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Literary analysis essay of the cask of amontillado
Literary analysis of the cask of amontillado story
Literary analysis essay of the cask of amontillado
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The Cask of Amontillado, the narrator, Montresor, want to seek out revenge after Fortunato because Fortunato irreparably insulted him. Throughout the whole story, Montresor made it his mission to get back at Fortunato. The major theme is vengeance as it can drive a person to go as far as committing murder. The author uses many literary devices to elaborate this theme in the story, such as where the story is taken place, Irony, and Foreshadowing.
The Setting in The Cask of Amontillado main purpose is to express the characters freedom or confinement. The story takes place in Italy, where there was a carnival taking place. Everyone was dressed up to disguise their identity. Montresor was dress in a mask and a black cloak to make sure that
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no one can identify him as being with Fortunato. Fortunato is dress as a joker, which is a symbol of who he is. This part of the story shows the characters as being free, as they are not captive by anything. “It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend” (3). Montresor moves on to the catacombs, where they are hidden underneath the ground where no one goes on a regular basis. As they travel through the catacombs, Montresor and Fortunato move from smaller and fouler spaces. This suggested that they are moving away from fresh hair, which also means they are moving further and further away from freedom. Fortunato is eventually chained up and trap in the catacombs, where this is the opposite of freedom. The Cask of Amontillado has many areas where one thing is being stated, while meaning something that is the complete opposite.
Even the characters names brings forth irony such as the name Fortunato means the fortunate one, which in the story he proves that he is not fortunate given the predicament that he is in. The name Montressor means my best friend and he proves that he is nowhere near someone’s best friend since he is seeking out vengeance on Fortunato. Another example of irony is when there was only one stone left to fit into the wall, and Fortunato shouts “Will not they be awaiting us at the palazzo, the lady Fortunato and the rest? Let us be gone” (10). This is ironic because Montresor was not going to undo all the layers of bricks he put up in order to let him out. Montresor tormented Fortunato by replying “Yes, let us be gone” (10). With that we do not know if he means what he says.
To add suspense Poe adds foreshadowing in which it gives the reader a clue of what is to come later in the story. Such as when Fortunato says “The cough is a mere nothing it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough” and Montresor replies “true” because he knows that Fortunato will indeed die from dehydration and starvation in the catacombs (6). Also his description of his family’s coat of arms depicts foreshadowing. The shield shows a human foot crushing a persistent serpent. “A huge human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded
in the heel” (6). Montresor represents the foot and Fortunato represents the serpent. Although Fortunato has hurt Montresor with piercing insults, in the soon end Montresor will end up crushing him. Another example of foreshadowing is the conversation they had about the Masons (7). Fortunato questioned Montresor’s claim as being a member of the Masonic order, and he replies ‘“It is this,” I answered, producing a trowel from beneath the folds of my roquelaire’ (7). By showing his towel, he proclaims that he is a mason, a stonemason that construct things out of stones mainly Fortunato grave. Montresor is a devious character that cannot be trusted. He pretends to be Fortunato friend in order to lure him down to the catacomb. Even thou he is the narrator, what he states in the story may not be true. Montresor represents the sneaky and vengeful part of us human beings. Fortunato on the other hand, is gullible, has a huge pride, and is addicted. Montresor told him he has no reason to doubt him but who would trust a masked man into a catacomb. He has a huge pride by he wanted to prove that he is a better wine taster than Luchesi. Also, he was already drunk when Montresor meet him and he continues to let Montresor get him more drunk in the catacombs. Which back fired for him in the end.
In the story “The Cask of Amontillado”, the author uses lots of verbal irony to emphasize the evil intentions of Montresor.One of the examples of verbal irony in the story that he uses is “The cough’s a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough.” and “true--true, I replied.” The effect of this irony is it that Montresor already knows how Fortunato will die.Another example of verbal irony used in the story was when they did a toast to each other. “I drink”, he said, to the buried that repose around us.”
A main theme presented in “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is that Montresor shows obsession with the murder of fortunato. This is exemplified by Montresor’s precise planning, carefulness and slowness of speed in the process.
One of the most horrifying lines in the story is given by Montresor after Fortunato says, “I will not die of a cough” (Baym ). Montresor says, “True— true..” (Baym ). It seems that Montresor's murder plot became subconsciously manifest in those two words. Dramatic irony is irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the story (“dramatic-irony”) and Poe uses this effectively in this story.
