Try to imagine how you would feel if every family member you truly loved died. Edgar Allen Poe didn’t need to imagine this situation; he lived it. Poe had a miserable childhood. He lost many of his closest loved ones to death, which affected his mind. He became focused on death and its effects on those left behind. His obsession with death and loss can be seen in most of his writings. If one looks carefully at five of Poe’s writings, “The Raven,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Black Cat,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” one can see that there are patterns and similarities in his many diverse stories. However, despite some similarities, Poe’s main characters are generally different.
Within the five aforementioned stories, it is clear that the main characters are all easily recognizable and different than each other. The narrator of “The Cask of Amontillado” is wealthy, as we can see from his mansion and his wine collection, and in control of himself at all times, which is how he manages to avoid getting caught for his crime. On the other hand, the narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” does not seem to have much money, since he rents a room in the old man’s house. He also loses control of himself, first committing his crime, then getting caught for it when he can’t handle hearing the beating heart any more. In “The Black Cat,” the narrator starts out rich, living in a large house with many pets, but loses it all in a fire. Similarly, his
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
An unreliable narrator is a character who is telling a story, but is not completely accurate or credible due to problems with the character 's mental state or maturity. The unreliable narrator holds a distorted view of the events taking place. This distortion gives readers a chance to offer their own interpretations to the story being told. Unreliable narration is valuable to the reader and satisfying to the author because the audience must look beyond what the narrator is portraying and view all the elements of the read to understand the author 's message. The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman are great examples of unreliable narration.
The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the short stories "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe and "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Specifically it will discuss the phenomenon of evil in the human heart as it appears in these two works. Evil lives in everyone, whether they want to acknowledge it or not. These two chilling tales show two different sides of evil, but they both illustrate how evil can corrupt a person right down to their very heart and soul.
Edgar Allen Poe 's, "The Cask Of Amontillado," is a between two enemies. It humorously portrays the foil of Fortunato, as he is led through the catacombs. Poe 's humor is dark, sarcastic and very ironic, which quickly becomes a signpost of the tale. Poe sets himself apart from other authors in his works, based on how he depicts and encounters death. It accentuates the notion that at times, your worst enemy will appear as your best friend. Pride is the downfall of every man and the same can be said for Fortunato.
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.
To develop the analytical paper about the text “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, some sources will be used to support the thesis statement, which is “The author uses irony in the text to illustrate the murder of Fortunado by Montresor, who seeks salvation through death”. Also, there is going to be an analysis on the irony found in the text in relation with the story. To support this thesis, I am going to use some examples from some sources such as “Literary analysis: Irony in The Cask of Amontillado" by Amelia Tibbett, “Irony in "The Cask of Amontillado” by Kerry Michael Wood, and “Poe 's Short Stories Summary and Analysis” by Bella Wang , and the text will be written in the third person.
What can a character that lived in 1700s Italy have in common with a teenager in the 1960s? Though it may seem impossible Edgar Allan Poe’s character Montresor in The Cask of Amontillado shares similar characteristics to John Updike’s A&P teenage Sammy. Both of these characters share sarcastic tendencies and a need to make a name of himself. Though, each man differs in the way he goes about making that name. While Montresor decides murder is the way, Sammy quits his job to be noticed.
“The Cask of Amontillado” was written by Edgar Allan Poe and was published in 1846. In the short story the narrator, Montresor, executes his friend Fortunato because he feels like he insulted him. For this, he seeks revenge. Fortunato is known to be very knowledgeable about all types of wine. Montresor uses this to his advantage to take him down to his family crypt during the carnival celebration. He tells him that he has a unique wine, and believes it is an Amontillado. After Montresor and Fortunato go deeper and deeper into the crypt, Montresor chains Fortunato and builds a wall around him. At first Fortunato thinks it is a joke, but he soon realizes that he will be dying in the crypt. Montresor goes on to boast about his crime and how he has never been caught. This shows that Montresor is a sinister, mentally insane, and a narcissist.
Amontillado is a classically known amber-colored, medium-dry sherry wine, and in the case of Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado, it is the taste for Amontillado that results in the unfortunate and rather untimely death of Fortunato at the hands of the maniacal Montresor. Revenge is something that no one should have to experience; however, sadly sometimes, it is an inevitability that cannot be avoided. The Cask of Amontillado exposes Poe’s dark side and cruelty towards society and the world. In this short story, Poe tells about a rich drunk man, Fortunato, picking on a not-so rich friend, Montresor, but things quickly take a turn when Montresor decides to take out his revenge against his “pal.” Poe uses ethos, logos, and pathos deeply throughout his storyline to enhance the story and better the imagination of the characters, the deep meaning behind the setting, and the Amontillado’s secret.
Do hate someone, but act like they are your best friend to get something that you want from them? Edgar Allen Poe does in his story “The Cask of Amontillado” as he uses Montresor to tell Fortunato’s journey to catacombs and how he “conceives and executes an ingenious plan... for revenging” Fortunato (Gruesser 129). In “The cask of Amontillado” Poe uses tone, plot devices, and the setting to present the theme of appearances masking reality.
Is there anything that someone could do to you that would cause you to commit murder? Could you get away with it? Montresor is the murderous narrator who has committed the perfect murder in just such a tale, “The Cask of Amontillado.” Montresor plots and kills an unwary friend/foe during carnival time for motives that are unclear. The author of this tale, Edgar Allan Poe, influenced by his somewhat tragic life and one of the most influential Gothic writers, uses symbolism and irony to show the multitude of complicated motives of the narrator in his famous horror story.
Trickery possesses large amounts of this story of a blue-blood fixated on revenge against his companion. "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe charms the onlooker to encounter the sodden catacombs to witness the planned demonstration. Through the fervor of the jubilee, the two walk together into the natural hollows to substantiate a container of wine. The subject is the point at which somebody is unable to disregard minor infractions, it can transform into profound scorn. The incongruity Poe skillfully included is overwhelming from the acquaintance of the characters with the bone chilling end.
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.
In Platizky’s (1999) article on the Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Alan Poe is choppy and, sometimes, wandering critique. Albeit, the historical reference Platizky uses on how Poe “ambiguously capitalizes on psychological fear and historical reality” (p. 206), is the ultimate essence of the article which sets a novice reader on the right path to understanding the story. Platizky’s use of historical facts and sources leads me to believe this article could help provoke a logical thought process for anyone to understand the fascination, and or fear, of being buried alive and the symbols used within the story.
The narration “The Cask of Amontillado” by Poe has been universally referred to as the world’s most perfect stories. It is an emotional piece with every verdict contributing to the overall effect of a completely unified work. Further, however, it may seem to be easy; this literary piece thrives in ironies of various kinds. The narrator commences by informing the audience about the hurt and insult he received from Fortunato. Besides, every sentence adds to the unity that the author wanted to achieve. The plot of the story is quite simple. It is written in the first person, who is later discovered to be named Montresor. Throughout the whole story, the main aim the narrator wants to reach is to revenge on Fortunato, who insulted him. Thus, the most interesting parts of the tale deal with the Montresor’s techniques of trapping down his offender (Baraban 47). Unfortunately, he has never let Fortunato learn of his hatred. The entire narration takes a form of a slur that could induce such a well-planned scheme of revenge.