The Characters

There are several characters in the story, but the central image is dedicated to the narrator of the story, who is the protagonist.

The narrator's image is rather complicated and dubious. He tells his story from the cell and he is sentenced to death. He tries to convince the reader in his sanity, stating that "Yet, ,mad am I not - and very surely do I not dream". Such narrator's idea is very similar to the one, expressed in "The Tell-Tale Heart" by the narrator. 

His image is created primarily through indirect characterisation, though cases of direct characterisation are also found within the story. A lot of characterisation is provided directly by the narrator himself. He meditates about his childhood, marriage and adult years. He claims that from his early years "I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition". It means that in his childhood the narrator was a very sensible, kind and gullible child. But then two of his addiction arise: the controllable love for animals and alcohol-addiction. At the first sight his love for animals cannot be viewed as something wrong. But if look deeper, animals could be the only creatures, who didn't judge him and played tricks on him while he was a child. From this point of view, he could experience a set of abuse while being a child and therefore he "spent most of my time" with his numerous animals and "never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them". 

This is an important presumption as the readers may assume that the narrator grew more and more insane since his childhood and he doesn't turns into a mad man and a killer overnight.

Nevertheless, the narrator gets married... His addiction for animals doesn't prevents him of getting married, and this is really a strange fact. The only assumption can be provided: his marriage wasn't happy and that's why he chooses to reduce himself to heavy drinking. That's when his true nature reveals: he starts blaming his favourite Pluto for all the deadly sins. The narrator provides explanations for his cruel behaviour: "And then came... the spirit of PERVERSENESS." At first he tries not to give himself to the spirit: "I had so much of my old heart left". So, the narrator states that the reason for his behaviour lies in the alcohol, which leads to the perverseness of his kind heart. 

But than the narrator begins to understand the essence of his acts: "into a rage more than demoniacal", when he kills his wife. It wasn't his doing, it was the doing of the darker side of his soul. And than he brings into life a well thought-out plan. To put is simply, it's a common fact that only a truly insane person can bury a close person in such a perverse thought-out way.

To cut it short, the narrator is not omniscient, he is an active participant of events, but he is nameless. The only reason for such no-name technique can be found in the fact that the author tries to convince the reader that the spirit of perverseness can be found in each of us. There can be found no objective reasons for some dreadful doings, this is a common human experience, which hides in the dark side of our souls. What's more, I try not to judge the protagonist, but simply observe his story and tries to make conclusions for myself. People should be aware of dark impulses, which can arise from our souls, some instincts cannot be eradicated, so is with the case of the narrator of the story.