Analysis Of Edgar Allen Poe's The Cask Of Amontillado

1060 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Characteristics of the characters in the cask of amontillado

When someone wrongs you, do you do it after one major event or do you do it when the same event happens repeatedly, how do you justify vengeance? When trying to decode “Edgar Allen Poe’s” work you must realize his background is puzzling and that his work is intimate with many facets and niches in his life. “Edgar Allen Poe” is like Shakespeare in where he writes the same four stories but he writes them well and has earned his title and legacy, he obtained it by writing his stories around the characters with an excellent plot and setting while also using the point of view in a very nuanced way. The plot of “The Cask of Amontillado” is basic but does its job well, it is the story of the man the basic plot is that Fortunato and Montresor have had a long history of insulting each other, the conflict is usually one sided until Fortunato oversteps his boundaries and Montresor vows to get back at Fortunato. There is much
I interpret this story as a tale of a guy who took things too far and is way too happy with the results of his actions. With how the characters Montresor is too eager to send a man deep into the catacombs and kill a man, and the short path from point a to point b. With the last line of the story “In pace requiescat! (Poe 97)” that is how “Edgar Allen Poe wanted to end his story, with the narrator telling the audience that Fortunato rested in peace with nobody to disturb his resting ground. The setting helps the story in more ways in one, in where it helps nurture the characters’ motivations and helps set the atmosphere of light hearted carnival to dank, somber, dungeon. Symbolism is used well with some being literal like the clown costume and subtle with the echoes and the torch. This story is what defines “Edgar Allen Poe” as a well-established icon of the classical romantic

Show More
Related

  • Revenge in The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most celebrated literary authors of all time, known for writing very suspenseful, dramatic short stories and a poet; is considered as being a part of the American Romantic Movement, and a lesser known opinion is he is regarded as the inventor of the detective-fiction genre. Most recognized for his mystery and macabre, a journey into the dark, ghastly stories of death, deception and revenge is what makes up his reputation. The short story under analysis is a part of his latter works; “The Cask of Amontillado”, a story of revenge takes readers into the mind of the murderer.

    Read More

  • Imagery In The Cask Of Amontillado By Edgar Allan Poe

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    Why are Edgar Allan Poe’s works so poignant and heavy when read? Poe uses a variety of literary devices to convey what he wants to the reader, but imagery is the most impactful of them all. He allows the readers to step into his stories and permits them to feel as they have been taken into the story. Poe’s portrayal of tragedies and dark stories in his works such as “The Black Cat,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” and “The Cask of Amontillado” depends mainly on his use of one artistic tool, imagery. Each of these three stories explores tragedies or either dark, twisted characters that make some inhumane decisions for some reason or another.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Edgar Allen Poe's Cask Of Amontillado

    1107 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Edgar Allen Poe’s “Cask of Amontillado” the first person point of view narration is essential to creating the . The reason this is so important in this particular story, is because when a sane killer, Montresor, is allowed to tell the story from his point of view, the reader gets a unique, disturbing look into the calmness of his mind. The audience can more clearly see how he thinks and feels which the audience does not normally get in mainstream, commercial literature. The reason the narration style is so important to the tone of the story, is because it lets the reader become personally acquainted with the thoughts and intentions of the main character, and since the reader somewhat knows the outcome from the beginning, it allows certain ironies to make sense to the reader. Furthermore, were it

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Cask Of Amontillado'

    519 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Cask Of Amontillado Analysis

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    The horror that presents itself in “The Cask of Amontillado,” like in many of Poe’s short stories, resides in the small amounts of proof that lies in Montresor’s alleged “insult” and “thousand injuries” from Fortunato.(insert citation here) Poe’s story “The Cask of Amontillado” features vengeance through a secret murder as a method of avoiding the use of the legal system for doing him justice. Law has no place in Montresor’s life, and the enduring terror of the short story is the epitome of execution without evidence. (insert citation here) Montresor subjects himself to re-experience Fortunato’s unintentional offense over and over making Montresor build in anger. In Montresor’s mind then appoints him to judge Fortunato’s fate in this story, which is Fortunato's enviable demise. It is because of this that Montresor becomes an unpredictable narrator.(insert citation here) Montresor admits to what he has done in his story approximately fifty years after its release. (insert citation here) Such a huge amount of time in between the actual events and the narration of the story makes the narration of the events less reliable and seem more fiction. The story “The Cask of Amontillado” has a skewed interpretation, it can be interpreted many ways. The fact that many different people find meaning of the story differently it all comes down to the stories horrific destination.

