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The cask of amontillado symbolism and theme
The cask of amontillado symbolism and theme
What are the gothic elements presented in edgar allen poes writings
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Features that illustrate Gothic Fiction are terror, death, mystery, and darkness. “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe and “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne both contain elements of this genre. Symbols of evil and mystery are used differently throughout the stories to bring the readers attention to the themes. In contrast, the authors use different writing styles throughout their stories to illustrate their points. A comparison of these short stories by Poe and Hawthorne reveal their similar Gothic Fiction and the symbolism of evil and mystery, while the authors use different literary devices to set the mood. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” both have elements of …show more content…
The Gothic creates feelings of gloom, mystery, and suspense and tends to the dramatic and the sensational. In “The Cask of Amontillado” the story begins around dusk, one night during the carnival season. The location quickly changes from the bright and fun activities of the festival, to the damp, dark catacombs under Montresor 's palace which helps to establish the dark and gothic atmosphere of the story. The vaults are very damp and filled with nitre. “We are below the river’s bed. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones,” meaning that the catacombs go deep below the surface (987). Poe gives his readers a dark and mysterious description of the catacombs to display elements of Gothic Fiction, by describing that,”Its walls had been lined with human remains” (988). “Young Goodman Brown” takes place in Salem around the time of the witch trials, which adds a feature of terror to the story. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Gothic elements along with Christian motives to convince …show more content…
He uses verbal ironies, dramatic ironies, and situational ironies throughout “The Cask of Amontillado” to show vivid details. The pervasive irony of Montresor 's narration complicates attempts to understand his motives and other conflicts at the heart of the tale. At the same time, layers of irony also contribute to the story 's tone of horror (Short Story Criticism). The name “Fortunato” represents good fortune, which is the opposite of what is going to happen to him. Montresor says, “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking today,” he is putting on an act so Fortunato will follow him into the catacombs (985). By meeting him, Montresor’s plan to kill Fortunato has begun."Nemo me impune lacessit” (987). The motto on Montresor’s coat of arms is translated from Latin meaning: "No one attacks me with impunity,” this is the result of Fortunato’s insults that Montresor is killing him (Rambo). Poe uses a great amount of irony throughout “The Cask of
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” utilize character responsibilities to create a sinister plot. For Hawthorne, protagonist Young Goodman Brown must leave his wife at home while he partakes in a night journey. For Poe, ancillary Fortunato covets a pretentious manner towards his wine tasting skills, and after being ‘challenged’ decides to prove his expertise by sampling Amontillado. Hawthorne and Poe showcase a theme of darkness but differ in their approach to the setting, characters, and fate of entrapment.
Edgar Allan Poe is known for some of the most horrifying stories ever written through out time. He worked with the natural world, animals, and weather to create chilling literature. Two most notable thrillers are “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Poe was infatuated with death, disfigurement, and dark characteristics of the world. He could mix characters, setting, theme,and mood in a way that readers are automatically drawn into reading. Both of these short stories have the same major aspects in common.
For example, Montresor expresses concern about Fortunato and says, "Come, I said, with this decision, we will go back; your health is precious. Montresor does not want Fortunato to die from anything other than his own plan of slow death by asphyxiation. Symbolism in "The Cask of Amontillado" This story by Poe has numerous examples of symbolism. For example, the manner in which Fortunato is dressed is ironic for a man with societal prominence. Fortunato is a man of stature who is “rich, respected, admired” (Baym).
