Poe's Theory and Practice Reflected in The Cask of Amontillado

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.

According to Desmond, " Fortunato in the Cask of Amontillado is the literary reincarnation of Thomas Dunn English; and Luchesi, the butt of the real sarcasm of the tail is editor , Hiram Fuller. Montressor is Poe careful, crafty and methodically wrecking vengeance on his enemies; and the cask of amontillado is symbolically the Law suit"(144). Poe did not think he had done anything to warrant the attacks of both English and Dunn. Poe had worked in the Evening Mirror so English and Dunn can be taken to be his contemporaries and they had interest in the same field. They prided themselves in "Literary Connoisseurship" (Desmond,!46). Poe did not think English and Fuller knew good Literature even though they prided themselves to be best in the field. This can be associated to Luchesi's ignorance in wine even though some thought his taste was as good as Fortunato's. "Poe felt that English and Fuller were slandering and ridiculing him with impunity because he no longer had a journal in which to defend himself" (Desmond, 145). This can also be seen in the story when he told Fortunato, "You are rich, respected , admired, and beloved. You are as happy as once I was"(Poe, 241). Poe felt he had been insulted

Edgar Allen Poe has many standards that helped lay the ground work to his single effect of a short story. He thought short stories ought to be able to be read at one sitting. This allows the reader to get the entire effect of the story at one time, rather than having to stop reading the story and having to recapture the feeling of the story after returning. In writing, he attempted to try to and capture a unifying emotion; the emotion of horror. He felt that the effect of the story should be obvious to everyone who reads the story. Poe’s single effect was attended to show human behavior; to see how human reactions would be if these stories actually occurred.

The life of Edgar Allan Poe is not a tale of ease. Poe’s life was full of personal and fiscal disaster. These disasters help to mold some of the most ominous and intellectually challenging poetry ever written. For the short duration of Poe’s life, he was seen as a literary critic rather than an author. To the modern generation his unbeknown status seems bafflingly inconceivable, considering his now acclaimed publications. Edgar Allan Poe’s writing was very much dictated by his life. The mournful tone of Edgar Allan Poe’s life created his literature; death and all his friends narrated Poe’s life. Edgar Allan Poe shows his life’s constant despair through his poetry and short story writings.

Montresor does this by flattering and acting concerned about the health of Fortunato when really his only concern is killing Fortunato. While in the wine cellar, Montresor says to Fortunato, “Come, we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchesi-.” Montresor does an excellent job of being Fortunatos’ friend and at the same time convinces him to continue drinking and telling him, “A draught of this Medoc will defend us from the damps.” Montresor was not trying to defend either one of them, his only purpose was to place Fortunato into a higher state of drunkenness. Montresor causes Fortunato to become so drunk that while he was being chained to the wall by Montresor, “He was too much astounded to resist.” “The Cask of Amontillado” is filled with many ironies and also life lessons; such as know who your real friends are. Fortunato thought his real friend was Montresor when, in reality, Montresor was anything but his friend. Not only did Montresor fake his sincerity towards Fortunato, he was also vengeful and very intelligent in his actions to kill Fortunato.

Is there really a perfect crime? This is the main point in Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado.” The story is a dark tale of a presumably insane man who suffers from, according to him, “the thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could” (Poe 75). One of the major factors in telling this story is the setting. The story is set primarily in the Montresor family catacombs, which provides the dark setting, filled with human remains, and this reflects where Montresor commits his crime, where no one will expect. Furthermore, the narration also helps in telling the story. It is first person point of view, so the story is heard entirely from him. Readers will go into Montresor’s

At the start of the story Montresor says, “But then I learned he had made fun of my proud name Montresor, the name of an old and honored family” (Poe). Edgar Allen Poe was a well-educated man whose parents were actors moreover he believed the same about his family as Montresor does, that his family is an honored family. This was the main reason why

Edgar Allan Poe; a famous all American Poet, short story writer and critic. Some of his most famous writings include Raven and The Cask of Amontillado. His writings all include horror or some type of mystery. Edgar did not have the “white picket fence” type of life. His was like riding on a rollercoaster, full of difficulties, but he turned out to be a writing genius. But I think that alcohol, and unsupportive family impacted Poe’s writing style, as well as the difficulties in his life.

Poe’s 1846 work, “The Cask of Amontillado,” details the manipulative and vengeful actions of the narrator, Montresor, including luring his victim, Fortunato, into his family catacombs with alcohol in order to bury him alive. Poe reflects his foster father as the murderer of the story, and shows the sardonicism of his life through dramatic and verbal irony. When Poe was in school, his foster mother died. She instructed her husband to wait until Poe returned home before her burial, but John Allan disregarded this and buried her before Poe returned. Although the real-life event is not as literal as Poe describes in his work, both his foster mother and Fortunato are prematurely buried. The exaggeration of his foster mother’s death is shown

The themes of abandonment and vivisepulture repeat throughout Poe’s writing. Poe’s 1846 work, “The Cask of Amontillado,” details a murder. It takes place in Montresor’s catacombs, among the bones of his ancestors. In an act of revenge, Montresor leads Fortunato to his death by tempting him with wine, chaining and trapping him in “a deep crypt, in

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.

Edgar Allan Poe was and is undoubtedly one of the greatest influences on American literature. His life consisted of tragedy and heartbreak, but even as Poe’s world spiraled down around him, he produced some of the greatest works of poetry and short stories that had ever been created. These works redefined the way prose and poetry alike were composed and analyzed. Unfortunately, much of the truth about Edgar Allan Poe’s life has been blurred and changed, leaving many questions as to what events affected and influenced one of history’s greatest authors.

“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.

Popular literature is incomplete without the names of Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Both of these authors lived in the same time period, yet lived very opposite lives. In fact, Poe received notoriety for criticizing Nathaniel Hawthorne. (Poe, 1847) In his career, he wrote several critiques of Hawthorne’s work. On a personal level, Poe often disagreed with how often Hawthorne used allegory. As a literary element that many people use, Poe was not a fan. He once stated that: “I allude to the strain of allegory which completely overwhelms the greater