The Symbolism In The Cask Of Amontillado By Edgar Allen Poe

In “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Scarlet Ibis” dark symbols and tones shape the plot, which allows man’s inhumanity to man, as a theme, to be expected. Both authors use imagery to allow readers to paint a picture of each setting in their mind. Also, each author adds in many symbols to make a concrete object into an abstract idea. In “The Cask of Amontillado” written by Edgar Allan Poe and “The Scarlet Ibis” written by James Hurst symbols, imagery, and the theme of man’s inhumanity to man are used to uniquely explain each story line.

Unnerving, spooky, disturbing, frightful… All common characteristics of a hauntingly terrific tale by the famous Edgar Allan Poe. His story “The Masque of the Red Death” brought a grotesque taste to the horror genre throughout the 19th century with the use of literary devices. To summarize, Poe’s story discussed, in detail, the horrifying inevitability of death, which reveal the value of a device known as symbolism used by Poe in this literary work. As people are familiar with, Poe’s psychological weaknesses spurred his creativity to which he poured his problems into Gothic Literature, and he produced these unforeseen symbols as pawns of his life. In this popular short story, subtle objects are manipulated to reflect Edgar Allan Poe’s misfortunes. Symbolism is used throughout his short years of living as a narrative device for his eerie publications. Within this composition, I will be justifying how Poe’s influence on the use of symbolism constructed a disturbed and almost misleading

     Edgar Allan Poe, the first master of the short story, had written many short stories from mysteries to morbidity. Edgar was born on January 19,1809 in Boston, Massachussettes. Edgars Parents, David and Eliza, were both in the acting business. Poe also had a sister, who is rarely spoken of. When Edgar was young his father fleed from the family, leaving Edgar, his mother, and sister alone. At the age of two Edgar's mother died of tuberculosis. Edgar was then placed in a foster home with John and Fanny Allan.

Symbolism is a type of figurative language that many authors use to portray their theme and keep the reader engaged throughout the story. Edgar Allen Poe is known for often putting hidden meanings in his works and he does not disappoint with his short story, “The Masque of the Red Death” with his use of figurative language. Poe uses his writing to get his point across to the audience, all the while entertaining them with an amazing story. In “The Masque of the Red Death” Edgar Allen Poe uses the symbolism of different colors, seven rooms, and the location of the rooms to convey that death is inevitable.

is made through his use of punctuation, word choice, figurative language, tone, and sentence structure.

The mood of The Cask of Amontillado is dark because of Poe’s brilliant use of oppressive imagery. His use of explicit sensory details draw the reader in almost as if they were the main character. Poe writes, “ At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious. It’s walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead.” Poe describes the vaults as being piled with human remains. Reading this, imagining the stench of human remains would make you want to run away or get out of the vaults. However, Poe writes words such as crypt or less spacious to describe the vault. This gives the reader a feeling of being trapped or suppressed and unable to escape. This dark description of the vaults is a perfect setting for Montresor’s deadly plan of revenge to take place.

The Antagonists in “The Cask of Amontillado” and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”

Therefore, Poe wrote “The Cask of Amontillado” to represent how alcohol can make your thought process work in a different mindset. Poe was a great writer of the gothic genre. “The Cask of Amontillado,” is a great representation of this genre because Poe incorporates the idea of the dark temperance. Poe collaborated these two things to create a frightening story. “The earliest indication I had of this was a low moaning cry from the depth of the recess,” (Poe 195) Montresor is describing how Fortunato looks as he chained to the wall.

Edgar Allen Poe was a writer in the mid-1800’s whose primary focus was gothic literature. In Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado.” He exhibits instances of symbolism such as the coat of arms, their costumes, the masons and the cask, to portray the madness of Montresor as well as the ignorance of Fortunato.

In the short story “The Cask of Amontillado,” Edgar Allan Poe explores and demonstrates the traumatic horrors one can possess. This story is about, a man named Montresor who seeks revenge on his so called “friend,” Fortunato for all the wrongs he has caused to Montresor. He accomplishes his goal by luring Fortunato into his family catacombs and burying him alive in a masonry. Poe displays the these horrors through the use of irony and first-person narration. Poe’s use of irony in “The Cask of Amontillado” in order to show how easily someone can be betrayed; “Montresor: ...

Edgar Allen Poe was a writer who sculpted every detail to create his desired “theme”. His short stories are mostly representing the murder of a character. The murderer, who is the narrator, explains the plan for the murder. The narrator destroys the humans around him through his destructive mind. The reason for the murder is revenge and hatred. In “Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” Poe utilized “unreliable narrators,” he even created similarities between murder and victim to establish the theme of self- destruction. In “Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor destroys himself with repression. In “The tell-tale heart” the narrator battles with his subconscious mind. In “Hop Frog” the narrator sacrifices his humanity. All of the

In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Edgar Allen Poe created a suspenseful mood using key details, especially in the scenes of describing the carnival and going down into the crypt. To start the story, Poe stated, “It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season…” hinting and making readers suspect that something sneaky might happen soon. The key details that bring that conclusion are descriptive words Poe used. For example, the words dusk and madness show readers that the scene is spooky, scary, and dark, a perfect place for evil pranks or murder. At another point in the story Montresor acknowledges the attendants at his house, telling them not to worry or look for him because he would not be back until morning, foretelling

“The Cask of Amontillado” has many objects that represent some different meaning than what are shown. “It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season.” (391) The setting which is during carnival season represents the madness of Edger Allen Poe. Edgar Allen Poe definitely a dark and mad individual shows even more of it in “The Cask of Amontillado”.

The main character Montresor seeks revenge on the unfortunate character named Fortunato, who’s name ironically means “The fortune one.” Poe shows symbolism from the beginning within the title in the word cask. Not only is cask short for casket but it is also a word for a container meant for holding liquid such as wine, this is ironic because it's how Montressor lures in Fortunato from the beginning. Poe uses symbolism frequently throughout the story, such as when he describes Fortunato as being in costume as a fool and places the setting of the story at a carnival, this shows that his inevitable death is a celebration in Montresor’s mind. Another example is that as Montresor leads his victim throughout the catacombs filled with the tombs of his ancestors, Fortunato proposes a toast to the dead and unknowingly to himself.

In the popular television show, “One Tree Hill”, Lucas Scott once stated, “Some people believe that ravens guide travelers to their destinations. Others believe that the sight of a solitary raven is considered good luck or more than one raven together predicts trouble ahead.” People have many different opinions about what ravens signify. In Poe’s “The Raven” it becomes clear that the raven symbolizes emotional suffering and also portrays a vivid understanding of reality.