The Cask Of Amontillado And The Fall Of The House Of Usher

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Literary elements are a major part in the world of writers. A great author will use literary elements to capture the audience attention into what they are reading. This was true with Edgar Allan Poe; he incorporated literary elements into his short stories. In “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Poe uses a great deal of different literary elements to entice the audience into his horror stories. Literary elements such as imagery, irony, and symbolism were well put to use in Poe’s stories. Throughout both short stories Poe uses imagery to paint a picture for his audience. Imagery is the use of descriptive language to create a mental imagine for the audience. It can help the story develop in the reader’s mind. In …show more content…

Symbolism is the use of an object to represent an idea. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Fortunato costume especially the jester hat is a symbol because he was made a fool of when Montresor tricked him to murder him. Another symbol is the Amontillado, the drink was used to trick Fortunato and also because of Fortunato ego to drink the wine first led him to get fooled. The nitre is also a symbol because it is defined as “the white web-work which gleams from these cavern walls…” (“The Cask of Amontillado” 105). The nitre represent the web of lies and trap Montresor sets for Fortunato. In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, the house itself is a symbol. The house decaying is meant to be both literal and metaphorical symbolism. The house is described to have “vacant eye-like windows” with “decayed trees” and “fungus” everywhere. It was described to have a “depression soul” (“The Fall of the House of Usher” 112). Like the house depressing feature, Roderick himself is depressed and his sister is deteriorating like the house. The house is lifeless just like those who inhabits it. With both short stories, symbolism was well incorporated, the symbols Poe used gave a great imagery of what it was supposed to

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