Edgar Allen Poe’s story “The Cask of Amontillado” is a dark and twisted story about revenge. On the night of a big carnival event, Montresor who is a wealthy man with a very large collection of wine tempts Fortunato, a wine fanatic, into following him deep down into his family’s catacombs. Unknown to Fortunato, the plan is to kill him once far enough away, in order to retaliate for what he had done. The theme is briefly mentioned at the beginning of the story when the main character Montresor speaks about how Fortunato had hurt him and he vowed his revenge. In the story we never find out exactly what the cause of Montresor’s anger is but we can assume that murdering Fortunato may be extreme. Poe uses careful characterization, a large amount …show more content…
The color black represents the dark, twisted nature of Montresor’s intentions. The fact that he feels the need to murder a friend in order to get revenge shows how evil he actually is. The detail that the mask is made out of precious silk shows the rich and luxurious side of Montresor. It shows a status of wealth and contrasts Fortunato’s jester’s outfit well. These are just a few examples of how Poe made excellent use of characterization to develop the personalities of Montresor and Fortunato. Another tool that is well used in this story is symbolism. The first use of symbolism is indeed in the title of the work. The use of the word cask is symbolic because it pretty much already foreshadows the place Fortunato will end up. If you were to read into the title before even finishing the work, you could infer that Montresor eventually will get his violent revenge. The rest of the story contains many well thought out uses of symbolism such as the placement of nitre on the walls. When writing this story, Poe could have placed a number of items in the surroundings but chose this particular element. Nitre is a mineral that is very often
In the cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe there is a man named Montresor that decided to get revenge against a man named Fortunato who has been insulting him behind his back. Montresor decided to go to the Carnival festival to lure fortunato down into his family’s catacombs to bury him alive. Montresor is mentally unstable because of and insult that fortunato has been saying about him. Montresor also Lacks the evidence that supports his claims against fortunato’s “ thousands of injuries “ and “insults.” Montresor is mentally unstable because of and insult that fortunato has been saying about him .
Poe starts out with a man, by the name of Montresor, wanting revenge on another man, named Fortunato. Most of the story takes place deep in the Montresor family catacombs. As Montresor lures Fortunato into the catacombs, he chains Fortunato up to a small hole in a wall, bricks it over, and leaves Fortunato to die. Even through the traits of anger, hatred, and revenge, as the story progresses on, Montresor, the main character in “The Cask of Amontillado”, starts to show signs of feeling guilty for wanting to murder Fortunato.
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.
<br>The Cask of Amontillado is a horror short story, which revolves around the themes of revenge and pride. The plot involves two men: Montresor, the narrator, who is an Italian aristocrat seeking revenge against the second main character: Fortunato, a proud man that boasts about his conoisseurship of wines and who finally walks to his own death.
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.
Vengeance and murder infects the minds of Montresor and Fortunato upon an exchange of insult in Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Cask of Amontillado”. This is the story of pure revenge after Forturano disrespects Montresor. The story follows the characters meeting up at a carnival and eventually the disguised Montresor lures Fortunato into the catacombs of his home by convincing him that he acquired something that could pass for Amontillado, a light Spanish sherry. Fortunato grows eager to taste this wine and to determine for Montresor whether or not it is truly Amontillado. He leads him back to the catacombs of his home and carries out his plot to bury him alive. Edgar Allan Poe writes from a mysterious first person perspective, uses colorful symbolism and situational irony to present the man's inner self, in turn revealing that revenge is fundamentally infeasible.
All of these descriptions that Poe creates through conversation between the characters and the details we are pulled along through the story, much as Fortunado is pulled along through the catacombs, where we all see his demise. Montresor eventually chains Fortunado to the wall and build up the cask that he will forever be in, alluding to the talk of the mason background of Montresor’s family. At the end Montresor thinks to himself, “my heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so,” (Poe
To begin with, “The Cask of Amontillado” is a story of revenge in which Montresor, the protagonist, retaliates to the “1000 injuries of Fortunato” (Poe 1) that he had bore; by meticulously planning the murder of his foe. Montresor seeks to avenge the insults made to his ancestral family name by Fortunato.