    Read More

  • Fear Of Death In Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask Of Amontillado

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    Fear of the unknown, and fear of what is to come in our lives, has generations of people wondering what will our lives be like tomorrow or the next day. Death is always there and we cannot escape it. Death is a scary thing. Our own mortality or the mortality of our loved ones scares us to the point that we sometimes cannot control how we are dealing with such a thing as the thought of death. Why do we fear such a thing as death? We don’t know what happens after we don’t how it feels. The fear of death is different for most but it is most certain to come and we cannot hide from it. For death is just around the corner and maybe it’s will come tomorrow or the next day! We fear not death, but the unknown that comes from death, that is the

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe's Short Stories Create Plausible Horror Essay

    1788 Words  | 4 Pages

    Regardless of what people think Poe did or did not do, he did change the face of literature through some of his short horror stories. Two of his stories that were discussed within this paper are, “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Within these two stories Edgar Allan Poe has given it a horror reading, with descriptive places, such as “wet and gloomy” and “evil atmosphere.” Besides the stories giving off a sense of horror, they also contain characters with disturbed psyches. The character with a disturbed psyche in “The Cask of Amontillado” was Montressor. He got revenge by murdering Fortunato, who ruined his self-esteem. He bricked Fortunato in alive in the catacombs and walked away feeling pity on him but knowing what he had done and having to live with it. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Roderick Usher was distracted by his thoughts knowing he buried his sister alive within the vaults of their home. She got out of the encasement, Roderick and the narrator placed her in, and attacked Roderick in her bloody

    Read More

  • Importance of Setting in The Cask of Amontillado and Hills Like White Elephants

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “The Cask of Amontillado”, the combination of the carnival and the catacomb settings contribute to the themes of revenge, and deception which the protagonist takes responsibility in. Because the story takes place during the carnival, the protagonist, Montressor, has an easier time plotting against Fortunato:

    Read More

  • The Cask Of Amontillado Essay

    1348 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Case of Amontallido In a psychological perspective, the author’s life is linked with the behavior and motivations of characters in the story. The author’s name is Edgar Allan’s Poe who portrayed his self in his writing. The miserable life of Poe can be measured through “The Cask of Amontillado” in which character named “Montressor” showed indifferent feeling towards his victim. After burying Fortunado alive, Montressor felt bad after burying his victim alive but then he attributes the feeling of guilt to the damp catacombs.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Narration of The Cask of Amontillado and The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe

    1322 Words  | 3 Pages

    In "Cask of Amontillado", Montresor is the narrator. "The thousand of injuries of Fortunato he has borne as he best could; but when he ventures upon insult, Montresor vows revenge" (Poe 528). As the story unfolds, "Montresor's idea of perfect revenge" is "characteristically precise and logical in detail" as to how he commits his crime (Delaney 1).

    Read More

  • Montresor Poetic Justice

    920 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edgar Allen Poe uses irony and poetic justice all throughout “The Cask of the Amontillado”. The places where irony and poetic justice hold the most significance are the scenes where, Montresor speaks of the wronging done to him by Fortunato, where Montresor and fortunato speak of the coat of arms, and where at the very end when Montresor traps Fortunato in the catacombs and leaves him to die. These scenes clearly show the use of these two tools that Poe used to tell the story of Montresor and

    Read More

  • Theme Of Literary Devices In The Cask Of Amontillado

    917 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor sets out on a vengeful mission that will end Fortunato’s life in an untimely fate. Montresor appeals to Fortunato’s love for wine to tempt the unsuspecting fellow to his impending doom. While Montresor tricks the foolish Fortunato frightfully, it is ultimately Fortunato’s pride that leads to his demise in the crypt. Poe uses several literary devices to foreshadow this murderous exploit of Montresor. Through the use of irony, symbolism, and imagery, the story entices readers to delve into the relationships and differences between Montresor and Fortunato.

    Read More

  • Importance of the Setting in The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

    622 Words  | 2 Pages

    The setting of a story sets the tone for the entire piece. Without the appropriate setting, what the author is trying to express is lost. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Edgar Allan Poe uses the setting as a way to set the stage for the events that will come. Poe’s settings make his stories interesting, as well as easy to understand because of his descriptiveness and writing techniques. His use of vivid details and symbols in his settings intrigue the readers and set a particular tone. Each and every setting has a direct meaning and reason attached to that of the story and time.

    Read More

  • The Theme of Revenge in “The Cask of Amontillado”

    1638 Words  | 4 Pages

    The theme of revenge in “The Cask of Amontillado” is the driving force for the entire short story. The main character, Montresor, vows to take revenge against the other main character, Fortunato, because of an “insult” that Fortunato has apparently made against Montresor (Baraban). This is evident in the opening line of the short story when the narrator Montresor states, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge (Poe 1612). This opening line makes it obvious that the insult is what directly led to Montresor’s insatiable desire for revenge, but there are also some underlying factors that could have indirectly led to this revenge as well.

    Read More

  • The Cask of Amontillado: Character Analysis

    1054 Words  | 3 Pages

    The major characteristics of the narrator and main character, Montresor, are anger, hatred, and revenge. In the story, he is angry with Fortunato because he believes that Fortunato has wronged and insulted him many times by saying, “thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could…he ventured upon insult…” (Poe). In addition, Montresor’s hatred for Fortunato goes so far that he believes he must kill Fortunato. He mentions this in the story as, “[y]ou, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat” (Poe). He seems to say that his soul is made of hatred and goes on to say he must give Fortunato the utmost punishment: death. Montresor even shows traits of revenge when he says, “…but when [Fortunato] ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” and “...I would be avenged…” (Poe). He is saying that he will get revenge on Fortunato, whom he is angry with and hates for being insulted by.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Edgar Allen Poe's The Cask Of Amontillado

Open Document