In Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado and The Black Cat both short stories deal relatively with the same ideas on murder, but their motivations is what makes each story unique. The stories have very similar plots, and their characters both are dealing with “diseases.” In Poe’s short story The Black Cat the narrator of the story is confessing to the crime he has just committed. He is going through the events that have led him to the point where he is in his life, about to be executed. Throughout the story we are shown how crazy he can be. He is plagued by the “disease” of alcoholism which has taken over his ability to properly treat other beings. He starts off by saying that he has always loved animals, which in fact is very ironic in nature seeing as he brutally stabs out his pets eye on a path of rage. This man has gone so insane that after he acquires a new cat he begins to agree with his wife’s statement, “Black cats are witches in disguise.” (pg. 1) This newly claimed pet has caused the man to kill his wife and wall her up in the basement. A great difference to Poe’s other story The Cask of Amontillado this man gets caught and sentenced to death by hanging. His motivation to this murder is that his alcoholism had caused this man to be so engulfed in rage by his pet that he went insane and murdered his wife. The Cask of Amontillado begins with Montresor confessing his “perfect” crime to a priest half a century after he has committed it. He began to discuss his motivation for this murder, REVENGE. Fortunato has wronged Montresor for the last time and he is tired of being insulted. Montresor claims that “I must not only punish but punish with impunity.” (pg. 190) Montresor is plagued by the “disease” of wanting revenge. He has gone mentally insane from planning out each and every step of this crime. His family crest is a human foot stepping upon a serpent who in turn bites the heel of the foot. T