W.H. Auden once said, “Poetry is the clear expression of mixed feelings.” When comparing “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe and “Eating Poetry” by Mark Strand their works incorporate horrid elements within their works, which creates apprehension in the reader. The writing styles of these authors provoke this apprehension. The similar characteristics of “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Eating Poetry”, including captivating introductions that present an eerie setting, use of theatrical imagery, and descriptive enticing language, are crucial components to developing one’s mood while reading. Mark Strand begins his work with a phrase that immediately provokes readers to be curious and intrigued, which is “Ink runs from the corners of my mouth” (Strand 1). Without any further thought, he or she can infer that this action is surreal. However, this phrase incorporates chilling undertones, with respect to imagery. Readers have the ability to envision someone with ink spewing out of his or her mouth. This phrase exhilarates the individual and sets the mood for the remainder of the work. Comparatively, Edgar Allan Poe also provokes readers with the chilling undertones he presents. Poe doesn’t have incorporate imagery like Strand, but creates a precarious atmosphere for the reader. He says, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (Poe 14). The plot thickness and aids in the creation of unfamiliarity in
Is killing someone justifiable? In Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Cask of Amontillado that question is one that could be asked. The short story is about a man named Montresor and his quest to get revenge on his foe Fourtando who has apparently insulted Montresor. Around the time of the carnival season Montresor leaves his house to go find Fourtando and get his revenge he tells none of his servants to leave his house, but Montresor knows once that he has left the servants will leave and go to the carnival. Montresor who is dressed in all black finds a intoxicated Fourtando who is a professional wine taster, and then Montresor claims to have some Amontillado wine but he is not sure whether is genuine or if it s a fraud. In order to intimidate Fortunato and to lure him in, Montresor tells him he is going to get Luchresi another wine taster in the area, but Fortunato tells him no thus Montresor plan comes together and then he leads hims to the catacombs and chains Fortunato up where he leaves him to die. In my opinion the first question should be what did Fortunato do that was so bad for Montresor to want to and eventually kill him? Then the next question would be was the killing justifiable? In my opinion the killing was not justifiable. The reason the killing was not justifiable is because of the fact that nobody deserves to die such a brutal death. Another reason why the killing
The story initially starts off telling us the situation where Fortunato had wounded Montresor a “thousand” times. One day, Fortunato goes too far and insults Montresor ultimately resulting in Montresor vowing revenge. Montresor has to craft a perfect plan, for if Fortunato is able to revenge him in return then Montresor’s efforts will have been in vain.
A virtuoso of suspense and horror, Edgar Allan Poe is known for his Gothic writing style. His style is created through his use of punctuation, sentence structure, word choice, tone, and figurative language. Punctuation-wise; dashes, exclamation marks, semicolons, and commas are a favorite of Poe. His sentences vary greatly; their structures are influenced by punctuation. Much of his word choice set the tone of his works. Figurative language colors his writings with description. Such is observed in the similarities between two of his most well-known short stories, “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”
If a sign says, “STOP,” we stop. If a sign says “ONE WAY,” we know this is a warning and instruction to move only in the direction indicated. Every day, we get in our car and obey the signs along our path to protect us from danger or face unfortunate consequences. In the literary works –“The Cask of Amontillado” (1846) by Edgar Allan Poe and “Siren Song” (1974) by Margaret Atwood –the authors provide grave warnings to their stories’ murderous ends. In Poe’s short story, the unfortunate Fortunato is led haplessly to his end in search of a rare cask of Amontillado Sherry. Whereas, Atwood lays out a poem told by a Siren who wishes to divulge her notorious song if only we assist her in abandoning her cursed post. The authors, Poe and Atwood, both use diction, foreshadowing and irony to create compelling satire of the notion that if we ignore the writing on the wall, we may fall prey to devious intentions.
In The Cask of Amontillado, by Edgar Allen Poe, Montressor is able to successfully manipulate Fortunato 's arrogance and pride and use it against him as revenge. Montressor knows that Fortunato has a love for wine. Montressor tells Fortunato that he may have acquired Amontillado, a very nice wine. Montressor is not quite sure if the wine is Amontillado, but since Fotunato appears to be occupied Montressor says he will ask Luchesi instead. Fortunato believes his taste for wine is far superior than Luchesi 's, thus does not pass up the opportunity. Another way Montressor successfully manipulates Fortunato 's arrogance and pride against him is when Montressor brings up Fortunato 's health. Fortunato has a bad cough and Montressor believes the catacombs are making it worse. Montressor says they can leave the catacombs and he will have Luchesi taste the wine instead. Again, since Fotunato believes his taste for wine is superior to Luchesi 's, he does not pass up the opportunity. This arrogance and pride later results in Fortunato 's death.
The Antagonists in “The Cask of Amontillado” and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
Edgar Allen Poe and Charlotte Perkins Gilman depict a digression of humanity and sanity. Poe presents the downfall of Fortunato in “A Cask of Amontillado, and Gilman presents the same of John in “A yellow Wallpaper”, yet it is out of out of their own undoing. Each of their downfall is at the expense of themselves, yet it is at the hands of another. Neither character realizes the everlasting consequences of their own actions. Fortunato is arrogant and belittles those around him while John fails to understand or even listen to his own wife. They each regard their positions in the highest esteem, and neither John nor Fortunato ever give heeding to anyone they consider below them. This is their gravest mistake and the cause of their destruction. Both stories create a sense of duality, for within their actions, those around them are shaped in similar fashion. Jane and Montresor become mirror images of them. Poe and Gilman illustrate the grave consequences of one’s own action and its effect upon others which is exhibited through Fortunato’s and John’s position and interactions with others, Jane and Montresor’s reactions, and the consequences upon both pairs of characters.
