Throughout Edgar Allan Poe’s life he experienced many things. Those experiences have shaped how he wrote and what he wrote about. Poe’s stories like “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Black Cat”, “The Masque of the Red Death”, and “The Fall of the House Usher” have been about death. These stories also include symbolism of death, a mood of fear, illness, foreshadowing, and conflict. During Poe’s life people died all around him. The most devastating was his mother, sister, Mrs. Allan, and his wife, Virginia from tuberculosis. Poe wrote about what his life was about, heartbreak and death. “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Black Cat”, “ The Masque of the Red Death”, and “The Fall of the House Usher” have all had something that symbolized death. …show more content…
Most of his characters in the stories suffer from an illness, some of those stories include “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Black Cat”, “The Masque of the Red Death”, and “The Fall of the House Usher”. Montresor buried a man alive in “The Cask of Amontillado” because he insulted him. He started to feel remorse but stopped and finished the job. He was not insane but he had some kind of mental illness that was not diagnosed. “For a brief moment I hesitated, I trembled. Unsheathing my rapier, I began to grope with it about the recess; but the thought of an instant reassured me. I placed my hand upon the solid fabric of the catacombs, and felt satisfied.” The narrator in “The Black Cat” was insane. He cut his cats e out and hung him by the neck on a tree “FOR the most wild, yet mostly homely narrative which I am about to pen, I near expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence.” In “The masque of the Red Death” the illness is the plague that is killing everyone, it is a nasty painful disease. “No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the dissolution.” “And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour.” Usher in “The Fall of the House Usher” knew he …show more content…
In “The Cask of the Amontillado” the conflict was between Montresor and Fortunato. Fortunato insulted Montresor and he vowed revenge to kill him, and get away with it. “THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he venture upon insult I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that gave utterance to a threat.” “I must not only punish but punish with impunity.” In “The Black Cat” the narrator and cat are the conflict of the story. The narrator is an abusive alcoholic and he killed his cat by hanging him. Another cat appeared looking like the first cat. “One morning, in cool blood, I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree.” “I approached and saw, as if graven in bas relief upon the white surface, the figure of a gigantic cat. The impression was given with an accuracy truly marvelous. There was a rope about the animal’s neck.” In “The Masque of the Red Death” the conflict is the prince hiding from the Red Death. The Red Death is killing everyone and the prince and his friends are hiding in his castle. “No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood.” “But the prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and lighted hearted friends
Within Edgar A. Poe’s stories, there is often a duality of emotions or sentiments, often in direct conflict with each other. Such is the case with two of his short stories focused at the motif of life versus death. “Masque of the Red Death” and “Hop-Frog” are two stories that exemplify the contrast between the two themes vividly.
... carnival, so that the narrator would not consult another supposed wine connoisseur about the cask of amontillado, the reader must identify with the dark parts of their character and learn from the mistakes of the characters in this story. Like Montresor, all people have faults and by illustrating this extremely flawed character, Poe allows the reader a glimpse at the flaws in their own. Even Montresor recognizes that he must hares his crime, whether to confess or brag, the story could not die with him. Montresor is a vehicle that allows the reader to identify with their own shortcomings. He was consumed by a thirst for revenge, driven by pride, aided by intelligence, and suffering from a sense of inadequacy which created jealousy. Montresor demonstrates that vengeance and pride are impure motivators that lead to sinister thoughts and actions unfit for judgement day.
In the story “The Cask of Amontillado” Montresor purposefully built Fortunato into a wall and it satisfied him. In the text it says “A succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me violently back. For a brief moment I hesitated, I trembled, unsheathing my rapier, I began to grope with it about the recess; but the thought of an instant reassured me. I placed my hand upon the solid fabric of the catacombs, and felt satisfied.” This shows him being nervous about burying him in a wall but then felt satisfied. In the story “The Black Cat” the narrator is strange and mad. He shows this by hanging his cat. He hung the cat because he thinks the cat no longer loves him. The quote “That urged me to continue and finally to consummate the injury I had inflicted upon the unoffending brute. One morning, in cool blood. I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to he limb of a tree; -- hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart; -- hung it because I knew it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no reason of offence; -- hung it because I knew that in so doing I was committing a sin” shows the main character being strange and mad. Also “The Fall of the House of Usher” shows one of the main
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, literary critic, and editor. Despite of his many talents, Edgar Allan Poe is best acknowledge for his poems and short stories, primarily his tales consist of mystery and deception of death. For instance, in the story “The Masque of the Red Death”, the story involves a plague that is killing the people, in which the Prince and his closest friend want to avoid. In the story “The Cask of Amontillado” is about a perfect murder planed out for revenge, in which he succeeds. In the story “The Tell-tale heart” involves the murder of an old man, in which the killer’s heart makes him say the truth. Many of Edgar Allan Poe stories use irony, by expressing a meaning that is contrary of what is expected throughout the
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
The traumatic life adversities Edgar Allan Poe has overcome, and experienced in his lifetime are insurmountable. Although these hardships were painful, it were these that helped shaped and establish the sheer horror, fear, and inevitability of death in his stories such as “The Tell Tale Heart”, “Hop Frog”, and “The Masque of The Red Death.”
