Amontillado Flaws

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most recognized and praised fiction writers in world literature. Not only does he masterfully create the atmosphere of suspense and danger in his short stories, he also builds up a sophisticated blend of horror and elegant irony that haunts the reader and reveals the complexity of Poe’s literary talent. “The Cask of Amontillado” is a perfect example of such combination. In this twisted short story of revenge, Poe puts an emphasis on the ironic tone in order to highlight the relationship between Montresor and his victim Fortunato and reveal the evil nature of Montresor’s desire for cruel vengeance.

Yielding a work richly saturated with remarkable literary integrity, Edgar Allen Poe is intrinsically capable of exquisitely manipulating symbolic, literal, and figurative language to unravel the horrid, morbid tale of Montresor’s vile revenge upon Fortunato that is the short story of “The Cask of Amontillado”.

Have you ever wanted to get drunk and walk through an underground crypt with a psychopathic murderer? Well, that’s exactly what Fortunato did in Edgar Allen Poe’s “Cask of Amontillado.” Montressor, the story’s main character, lures an inebriated Fortunato down into his wine cellar for the most dastardly of purposes. And as expected from Poe, the story leaves the reader with an ugly taste in the mouth. Edgar Allen Poe uses a variety of literary devices to create a disturbing mood for his audience.

The story begins with Montresor explaining to the reader as a narrator that a man named Fortunato has insulted and hurt him for a great deal of time. Montresor never explains what exactly Fortunato did to him, but considering how they interact with one another at the start of the story, it is very possible Poe knew about how real killers through history have been mentally disturbed in a way that warps how they view reality, such as taking great

Edgar Allan Poe was a master of the literary elements and used them greatly in all of his works. In the story, “The Cask of Amontillado,” Poe uses these literary devices to really grab the audience and keep them wanting more. This skillful building of suspense is what makes this story so interesting and easy to keep reading. Poe drops small hints throughout the story in order to give the reader a little glimpse of how the story will come to an exciting end. With all of these elements coming together Poe creates a captivating and interesting story that a reader can easily enjoy. Poe’s expert use of foreshadowing, irony, and first person viewpoint all build into this captivating story that ensnares a reader.

Edgar Allen Poe is a famous writer, who writes scary stories. One of his most famous stories is “ The Cask of Amontillado”. This story is about a murderer called Montresor who wants to take revenge from Fortunato and kill him. Thus, this mysterious and revenge story has a dark tone fulfilled with ironies. Verbal, situational and dramatic ironies have given a macabre atmosphere to the story.

One literary device Poe utilizes to cultivate a disturbing mood is the tone of the story. The tone is somewhat ominous and unsettling. The lack of a reliable narrator and exposition to explain the revenge or the characters’ motivations creates sinister undertones. A example of this come from the very beginning of the story with the first sentence being “THE THOUSAND INJURIES of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.” Even though he vaguely states that Fortunato has harmed him we don’t know if he has done something so sinister as he need to strike revenge. Another example of tone in the story is with the line “and finding an instant he had reached the extremity of the niche, and finding his progress arrested by the rock” What is line is saying is that Fortunato had come to the end of the recess in the granite wall. He was looking for the Amontillado but had only found the granite rock wall of the far side of

‘The Cask of Amontillado’ conveys a deep rooting in gothic literature. Poe makes use of a medieval setting and overwrought emotion to solidify this particular style of writing. The narrator, Montresor, delineates his descent with Fortunato into the vaults: “I passed down a long and winding staircase… we stood together on damp ground of the catacombs” (Poe 3). An element often prominent in gothic literature is the usage of a castle with secrets passages and/or dark, hidden or otherwise ominous staircases. The Cask of Amontillado’s descriptions of the catacombs, vaults and staircase gives the reader the same kind of eerie feeling. Additionally, Fortunato displays high emotion near the end of the story. When he realizes his

