Stories with an eerie and creepy tone almost always attract attention. In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor reaches his breaking point when Fortunato insults him, so he tricks Fortunato with his weakness, wine. Fortunato drinks too much, just as Montresor devised, and he leads Fortunato down to the catacombs. There in the catacombs, Montresor carries out his revenge on Fortunato by chaining him and then building a brick wall around him. The setting in “The Cask of Amontillado” affects the reader’s assumptions, mood, and senses during the story, enhancing the eerie, yet somehow humerus, tone.
The setting affects the assumptions that the reader makes throughout the story. “The Cask of Amontillado” takes places during carnival
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When Montresor claims that he had bore a “thousand injuries” (166) from Fortunato, the reader can assume that Montresor’s injuries may have been jokes. The notion that Montresor may have merely been …show more content…
The story opens up during carnival season, which is a time of happiness and fun. Even as the story progresses, the reader is amused because of the costumes and because of Fortunato’s drunken state, but the mood begins to change as Montresor leads him further into the catacombs. The “flambeaux” (169) depicts that the catacombs are dark, while the “foulness of the air” (169) is sickening, affecting the reader’s senses of sight and smell and setting the tone as more eerie than humerus. The human remains scattered inside the crypt furthers the dark mood, and that mood turns to horror as Montresor chains Fortunato and begins to surround him with a brick wall. A glimpse of hope and humor is erected as Fortunato cries out “A very good joke, indeed. An excellent jest.” (170) For a moment, the possibility that it all is a joke lingers, until the torch is thrust “through the remaining aperture.”
Fortunato “takes possession” of Montresor’s arm, for which he suffers (716) in order to carry out his plan. Poe’s use of possession and suffer give the impression that Montresor is being afflicted again by Fortunato. Once Montresor reveals this meeting at this evening is no coincidence by divulging he made sure none of his attendants would be home. By giving the direct orders to be home. Poe shows us that Montresor was not respected or feared by his servants’ actions. The servants’ leaving after being given a direct order to stay does give credence to the fact that Montresor must be very methodical and unyielding to his schedule. Only once Fortunato to the catacombs does he betray his own premise. Montresor refers to Fortunato as his “poor friend” (716). At this point Poe has depicted this instigator of a “thousand injuries” as a drunken jester that can barely catch his breath at this point in the story. Now Montresor is showing some sympathy towards him. At this point the transition is complete. Where the two men stopped at the entrance to Fortunato’s tomb, this is the moment that leaves no doubt that Montresor is the villain and Fortunato is the
The mood established by Edgar Allan Poe in his short story, "The Cask of Amontillado," plays a crucial role in conveying to the reader his underlying theme. For example, when Montresor, the narrator, st...
Montresor proves that one should be careful about insulting another because he/she could seek revenge in the story. Montresor proves through his actions towards Fortunato. He states, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he
No matter how well executed, a crime of this magnitude will leave scars on the conscience, thus marring it’s perfection. Conflicting psychological emotions and actions plague the journey causing inner conflict ranging between pity and revulsion by the time the narrator concludes. Notwithstanding the shortage of information on Montresor’s life in the ensuing fifty years since Fortunato’s death; it can be surmised from the events leading to the murder that Montresor does, in fact, have a conscience and that it builds upon itself as the action
1) The meaning of “Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is the manipulation of Fortunato by Montresor using wine as Fortunato is led into the trap by Amontillado, an expensive type of wine similar to the wine sherry, and Medoc, another type of wine used to keep Montresor drunk, unable to think clearly. If it were not for the cask of Amontillado that Montresor supposedly had, Fortunato would not have gone with Montresor into his Palazzo to take look at the Amontillado which resulted in him getting chained up. Because of the Amontillado, Fortunato went deeper and deeper into Montresor 's catacombs even though he knew that the Nitrite was not good for his health. These are important since it is the baselines of the plot since if it had not been for the Cask of Amontillado, Fortunato would not have followed Montresor into the catacombs and died.