Poe presents his thoughts using horrific deeds to try and make the reader visualize how Montresor derives pleasure from hearing Fortunato being tortured. In the first paragraph of Cask Of Amontillado, Montresor states that he had become fed up with Fortunato's insults, and had decided it was time for revenge. Montresor and Fortunato are known to be ‘friends’ because of them both having a high status but Montresor has a big hatred for Fortunato, which Fortunato is not aware of. Montresor is bent on getting revenge on Fortunato only because of his wealth and popularity that they share together. He wants it all for himself and when he cannot get it he says, “It must be understood, that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good-will. I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was the thought of his immolation.” (page 372, paragraph 1) This quote shows that the thoughts that Montresor has about Fortunato are clues to picking apart bits and pieces to make the conclusion that Montresor is jealous of Fortunato and all his success. Montresor’s jealousy shows unlike behavior towards his normal actions. Montresor is so outside of his ownself that he tricks Fortunato into getting intoxicated so that he can chain him up and torture him. As Fortunato had started becoming more aware he started to moan and cry for help. Montresor has a derived pleasure of hearing this poor man being tortured and he finds it satisfying for himself to listen to. He uses a twisted and eerie atmosphere (the catacombs) to add a disruptive and creepy feeling to the reader. As Montresor enjoys the
In the short story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe tell of a man going to great extents to get revenge. Montresor holds a grudge against Fortunato because he has insulted him several times causing pain inside him to form and builds up day by day. Fortunato has a talent of tasting wine but needs to find a way not to express his feelings that much. Throughout the story, Edgar Allan Poe creates events in which he builds suspense. The author keeps his readers on their feel by having a surprise at every corner. Edgar Allan Poe demonstrates in “The Cask of Amontillado” how he uses the conflict to show the build of suspense, change of mood of the reader, develop the theme, reflect a change in the character/characters.
The rest of the story takes place in the catacomb. In the basement of the catacomb is a graveyard. The passageway is claustrophobic, dripping with nitre from its proximity to a water source, and always leads downward. Fortunato doesn't know this, but he is descending a stairway to Hell rather than to sample a rare wine. They walk through the graveyard in the middle of the night. Not to forget that they are drunk and are getting more drunk. The room gets smaller and smaller and the cold keeps on increasing. It is gloomy and they only have 2 torches. This is a setting that has all the elements, a perfect gothic story would have. Next lets look at the atmosphere. In the story the purpose of Montresor is very clear and Fortunato is completely unaware of it. This creates an atmosphere of suspense, mystery and horror. It is dark, oppressiveness, and full of strange sounds. Another element that Poe uses in his stories is the Psychology of the people. Montresor's motive for murder is vague. He refers to thousand injuries but never gives a specific reason for doing so. It can be concluded that Montresor is insane but even this is questionable because of intricate details of the plot. In this story the intentions of Montresor hurting Fortunato is very clear. Though this is not directly implied in the story but with every passing minute it becomes even more clear. But what will be Fortunato's punishment is still not clear. And that makes the plot
In “A Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, Fortunato is shown as snobby, alcoholic, and gullible. Fortunato is shown to be alcoholic in the story when he expresses his love for fine wine. “He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine" (Poe 372). This quote shows that Fortunato is alcoholic because during this part, Montresor even understands how bad his alcoholism is. During the story, Fortunato is also snobby.
In The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allen Poe displays the theme of revenge. In the story, Montressor narrates the story and feels he has been wronged by Fortunado and vows for vengeance against him. Montressor attempts to justify his future crime to the reader. “A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.” (Poe 101) Fortunado is unaware of the wrong he caused Montressor by insulting him. Montressor feels that this is reason enough for his retribution. “The thousand injuries of Fortunado I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed for revenge.” (Poe 101) The thought of revenge is
In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, the dark side of human nature is illustrated through the character of Montresor and his victim, Fortunato. Montresor is a manipulative and vengeful person whom is obsessed with the downfall of Fortunato. Through the acts, words, and the thoughts of Montresor, one is able to see him carry out his plan for revenge.
Edgar Allan Poe practices literature within use of the intrinsic qualities that possess the many definitions assigned to the word ‘literature’. Poe is an artist of words. He uses aesthetic, creative works of fiction to tell stories of drama and often horror. Poe’s’ literary genius is translated most commonly through his ingenious poetry and short stories. Consequently, it is his tendency to lace parts of his own personal life and views into his story-telling that causes critics to downplay the true art of the work by Poe. In this essay, the short story “The Cask of Amontillado,” will be analysed to make the argument that Poe is a serious writer through his use of proper literary aspects.