“The Cask of AMontillado by Edgar Allan Poe is a short story in which the writer used the elements of plot to make the story interesting, and give off a variety of signals or feelings to the reader. The rising action becomes a pile of conflict when Poe hides the nature of the main character in order to make the final outcome of the story even more shocking. The exposition, or setting up of the story gave the reader a creepy vibe, which the author then used to pull the entire story together. The resolution of the story made it very clear that the narrator had absolutely no remorse for the crime he committed. These are all key points in the story that helped the author to create an interesting piece of literature that not only excited, but enticed

The setting of the tale is also dreadfully ironic. It takes place during the carnival season, a time of merrymaking and madness, where the traditional interpretations of social liberation and joy are emphasized (Wood). What’s more, at a masquerade, reality is temporarily adjourned and people can take on an entirely different identity for a while. It is for that reason that the protagonist, Montresor, uses the masquerade to his own advantage -- the pretense of costume enables him to enter the festivity completely unnoticed. The ironic part, though, is that Montresor uses the masquerade to cause harm to Fortunado. Poe actually also wrote a few other stories (like “William Wilson” and “The Masque of Red Death”) in which the characters abandon social events and are left susceptible to crime (Merriman). It’s a common theme amongst his works, but it’s incredibly clever. Who would think that any harm would come from a masquerade?

“The Cask of Amontillado” endures as Poe’s most perfect story, with each and every sentence contributing to the full meaning; therefore, the obvious connection between the author and his ‘perfect’ work beg for exploration. While there are debates as to why Edgar Allen Poe wrote the short tale, the argument for using his personal backstory outshines them all. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Poe infuses the themes of revenge and irony in order to reflect on the familial and personal resentment he faced throughout his life.

Edgar Allan Poe is an American author and a poet. He is a major figure in American and world literature, this is primarily based on his ingenious and profound short stories, poems, and critical theories, which established him as a highly influential rationale for the short form in both poetry and fiction. “The cask of Amontillado” is viewed by most people as one of the most perfect short stories in the world and although Poe uses symbolism to help his audience understand it can also be seen how throughout the story and in almost every line how uses verbal and dramatic irony to build suspense, foreshadow the ending, and to add a touch of horrifying humor from it he wants his audience to understand his closeness to Fortunato. This story is a short tale of horror about Montresor who is the main character revenge for an insult from his friend Fortunato. And although Fortunato believes he has good friendship with Montresor he ends up being chained and walled in to the catacombs and buried alive.

The gruesome tale of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado” is bone chilling. This ghastly narrative, recounted by Montresor, takes the reader through a meticulous retelling of a murder committed a full fifty years’ prior, down to the precise moment of every cough and every jingle of the bells ornamented to Fortunato’s cap. Holding true to the romantic movement in Literature, also referred to as Romanticism, Poe placed a large emphasis on the bizarre, unexpected, and for characters being dominated by their emotions to the point it exceeds all possible rational explanation. Every part of “The Cask of Amontillado” seems to grasp these concepts. Although, it is through Poe’s skillful use of symbolism and irony that truly make this short story a great contribution to literature.

Montresor wanted to avenge Fortunato for insulting him while Fortunato know nothing of this. In the beginning, Poe had already began to expose the revenge that happened; even Montresor’s family motto “Nemo me impune lacessit” means “You will not harm me with impunity.” had a meaning behind it. Poe had a hard life from being disowned by his father and his mother passing away. He had struggled a lot because of his sad past and it is probably why he wrote this short story, to express his emotions and pain. Most of Poe’s stories are considered literature because of his use of irony, first-person narrative, and dark

Edgar Allen Poe writes the title, The Cask of Amontillado, a short story with a gothic, horror, and creepy genre and tone. The idea of the title brings it to attention that this story will most likely be about a barrel of wine. However, it is about a casket of death when searching for the wine. This story gives an affecting way to show the readers a true crime story. In the short story of The Cask of Amontillado, Poe uses irony and symbolism to characterize the theme of deception and revenge.