Poe's Narrators in "Cask of Amontillado" and "Fall of the House of Usher"

Edgar Allan Poe is a famous writer in writing detective stories and horror stories. One of his horror stories, “The Cask of Amontillado” was talking about how a man took his revenge to his friend. However, to look deeply in this story, I found that this story was not just simply a horror tale about how a man gets his revenge in the safest way. Instead, it also demonstrates much irony in several areas: the title, the event, the season, the costume, the environment, the characters’ personalities, a man’s dignity and cockiness and at the end, the public order. he are

     In “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allan Poe takes us on a journey into the mind of a mad man. The story relates a horrible revenge made even more horrible by the fact that the vengeance is being taken when no real offense had been given. In a short space and with ultimate technical skill, Poe creates a nightmare, guaranteed to give the reader a sleepless night.

As Montresor and Fortunato reach the entrance to the catacombs, Poe adds nervousness to Montresor by using words that explain his movements or the surroundings around him and Fortunato. He is so close to murdering Fortunato, and Montresor is feeling a little doubtful on how it is going to go down. Montresor is

Cask of amontillado is on of Edgar Allan Poe’s best works it tells of deception and murder. In the cask of amontillado Edgar Allan Poe uses gothic literature to describe murder. Poe’s use of an unreliable narrator in his short story successfully creates a eerie effect for his reader.

By using word choice, Poe created extravagant amounts of suspense. “The Cask of Amontillado” is a great example of how Poe uses literary elements, using them to depict a story of revenge and create a suspenseful mood. This is shown in lines 149 to 152 when the book states the following: “We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame.” This quote uses imagery to describe the setting and uses sensory details to help create the suspenseful mood. This helps set the tone of the story which contributes to the overall feel of the story which can make or break a piece of literature. This is how Poe expertly uses literary terms in “The Cask of Amontillado” to help produce the suspenseful mood that improves on his pieces of literature.

In “The Cask of Amontillado” Poe creates suspense through foreshadowing with words with strong connotations which creates anticipation in the reader. Within the short story there are multiple examples of foreshadowing throughout. The narrator “vowed revenge”(1) on Fortunato,but then further emphasizes his point by stating, “I must not only punish, but punish with impunity” (1). One understands the speaker’s intensity to fulfill his desire, while being unaware of the process. Poe creates a very dark and heavy tone using words with strong connotation. It expresses the passion and commitment within Montresor to complete the deed. From this quotation one can understood that the speaker will release his revenge intensely as the quotation also represents

It is Edgar Allan Poe's intense use of symbolism and irony throughout the Cask of Amontillado that establishes the short story as an indeed interesting candidate worthy of thorough analysis. The skillful use of these devices are utilized by the author to create this horrific and suspenseful masterpiece.

Chills run down your spine as a breath of wind rushes past your frame. Incoherent whispering fills your ear due to the flowing wind… Edgar Allen Poe, one of America’s most prolific writers, wrote numerous horror stories that defined the genre for modern writing. Effort went into creating the style that he was known for, but was it constant from one story to the next? Despite differences in plot and length there are similarities of tone, setting, structure, narration, and character between two of his most famous stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” that allude to Poe’s true writing style.

Feuds and arguments between individuals who may disagree with or dislike one another are a common occurrence in everyday life, often varying in degrees of intensity, but rarely reaching a point of extremity. However, in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado”, This threshold of extremity is reached by the narrator of the story, Montresor, who explains that his acquaintance, Fortunato, has repeatedly and irreparably insulted him over the course of years, and uses it as justification to take justice into his own hands and seek retribution through murder, despite there being no proof of Fortunato's guilt other than Montresor’s claims. His motive for murdering Fortunato can be attributed to his state of mind, as Montresor’s lack of guilt, empathy, or remorse highlights him as a character with psychopathic tendencies. As the story progresses, Montresor’s cold and calculating nature leaves the audience full of dread and suspense while he lures the oblivious Fortunato towards his inevitable demise. The employment of rhetorical devices such as irony, theme, and structure builds the suspense for the ultimate climax of Poe’s gothic masterpiece.

The short story, The Cask of Amontillado, the author presents two characters that have an unannounced feud, Montresor, and Fortunato. Montresor has such hate and discrepancy towards Fortunato, that, “at length, (he) would be avenged,” (Poe 372). Montresor, claiming to be Fortunato’s friend, had planned out the perfect trap for Fortunato’s awaited death. Fortunato was lead deep inside the dark catacombs, where Montresor chained up his scared and shaky figure. Montresor started to build the wall back up to hide Fortunato, when he started talking to him. Fortunato was laughing, almost as if he was trying to convince himself that it was only a joke, that he was just being messed with. After Montresor and Fortunato exchanged a few more words, Montresor called his name one last time, and “there came forth in return only a jingling of bells,” (Poe 379). The bells in this represent almost a childish demeanor, to show that Fortunato was clueless and vulnerable, as if he was a child. Montresor saw this as an opportunity took advantage of it, betraying him and

"The Cask of Amontillado" is one of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest stories. In this story Poe introduces two central characters and unfolds a tale of horror and perversion. Montresor, the narrator, and Fortunato, one of Montresor's friends, are doomed to the fate of their actions and will pay the price for their pride and jealousy. One pays the price with his life and the other pays the price with living with regret for the rest of his life. Poe uses mystery, irony, and imagery to create a horrifying, deceptive, and perverse story.

No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of bells. My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so" (12). Montresor shows he is unreliable because his feelings towards Fortunato’s murder keep fluctuating.

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is a frightening and entertaining short story about the severe consequences that result from persistent mockery and an unforgiving heart. Poe’s excellent use of Gothicism within the story sets the perfect tone for a dark and sinister plot of murder to unfold. “The Cask of Amontillado” simply overflows with various themes and other literary elements that result from Poe’s Gothic style of writing. Of these various themes, one that tends to dominant the story as a whole is the theme of revenge, which Poe supports with his sophisticated use of direct and indirect factors, irony, and symbolism.

     Finally, they reach the end on the catacombs and the Amontillado is near. Then, suddenly Montressor throws Fortunato and fettered him on the wall in a little aperture. He Builds a crypt with a trowel and masonry slowly circumscribing him. Fortunato will slowly suffocate and die. He is almost done laying the stones when Fortunato begs him to let him out and lets him know that the joke was very good but Montressor is not joking. He lays the last block and clamored can be heard through the walls. Slowly the noise died down and Montressor absconded to let Fortunato repose. Of course, then Fortunato perceived what he had done.

“The Cask of Amontillado” is the short story of a man named Montresor who decides to seek revenge against a man named Fortunato, who he said had insulted him. He met Fortunato at a carnival, lures him into the catacombs of his house and buries him alive. From a formalist perspective, I can see many different elements in the story and also as a reader, I can make many interpretations from what I have read. From a formalist perspective, I see that Poe uses a lot of imagery, irony, and a great setting to tell his story. An imagery that he uses was when they were walking through the cellar.