Poe's, The Cask of Amontillado is a story about fear and revenge. The story begins with Montressor's vow of revenge, foreshadowing future actions. "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could; but when he ventured upon insult vowed revenge..." Montressor had to be sure not to raise suspicion of what he was going to do Fortunato. Montressor knew that Fortunato had a weakness that he could use towards his advantage.
Set in an unspecified Italian city and an unidentified year, the Cask of Amontillado is a short story that majorly revolves on revenge. Written by the much-celebrated literary expert Edgar Allan Poe, the short story is centered on the narrator who is hell bent exerting revenge on a friend who caused him great pain.
In The Cask of Amontillado, the theme of revenge is established at the start of the story, when the narrator states that he suffered irreversible insult by his associate, Fortunato, thus he vowed to avenge this action. This is evident in the following statement in the opening paragraph of the story, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (Poe 7). Therefore, it is apparent to the reader from the onset of the story that revenge is a major driving force for Montresor for him to dreadfully murder his acquaintance,...
In “The Cask of Amontillado”, the combination of the carnival and the catacomb settings contribute to the themes of revenge, and deception which the protagonist takes responsibility in. Because the story takes place during the carnival, the protagonist, Montressor, has an easier time plotting against Fortunato:
Poe uses the aspects of dramatic and verbal irony, foreshadowing and symbolism to shape his tale of revenge. Fortunato's fate is death and Montresor tries to make his intentions seem honorable. His intentions were not honorable, just evil. He does however, manage to get what he set out for, revenge.
The story “The Cask of Amontillado” is written in first person point of view and this story is fairly simple to understand. This story is affected by the narration when looking at what the narrator's focus is, the narrator’s thoughts or opinions, and how the reader interprets the story.
One of the most common literary elements used by Poe throughout many of his works is foreshadowing. Poe loved foreshadowing what is to come as much as he can. We see him often use little things to foreshadow. Such as, the infamous raven, or the dichromatic beating of the heart within a dead man buried in the floor. In the Cask of Amontillado, we see foreshadowing in the speech of Monstressor and Fortunato. When Fortunato states, “I shall not die of a mere cough”, Monstressor enthusiastically agrees with him.
“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.
In this short story, examples of irony and foreshadowing are presented very often in between lines. One of the very first things that I find as the biggest irony in this short story fiction is the victim’s name “Fortunato”. As I looked up the definition of the name, Fortunato means fortunate which is very ironic due to the fact that he is going to die, and be walled up in the catacombs. Aside from that, I also found a verbal irony at the very beginning of the story when Montresor first sees Fortunato at the carnival and says “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met,” (Poe) .I found this to be very much ironic because, Fortunato is not actually lucky to have met Montresor who is actually going to murder him.
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.
The first irony is verbal irony. Verbal irony is a figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant. There are many examples of this kind of irony through this story. The first irony is the name “Fortunato.” Fortunato’s name suggests good fortune, or of being fortunate, but he is exactly the opposite, he is killed. Another irony is when Fortunato follows Montresor go to the vault, Montresor acts like he cares about Fortunato’s health, “we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible.” (1202) But readers know from the beginning of the story, Montresor only wants to kill Fortunato. “And I to your long life,” (1202) Fortunato has lived out his life already, it is about to be over. Going deeper into the vaults, Fortunato gets more and more coughing, and Montresor shows his concern to Fortunato’s health “Come, we will go back ere it is too late. Your cough—“It is nothing.”(1202) But Montresor knows that the more he acts as he cares Fortunato, the more Fortunato wants to reach Amontillado-his dark fate. Fortunato is a man who is being blindly led to his death by someone who he feels as an admiring friend, but this friend is actually a person in searching for his own revenge.
The theme of revenge in “The Cask of Amontillado” is the driving force for the entire short story. The main character, Montresor, vows to take revenge against the other main character, Fortunato, because of an “insult” that Fortunato has apparently made against Montresor (Baraban). This is evident in the opening line of the short story when the narrator Montresor states, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge (Poe 1612). This opening line makes it obvious that the insult is what directly led to Montresor’s insatiable desire for revenge, but there are also some underlying factors that could have indirectly led to this revenge as well.