"The Tell-Tale Heart" focuses on madness as a state of consciousness. The story begins with the unreliable narrator, a recurring theme throughout Poe's stories, insisting that, although he is not mad, the "illness" from which he suffers "has sharpened his senses" (English 92F Course Guide 20) . The actions that follow this statement completely juxtapose the narrator's claim of sanity and lead readers to believe that the man is totally consumed by madness and obsession due to nothing more than the look of an old man's eye , which he refers to as "vulture eye". ' (English Course Guide 92F 20). From the beginning of 'The Cask of Amontillado' it is clear that the effect Poe seeks to create on the reader is one of terror and imminent death. The action of the story takes place in the "vast vaults" of the Montresor family (English 92F Course Guide 23). The dark and squalid setting of the story clearly foreshadows the nature of Montresor's plans. At the climax of the narrative, the reader is left with the disturbing image of a man buried alive in the catacombs beneath Montresor's house and also with the shock that "for half a century" Fortunato's body remained there (English 92F Course Guide