As time goes on, each and every human gets closer and closer to dying. For some it will come sooner than others, but there is no way to escape. Unfortunately for Edgar Allan Poe, death surrounded him for all of his life. “The Raven” and “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe exemplify aspects of death from his personal life, although the stories’s use of animals as symbols and stimulating plots differ, proving that the past is not to be forgotten.
In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Edgar Allan Poe uses imagery, sensory detail and symbolism not only to build suspense, but also to convey the idea that an individual can not hide or run away from death which becomes closer as time passes on. Throughout the story Poe uses imagery details to create suspense in the story. For example when the author is describing the disease that has taken many lives he describes the unfortunate event as, “ Blood was its Avator and its seal- the redness and the horror of blood. One can understand that in the story the tragic death of someone might occur as tragically as the disease is described. Accordingly, as the story progresses the deep shade of the color red is evident in many areas to represent symbolism.
In the story, “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, it reveals the despicable antagonist of Montresor. The story is a flashback of Montresor’s cruel, unreasonable actions towards his nemesis, Fortunato long ago. Throughout the major conflicts of the story, the author reveals a strong mood of suspense. This is mainly shown by the way Montresor speaks, his thoughts, and actions.
Edgar Allen Poe’s writing is often characterized by his innate ability to elicit a sense of foreboding within the reader. Due to how the deaths of his mother and wife and facing abandonment from his father, Poe became infatuated with death and the limits of human sanity. These themes are common characteristics of many of his short stories. However, The Masque of the Red Death, published in 1842, in particular utilizes many literary devices which contribute to the haunting overall tone and mood in the story.
Edgar Allan Poe was a smart, self-taught man. He got little support from his uncaring father, and didn’t have female support due to his mother, sister, and wife dying from tuberculosis. Poe’s stories are similar by having dark characteristics, which represent his life The four stories are “The Masque of the Red Death”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Cask of Amontillado”, and “Alone”. All four of Poe’s works have a mysterious, dauntless, alarming, fearful, and depressed setting.
In the Edgar Allan Poe stories "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" the most prominent and important themes that are used are death, logic, and irony. The characters of the narrator and Montresor in these stories are both coldblooded murders who kill for selfish and inane reasons who firmly believe that their actions are justified even though their justifications only make sense in their own minds. They both try to convince their audience that they are sane by explaining to them their reasons for killing their victims and admitting how they did it, which only helps to prove their insanity. The narrator and Montresor are similar in that they both have impaired senses of judgment encouraged by perverse morals and believe that the horrible things that they do are justifiable.
Throughout Edgar Allan Poe’s life, death was a frequent visitor to those he loved around him. When Poe was only 3 years old, his loving mother died of Tuberculosis. Because Poe’s father left when he was an infant, he was now an orphan and went to live with the Allan’s. His stepmother was very affectionate towards Edgar and was a very prominent figure in his life. However, years later she also died from Tuberculosis, leaving Poe lonely and forlorn. Also, later on, when Poe was 26, he married his cousin 13-year-old Virginia, whom he adored. But, his happiness did not last long, and Virginia also died of Tuberculosis, otherwise known as the Red Death, a few years later. After Virginia’s death, Poe turned to alcohol and became isolated and reckless. Due to Edgar Allan Poe’s loss of those he cared for throughout his life, Poe’s obsession with death is evident in his works of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Black Cat”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher”, in which in all three death is used to produce guilt.
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.
Edgar Allan Poe was a great American writer. Poe was born on January 19th, 1809, and he died on October 7th, 1849. Poe’s life was filled with loss. Every woman he cared about passed away due to tuberculosis. Poe never had a good relationship with his fathers; both his biological father and his foster father abandoned Poe. Because of the terrible events in his life time Poe’s writing style was more dark and depressing than most writers. His life made his writings similar. There are many similarities in these three writings, “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher”.