1. What can the reader infer about Montresor’s social position and character from hints in the text? What evidence does the text provide that Montresor is an unreliable narrator? We learned from paragraph 23 to 24 that Montresor owns a Palazzo and also has lot of retainers based on that evidence, the reader can infer that Montresor is a very wealthy and successful man. About his character, the reader can imply that Montresor is a heartless, cold blooded, sneaky, manipulative, and untrustworthy man, as well as a man who hold on to grudges. Moreover, Montresor is an unreliable narrator, because he reveals in the first paragraph that he intends to have a revenge on Fortunato, but he did not indicate or clearly prove to the readers how Fortunato
Each author sets a gothic tone first and foremost by the techniques used to describe setting and characters. Irving and Hawthorne set their stories in ghostly mysterious forests. Each author uses phenomenal to truly connect the reader with the stories. Hawthorne’s use of similes to tie in what the forest was like gives a sense of letting the readers feel like they are there with young goodman Brown, “ . . . surrounded by four blazing pines, their tops aflame, their stems
A virtuoso of suspense and horror, Edgar Allan Poe is known for his Gothic writing style. His style is created through his use of punctuation, sentence structure, word choice, tone, and figurative language. Punctuation-wise; dashes, exclamation marks, semicolons, and commas are a favorite of Poe. His sentences vary greatly; their structures are influenced by punctuation. Much of his word choice set the tone of his works. Figurative language colors his writings with description. Such is observed in the similarities between two of his most well-known short stories, “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”
Many people on this earth will commit a sin, they find they wish they had not, and 1 in every 5 Americans suffer from a mental illness. In a story named “Young Goodman Brown” by the author Nathaniel Hawthorne, the people in his story have all sinned and meet with the Devil. Then in another story named “The Yellow Wallpaper” by the author Charlotte Perkins Gilman the main character is suffering from a mental illness while her husband, a psychiatrist, tries to help her, but in doing so only makes her condition worse. Throughout both literary texts of “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Young Goodman Brown,” the authors show numerous entries of Gothic Literature. And although “Young Goodman Brown” and the “Yellow Wallpaper” share similar Gothic elements, the two stories are very much different.
Gothic literature contains many elements that make it dark, ominous, and dramatic. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” is about a woman who suffers from nervous depression, and her husband, John, belittles her and treats her poorly. In an attempt to help her, John takes the narrator out to a vacation home, where her mental state only becomes worse. In “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, a student named Giovanni falls in love with Beatrice, the daughter of Rappaccini. Beatrice, however, has been poisoned from her father’s scientific affairs. Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “The Masque of the Red Death,” is about Prince Prospero and his efforts to avoid the plague, which is quickly spreading through
Word by word, gothic literature is bound to be an immaculate read. Examining this genre for what it is could be essential to understanding it. “Gothic” is relating to the extinct East Germanic language, people of which known as the Goths. “Literature” is defined as a written work, usually with lasting “artistic merit.” Together, gothic literature combines the use of horror, death, and sometimes romance. Edgar Allan Poe, often honored with being called the king of horror and gothic poetry, published “The Fall of House Usher” in September of 1839. This story, along with many other works produced by Poe, is a classic in gothic literature. In paragraph nine in this story, one of our main characters by the name of Roderick Usher,
Gothic literature is known for captivating readers by bringing to light the dark side of humanity. The Gothic possesses many key elements such as paranoia, anxiety, death, etc. It strikes fear and suspense in the reader not by creating fictional monsters, but showing the reader the types of monsters that lurk within human beings. In “the Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, various themes of the Gothic are present throughout the short story such as gloom and doom, darkness, and madness. These elements are used to enhance the central theme of the piece: revenge. I will argue that Poe uses a number of the Gothic elements to craft an intense dark tale of revenge: an unreliable narrator, madness, darkness, a haunted setting, and evil/devil
Edgar Allan Poe's strong use of symbols throughout "The Cask of Amontillado" is what makes this story worthy of examination. The clever use of these devices by the author to shape this horrifying and gripping short story has made this piece be regarded as a classic American horror story, which revolves around the theme of vengeance and pride.
Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Cask of Amontillado." Reading and Writing about Literature. Phillip Sipiora. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2008.
Poe’s use of name choice in the story is also ironic. The literary critic, Elena Baraban discusses the meaning behind both characters’ names in her article “The Motive for Murder in ‘The Cask of Amontillado’" By Edgar Allan Poe. Fortunato’s name shares the root word with fortunate and is Italian for blessed. However, his extensive misfortune in the short story tells the readers this name choice is paradoxical. Montresor’s name however, translates to “my treasure”, which is a metaphor for his ancestry being his most treasured possession (Barbaran
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Cask of Amontillado.” The Norton Anthology: American Literature. Ed. Wayne Franklin, Philip F. Gurpa, Arnold Krupat. New York: Norton, 2007. 1612-1613, 1616. Print.
There is one known very influential writing style called Gothic Literature. It is not only considered to involve the horror or gothic element but is combined with romance, superstition, women in distress, omens, portents, vision and supernatural events to name a few (Beesly). The history and beginning of this era is not well known. From a few writers came this writing style that has impacted the world. A famous artists known for this type of writing is a man named Edgar Allan Poe. He wrote many short stories and poems that include horror, gothic, and romance just mentioned.