“The Cask of Amontillado” is a dark piece, much like other works of Edgar Allan Poe, and features the classic unreliable narrator, identified by himself only as Montresor. This sinister central character is a cold ruthless killer that is particularly fearsome because he views murder as a necessity and kills without remorse. Montresor is a character who personifies wickedness. Poe uses this character and his morally wrong thoughts and actions to help the reader identify with aspects of the extreme personage, allowing them to examine the less savory aspects of their own. The character of Montresor detailing the glorious murder he committed is a means of communicating to the reader that vengeance and pride are moral motivators that lead to treacherous deeds and dark thoughts.
Poe’s first-person narration style in “The Cask of Amontillado” allows the reader to experience a different type of story, from an unusual perspective. By making a killer the narrator, and by making him familiar with the audience, we can see the situation in different darker light. Rather than focusing on the actual physicality and action that takes place in the story, Poe focuses on the thoughts and emotions of the main character, thus making for a more intimately disturbing story for the
“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is a story of revenge on the outside, but when on the inside, it is something deeper. His stories are dark and sometimes, like in “The Cask of Amontillado,” deadly. Poe’s main focus in “The Cask of Amontillado” is revenge, but if examined more closely, the irony that is present foreshadows the end result for Fortunato. In “The Cask of Amontillado” the Montresor is planning to seek revenge on Fortunato for “the thousand injuries.” The revenge results in the live burial of Fortunato, the actual reasoning is left a mystery, but this story goes to prove that things that one does can always come back ...
"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.
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 flaunts about his knowledge of wines and who finally walks into his own death.
In “The Cask of Amontillado,” it is especially important because the setting is the cause of much of the plot itself. It was the direct cause of Fortunato’s excessive alcoholic consumption, Montresor’s faux compassion for Fortunato’s health in the catacombs, and Fortunato being tricked into entering the cavern that ultimately led to his entrapment. Without the setting in this story, Poe would have struggled to come up with a way to have all of these actions to come into action at the same time. The setting adds a source of imaginary visuals of where the characters are at any given time in the story to give the reader a sense of place and sometimes
The first –person narration style of “The Cask of Amontillado” is vital in creating the quality of the story. The story allows one of the main characters in the story Montresor, to tell the story from his point of view which gives the reader intimate yet disturbing look into the mind story teller thinks and feels which the reader doesn’t normally get from other narrative styles. The narrative style of this story is important because it sets the tone of the story. The reader become more familiar with the thoughts and intentions of the main character and this allows the reader to slightly figure out the outcome of the story and further understand the ironies throughout the story. If this story was told from a different angle I don’t believe it would be as powerful. First person narration
Edgar Allen Poe’s tale of murder and revenge, “The Cask of Amontillado”, offers a unique perspective into the mind of a deranged murderer. The effectiveness of the story is largely due to its first person point of view, which allows the reader a deeper involvement into the thoughts and motivations of the protagonist, Montresor. The first person narration results in an unbalanced viewpoint on the central conflict of the story, man versus man, because the reader knows very little about the thoughts of the antagonist, Fortunato. The setting of “The Cask of Amontillado”, in the dark catacombs of Montresor’s wine cellar, contributes to the story’s theme that some people will go to great lengths to fanatically defend their honor.
In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor sets out on a vengeful mission that will end Fortunato’s life in an untimely fate. Montresor appeals to Fortunato’s love for wine to tempt the unsuspecting fellow to his impending doom. While Montresor tricks the foolish Fortunato frightfully, it is ultimately Fortunato’s pride that leads to his demise in the crypt. Poe uses several literary devices to foreshadow this murderous exploit of Montresor. Through the use of irony, symbolism, and imagery, the story entices readers to delve into the relationships and differences between Montresor and Fortunato.
Edgar Allan Poe is a famous writer in writing detective stories and horror stories. One of his horror stories, “The Cask of Amontillado” was talking about how a man took his revenge to his friend. However, to look deeply in this story, I found that this story was not just simply a horror tale about how a man gets his revenge in the safest way. Instead, it also demonstrates much irony in several areas: the title, the event, the season, the costume, the environment, the characters’ personalities, a man’s dignity and cockiness and at the end, the public order. he are