Essay On The Cask Of Amontillado

Edgar Allan Poe’s Elements of fiction

Edgar Allan Poe’s revenge driven short story “The Cask of Amontillado” is a tale in which an anti-hero narrates his account of how he carried out a plot to exact his vengeance against his nemesis “Fortunato”. Poe engages the reader with the use of first-person point of view, as the speaker gives an insidious play by play of his deeds to set the tone. Not as quite apparent as this plot for revenge, are the subtle usage of foreshadowing, and symbolism, helped along by the setting used by Poe, to set up the climax. The speaker’s tone and word choice hint to the reader, that something a bit more nefarious is just around the corner. The speaker lures his prey through devious action, to venture into the catacombs “in pursuit of a pipe Amontillado” (536). Unfortunately, all that awaited Fortunato was his undoing. Using these elements Poe eloquently constructs a tale of revenge that builds suspense before a satisfying surprising conclusion. The Cask of Amontillado begins

The major plot device in Poe’s tale is, in fact, this cask of Amontillado, which is driving Fortunato to follow blindly into a trap. The protagonist’s plan would have never come together accordingly, if not for the promotion of his acquisition of this wine. Setting plays a critical role in making this title come alive. Contextually, the cask of Amontillado could not exist in any other place in the world other than Europe. According to certified sommelier and creator of the NYT Bestseller, Wine Folly, Madeline Puckette “The top 3 major wine regions of the world are France, Italy and Spain. They produce almost half of all the wine produced in the world” (Puckette). Poe has knowingly chosen Italy for this reason; contracting a story that takes place in Italy Poe gives himself an opportunity to center the story around something like