeps from his spirit when Fortunato exclaims "Ha! ha! ha!--he! he!--a very good joke indeed--an excellent jest. We will have many a rich laugh about it…Let us be gone" (Poe 7). The man is using his last fragment of hope, but Montressor plays with him. He likes to hear the suffering in the voice of his victim. He gets off on causing pain. Replying to Fortunato's plea he mimics "Yes, let us be gone," with contempt in his voice (Poe 7). Montressor has broken another man's spirit, and taken away his life. This makes him happy, because he has upheld a troublesom...
