Uncovering the Dark Humor: The Study of Irony and Horror in Poe's ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ It is very rare to see laughing and dancing in terror and horror surroundings, Poe's “The Cask of Amontillado” is written by Edgar Allan Poe. It is not scary at all. The short story is about a joke of revenge and humor used in a dark place. As the plot advances, Poe's story discloses within the labyrinthine depths of Montresor's revengeful psyche, where each jape hides an iniquitous motive. Poe permits us a peek inside a realm wherein language and ambiance permit amusement to emerge from a hole. Through combining humor with horror in “The Cask of Amontillado”, Poe further enhances the villainy and causes the audience's perception of Montresor's story …show more content…
The story starts with Montresor stating, “THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” (1,1) As the declarations summarize Montresor's long-suffering patience of Fortunato's attacks, truly emphasizing the main moments when an insult becomes the catalyst for his grand revenge. Additionally, Montresor declares, “It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my goodwill,” figuring out his deliberate fake friendship with …show more content…
The final haunting words read, “For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!” seals Montresor’s triumphant wickedness, as Fortunato is left to sleep eternally in darkness, memorializing the extent of Montresor’s unscrupulous villainy. For whom could have known that the greatest joke Montresor would ever play was convincing Fortunato he intended only the best by allowing him to emerge from the crypt? On the whole, the story is a masterful blend of psychological terror and dark irony, a tale of a man at his height of triumph and cruelty. Finally, Montresor’s manipulation and its grim outcomes at the carnival mastered perpetual revenge as he killed Fortunato and approached his ultimate victory. Indeed, Montresor’s clever machinations, along with his deft manipulation of Fortunato’s weaknesses, instill a sense of dread and foreboding throughout the story. The masterful blend of comedy and terror not only makes Montresor a more well-rounded character, but also serves to minimize the reader’s empathy for Fortunato and exacerbate Montresor’s
The Cask of Amontillado is one of Poe's most famous short stories. In the story a man named Montresor takes revenge upon his friend, Fortunato. Readers don't know what Fortunato did to deserve revenge. During the 1700's in a European city Montresor had a plan to get revenge on Fortunato. The both of them meet during a festival called "carnival season," Montresor then convinces Fortunato to go home with him to an underground wine vault to taste a special type of sherry wine called Amontillado. Although
“Cask of Amontillado” The Cask of Amontillado is a 1846 short story written by Edgary Allan Poe. Poe is very know for his dark and cryptic fictions stories. Most of his fiction stories are about revenge, they all have some sort of twist to them. I think that most of his stories also include and incorporate his life detailed within them. With some research Edgar Allen Poe dealt with sickness, death and addiction. If you read most of Poe’s stories most of them have a death in them, he makes it known
Why is Montresor seeking revenge on Fortunato? In the story, Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor had been hurt by Fortunato, more like insulted. The narrator(Montresor) leads Fortunato deep into the catacomb; getting him more drunk along the way. The entire trip, Fortunato is talking about the Amontillado; eventually the narrator chains Fortunato to the wall and closes the man sized hole with bricks while torturing him mentally until he begs for mercy. Montresor leaves him there to
Research Paper Genres originate from the Latin word generic, which refers to the type, and is used to define styles in music, art, and literature. Literary genre is a concept distinguished by the composition principle and common characteristics of the story to distinguish different works. Genres play a role in preparing various theories of literature in connection with the problem of how literary works are formed and existed. Besides, the literary genre often divides into the country, era, writer
Many a Shakespearean scholar would claim that the Bard carries the genre of revenge tragedy to its near perfect peak in Hamlet, a goal toward which he had been working for quite some time since his writing Titus Andronicus. As with all literary research, one finds it interesting to investigate such a claim–can we be so sure? Is Hamlet’s revenge structure truly “perfect” in the traditional sense? It would be surprising to think so after reading the final act of Hamlet, where after hours of rumination
While at school Poe excelled at writing by authoring countless numbers of poems. My research indicates that Poe had the potential to publish a book of poetry. For reasons unknown the Academy of Joseph H. Clark was not receptive to this venture and persuaded Poe’s stepfather not to entertain such notions. The school also brought out the athlete in Poe. He was a good runner, leaper, boxer, and sw... ... middle of paper ... ...urity and anger towards John Allan often kept him from succeeding and doing
like, not only for poets; Keats, Frost, Dickerson and Poe, but what and love was like for many people during that time. The eighteenth century poets allow us a means to grasp love in a very tangible manner. Love is defined diff... ... middle of paper ... ...heir tenacity and are intrigued by their courage. For literature would not be the same without some of their pieces of work. They helped make a difference in the way we understand love in the eighteenth century and today. Work Cited Connell