This essay will discuss the themes in Poe’s writing that mirror his personal life and, in addition, the fear and supernatural motivators for his characters. First, I will discuss Poe’s background and explore how he became best known as a poet for his tales of mystery and macabre.
“The Black Cat” and “The Cask of Amontillado”, it becomes apparent how important the element of horror is to him. Poe’s use of first person point of view and gothic style of storytelling seems to compel readers. The reader can almost feel as if they are part of the story with every twist and turn keeping readers at the edge of their seats. Poe’s creates a feeling of horror in the readers mind by using strong language
Edgar Allan Poe’s “Cask of Amontillado” is a grim masterpiece. In this work Edgar Allan Poe tells the story of Montresor and how he achieves revenge towards Fortunato. The use of first person narration in this story allows the audience to gain a better understanding of Montresor’s personality as the story unfolds. From reading and analyzing this story I have found that the main character Montresor is extremely intellectual, emotionally static or numb, and lastly he is unremorseful. With literature it can be difficult for the reader to try and think of which characteristics belong to which character. However, in movies there is a visual aspect. This allows the audience to take in what they see, and piece together the traits for each character. “Rear Window” by Alfred Hitchcock is a movie about a character named L.B Jeffries whose leg is in a cast, which enables him to leave his apartment. Without much to do Jeffries finds himself spying on his neighbors, and solving a murder case. Jeffries is a man of average intelligence, empathy, and he is just and fair. This essay will describe and analyze two men, Montresor and L.B Jeffries, who share a similar characteristic trait but are on two different ends of the spectrum. Although these two men share this common trait, the differences in their emotional and moral traits makes them do this differently from one another. These behaviors are what ultimately make them contrasting characters. While one man uses his intelligence to solve a
In the story “The Cask of Amontillado” written in 1846, by Edgar Allen Poe he speaks about the plot to kill the main character by the name of Fortunato. The murder of Fortunato is committed by a friend named Montresor. Poe never truly reveals how Fortunato 's death will occur but he uses, suspense, and Irony to keep the reader entertained.
Edgar Allan Poe, a well-known writer even today, was born January 19, 1809, and died October 7, 1848. During his life time, Poe had written sixty-six short stories and seventy poems, and his writing was inspired by a dark past. Poe’s mother died of tuberculosis after his father abandoned them. Then, while living with a foster family, his foster mother died and his foster father disliked him. These events caused Poe to have a particular style of writing and in each of these a reader is able to see similarities between the characters, theme, setting, and Poe’s use of symbolism. In ‘The Cask of Amontillado’, ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ and ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ a reader can make these connections and see how Edgar Allan Poe put his feelings into words.
“The Cask of Amontillado” was written in 1846, by Edgar Allan Poe. Born in 1809, Poe never knew any of his parents. At the age of three, his mother died of tuberculosis, and his father deserted the family before he was born. Taking care of him was his foster parents in Richmond, Virginia. They loved Poe, but were not supportive of his decisions and kept Poe poor. Having debt and not being able to provide food and clothes for himself caused Poe to quit school. Later, he worked as a magazine editor and soon became a literary critic. Come 1836, Poe married his sick cousin. During this time, many of his successful literature were developed. However, Poe was never able to remain financially stable. In 1847, Poe’s wife died. Not even two years after her death, Poe was found half-dead on a Baltimore street. At the age of forty, Poe had died. It is still unknown the cause of his death.
Imagery is described as the ‘mental pictures’ one interprets from reading any type of literature; this can be done using any of the five senses: taste, touch, smell, sight and sound. Edgar Allan Poe is notorious for his use of dramatic imagery in the gothic genre. “Gothic literature has a number of conventions, including evocations of horror, suggestions of the supernatural, and dark, exotic locales such as castles and crumbling mansions” (Canada, 1997). In this paper, I will examine the imagery Poe has chosen in The Cask of Amontillado, and explain why it is vital to the furthering of
There is something odd and strange about a Poe story, satisfying in the way it often leaves the reader uncertain over whether what has just been read was a character’s real or imagined experience or whether one can actually call a Poe ending its end of the story. This is in large part due to the fact they linger in a reader’s mind with an intriguing idea of “unfinished business. There is much unclarity in Poe’s own life as there are in his characters’ thoughts, and that is he has the ability to hypnotize his readers with the heart-thumping curiosity of unmentionables or omitted detail in Poe’s work. The indulgence in a fantastical tale of forbidden romance like “Ligeia” there exists an unexpected touch of magicness in Poe’s stories about madness, death, and deception. This obviously due to Poe’s exploration of the bizarre and perverseness of human nature. In Michael Wood’s essay, “Poe’s Tales: The Art of the Impossible,” he argues that Poe “could see being buried alive, for example, both as a gag and a nightmare. Odd changes take place in a nightmare once you have seen its potential as a gag” (16-17). Going along with Wood’s suggestion, one can consider the tragic moment of revenge and justice in Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” where a drunk Fortunato has battle with his entrapments and screams for release before recognizing in a defeated voice to the murderer that he has been a part of “a very good joke indeed–an excellent jest”