Analysis Of Edgar Allan Poe 's ' The Cask Of Amontillado ' Essay

Edgar Allen Poe's brings us a twisted tale of vengeance and horror in "The Cask of Amontillado." Poe's character, Montresor, acts as our guide and narrator through this story. He grabs a hold of the reader as he tells the story from his own apathetic and deceptive mind to gain vengeance from the weak and dismal Fortunato. Montresor's mentality is disturbing as he uses his clever, humor, ironic symbolism, and darkness to accomplish this.

The cast of Amontillado was written by Allan Poe at a time when he felt he was being unjustly attacked. Most critics believe that the cask of Amontillado was written by Poe against his critics in the Mirror. I believe the cask of Amontillado is a story of Revenge and Hatred against some friends whom be believed had wrongfully accused him. A review of Allan Poe as a person and his experiences in life is essential a clear understanding of "The Cask of Amontillado". Hence, I will apply a cultural method of interpretation.

It is often said that irony is the vital literary element to a story because it gives the story character. Whether it changes the mood, creates suspense, adds foreshadowing, engages the reader or something else, irony can do many things for a story.

To develop the analytical paper about the text “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, some sources will be used to support the thesis statement, which is “The author uses irony in the text to illustrate the murder of Fortunado by Montresor, who seeks salvation through death”. Also, there is going to be an analysis on the irony found in the text in relation with the story. To support this thesis, I am going to use some examples from some sources such as “Literary analysis: Irony in The Cask of Amontillado" by Amelia Tibbett, “Irony in "The Cask of Amontillado” by Kerry Michael Wood, and “Poe 's Short Stories Summary and Analysis” by Bella Wang , and the text will be written in the third person.

Edgar Allan Poe is a famous well known writer known for his dark and gothic horror stories such as “The Tell-Tale Heart” and many others. The well-known author had a rough life which dealt with a lot of death, so most of his stories revolve around this idea. In “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Masque of the Red Death” Poe uses similar themes or darkness to convey tone and conflict throughout the story. His writing style is dark and revolves around one main concept: death. Edgar Allan Poe uses diction and syntax, setting and conflict, and characterization in his writing style to develop his stories.

Edgar Allan Poe is an American author whose writing style, full of mysteries and macabre, has fascinated generations. However, his works are more than just thrillers and morbidities. The writings of this author often contain other themes such as companionship, family bonds, longing passion, and perhaps the strongest of these is revenge. “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Hop-Frog; or, The Eight Chained Ourang-Outangs” are two short stories that certainly demonstrate a recurring theme of revenge. Poe not only presents his signature pattern of cold fate in both works but also displays the struggle of a lower social class against the higher social class to the extent that it almost hints at a call for revolution.

Human nature can be driven by many things such as hate, pain, and even happiness. Humans can be very sensitive to many things. That's why when someone runs through the middle of the road, people get mad, and when someone crashes their car into their neighbor's house, their neighbor yells at them and makes them pay for it. Some components of  human nature are; revenge, greed, and the will to survive.

Pride is a dangerous emotion that can cause ruin to all those that encounter it. In the short story written by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Cask of Amontillado," Montresor's pride is offended by Fortunato, a man he has forgiven for various offences time and time again. Montresor formulates a deadly plan to exact revenge upon Fortunato for speaking ill of him. "The Cask of Amontillado" examines pride and how it can be very dangerous when it is a guiding force behind people's decisions and other emotions (Poe 221).

Young, beautiful, and doomed; In several, if not all, works of Edgar Allan Poe, there is a not so subtle theme that is found. One of the death and beauty. How is the death of a young woman romanticized within selected works of Edgar Allan Poe? In such works as “Lenore”, “Ulalume”, popular “Annabel Lee”, “The Raven”, and short story “The Oval Painter” ,the “death of a beautiful woman” theme is prevalent and strongly noted within context, word choice, and imagery. In the eyes of Edgar Allan poe, death, especially that of a woman, to be lamented and mourned by a “bereaved lover”, is the most valued tool to have and utilize when writing. In his own life, Poe was able to relate to the subject matter, as many of his heroins are believed to be based upon his wife Virginia, who had died at a young age. Unraveling the methods to how Poe romanticized death of young women in his literature might give insight to not only Poe’s life, but humanity in general..

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.

What entity could have been so malicious that it killed one man’s entire family? The Edgar Allen Poe short story “The Cask of Amontillado” tells the tale of Montresor and after years of being insulted by Fortunato, Montresor vows revenge against him. During a night of festivities, Montresor decides to exact his vengeance by luring Fortunato to the catacombs. Catacombs were underground cemeteries most commonly used in the 19th century. As Montresor and Fortunato travel further down the catacombs, the bones of Montresor’s family can be seen surrounding the walls of the catacombs. Montresor comments that Fortunato should return to the mansion because of his intense coughing, and goes on to say, “You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was” (Poe 146). This brings up the idea that the insults Fortunato may have said to Montresor were about the death of his once great family.

“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is a story full of irony. Irony is defined as a literary technique in which what appears differs radically from what is actually the case. In addition, irony can be divided into three groups: dramatic, verbal, and situational. Dramatic irony is when the readers notice something before the characters do. Verbal irony is when the characters say something that differs significantly from what they really mean. Situational irony is when the actual result is different from what was initially expected. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Poe combines all of these ironies to tell the story and to construct the personalities of the characters in an entertaining way.

     Revenge can be sweet, but in this case it is just down right grotesque! In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” it talks about a gentlemen named Montressor and how he is angry at Fortunato for insulting him in the past. Montressor will not let this go unpunished, so he thinks up a clever scheme to get back at him. This plan is in a way, ingenious but most definitely insane and crazy.

Edgar Allen Poe is known for the various literary devices he uses in his works. One of the most famous devices he uses is symbolism. In many of his stories, including “The Masque of the Red Death,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Cask of Amontillado,” Poe uses symbolism to further develop each story by the messages he writes between the lines. Symbolism is an important aspect of Poe’s many works, seeing as how it allows the readers to make connections within the stories. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Poe represents symbolism through the title of the short story, the outfit Fortunato wears, and the Montresor family motto and coat of arms.

Edgar Allen Poe’s wonderful prose “The Cask of Amontillado” decisively ends the dispute between the literary quality of his story and Connell’s entertaining prose “The Most Dangerous Game” when the stories point of view come into play making Poe tale the alpha read between the two pieces of literature. Poe’s prose utilizes first person point of view making his prose even more mysterious because the reader does not get the narrator's name until the end.