Symbolism In The Cask Of Amontillado

Montresor talks about Fortunato’s insult and his vow of revenge, but he also mentions his supposed family’s motto, no one attacks me with impunity, which is actually the motto of Scotland. From this information we can infer that Montresor 's family motto is not actually this and that he is a liar. We can then speculate that since Montresor had done this fifty years ago as told when Montresor says:

An important element in any story is setting. Authors use setting to convey certain feelings brought on by the character’s surroundings. It also subliminally serves to illustrate the character’s intentions. In “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allen Poe uses the dark, imposing setting to do just that, communicate the underlying theme of the story, being death, revenge and deception.

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.

Montresor’s family motto is as, “[n]emo me imprune lacessit” (Poe). His motto means, to me, as, “Nobody attacks me with impurity”. This family motto shows that Montresor firmly believes in his motto as well proving where he gets his traits of revenge.

It is often said that revenge is sweet, but that phrase does not hold to be extremely true throughout The Cask of Amontillado. There are various themes and lessons throughout the story, but there is one theme that seems to be shown more than others. The most prevalent theme is that jealousy can lead to vengeance, and ultimately lead to the downfall, or even death, of a person. This theme is clearly evident through the two main characters, Montresor and Fortunato. By looking closer at Montresor’s words and actions toward Fortunato, it is apparent that there is a superfluous amount of jealousy between them. This jealousy that is between them ends up playing a major part in Montresor ultimately killing Fortunato, someone who was thought to be one of his best friends. The author uses the characters and their actions to develop a solid plot line and prove the point that jealousy and revenge can destroy a person, both figuratively and literally.

“Give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot to punish an offender. But more than 2,000 years later, Martin Luther King Jr. responded, "The old law of 'an eye for an eye' leaves everybody blind." (American Psychological Association) This is a story dedicated to revenge. Where the power of revenge makes the Montresor go do insane things in order to achieve his family motto, “Nemo me impune lacessit.” Which means no one insults me with impunity. Although the story may seem like it only talks about amontillado, vaults and Fortunato’s insult to Montresor this story has a deeper message. The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Poe, he sends a message that revenge may blind the eye towards happiness.

‘And the motto?’ ‘Nemo me impune lacessit’” (Poe 1). Simply translated, this means “no one provokes me with impunity.” The family motto indicates that pride of family honor has been a long-standing and well-guarded trait. Montresor’s ancestry and history of pride elevates his grievance against Fortunato, and evokes an attack because he dared to belittle Montresor’s honorable name. In fact, Montresor’s pride is still so great, and his remorse so little, that he continues to gasconade about his revenge fifty years after the event. The pride of his family name forces Montresor to murder Fortunato, conclusively and irreversibly directing his decisions throughout the short story.

Given these points, the shadowy and mischievous setting, the captivating plot, and mesmerizing point of view make “The Cask of Amontillado” a prime example of a quality horror story. The setting helps Montresor lure Fortunato into the skeleton-filled catacombs, the plot evokes a scary and frightened response from the reader, and the point of view shows us Montresor’s true feelings. Even though an idea of a perfect crime is impossible, the author develops Montresor to have the best traits and choices which make every dream of a murderer a

"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.

specific sensory details and descriptions to produce a mood that is both chilling and horrifying. Poe describes the eerie surroundings in a cynical and mournful way. To create this chilling mood, Poe writes, “ The earliest indication I had of this was a low moaning cry from the depth of the recess. It was was not the cry of a drunken man. There was a long and obstinate silence.” (Page 63.) From this quote, the reader feels frightened, because there is a noise and they don’t know what it is. Another way the author created a chilling mood was by writing “As I said these words I busied myself among the pile of bones of which I have before spoken. Throwing them aside, I soon uncovered a quantity

In the short story, “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, symbols are used in various ways by Poe. By using symbols, Poe adds another dimension to the story, giving reader a much better understanding of the story. These include, The Amontillado, Masons, and the trowel. The Amontillado symbolizes greed. This is because Montresor uses The Amontillado to Lure Fortunado.

Edgar Allen Poe’s, “The Cask of Amontillado”, provides descriptive forms of imagery to create an appalling and foreboding mood. In the short story, the characters walk through catacombs in which “…The air is terribly damp. Drops of moisture trickle among the bones” (Poe, 1846). Poe’s descriptive imagery in the excerpt creates a foreboding mood because “drops of moisture” and damp air doesn’t fall under a joyful or pleasant mood.

The story of a Cask of Amontillado is a story of how hate can consume someone to the point of hurting someone. The story has plenty of irony but the symbols in this story show a whole side readers may not have seen if the symbols were not added. The cask of wine, the coat of arms of Montresor’s family, and the family moto are the symbols that stood out the most though out the story.

A symbol is a literary device that is supposed to represent something as something else. The short story “The Cask of Amontillado” made use of several symbols throughout the story. The name of a character, Fortunato, sounds very much like “fortunate”. Moreover, even more meaning is given to the name because Fortunato actually means “the lucky one” in Italian. The name of the character is used symbolically and ironically because the fate that the character faces is very unfortunate due to his death. Yet again, an aspect of the character Fortunato is symbolic in nature. Montresor observed that Fortunato was wearing a jester’s costume in the following statement: “The man wore motley. He had on a tight fitting parti stripped dress .

The Cask of Amontillado is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe published in 1846. The story focuses on a man taking fatal revenge on a friend who, he believes betrayed him. Because of the plot arrangement, this short story seems to be written using biographical strategy. Biographical strategy is concerned about how the author’s biography may have influenced the story. The similarities between Poe’s personal life and the characters love with alcohol, failures in his life and along with the misfortunes Poe had lived shared many likenesses.