Edgar Allan Poe is a well known author, who writes stories full of mysteries. Edgar Allan Poe creates mystic images in the minds of his audience through imagery. Edgar Allan Poe uses imagery to bring his stories to life and really get the point across to his audience. Imagery is what really makes a story intriguing, and that is exactly what Poe does in “The Cask of Amontillado”. This story can be somewhat confusing. Paying attention to the details is key to seeing the story come to life through imagery and Poe’s genius work. Imagery is found all throughout “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe's strong words that create a mental picture inside of the reader's mind.
Imagery is used by author's to create a mental picture. As a matter a fact, reading books or short stories with an abundance of imagery brings the book to life. Therefore, in “The Cask of Amontillado” a scene of two men at a carnival is painted. A rich man, Fortunato which translates to fortune in Italian, and a slightly less
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rich man. One wearing the multicolored costume of a jester and the other in a black silk mask. “Fortunato possessed himself of my arm; and putting on a mask of black silk and drawing a roquelaire closely about my person, I suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo”(Poe). Montresor is the narrator for the short story, therefore, he is referring to himself as putting on a black mask of silk. Montresor has convince Fortunato to accompany him to the vaults underneath his home where he has found some rare Amontillado wine. “The question is why does Montresor don his mask as he is leaving the streets of carnival? The convention would be to wear the mask in the street and remove it when going into the vaults away from the revelry”(Waters). Montresor wears the silky black mask to represent what he is on the inside, and Fortunato wears a multi colored jester costume to represent the foolish decisions that he makes continuously throughout this short story. As the two journey into the vaults underneath Montresor’s home more imagery arises. Edgar Allan Poe uses an abundance of imagery to describe the Montresor vaults.
”We had passed through long walls of piled skeletons, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs”(Poe). Here, Montresor is describing the vaults of the Montresor family where he is leading Fortunato to the mysterious “Amontillado”. At this point is the story Montresor begins to practically drag the drunken Fortunato through the catacombs by the top of his arm. “The surface region, full of celebration and merriment, seems to contrast dramatically with the subterranean one, marked by gloom and horror”(Mustafa). Ultimately, the imagery describing the catacombs is the reverse of what lies directly above it. The carnival going on above the surface is full of happiness and beauty, contrary to the catacombs of the Montresor mansion which is more like being taken deeper and deeper into the underworld. Inside of these eerie vaults is yet another mystery from
Poe. The deadly nitre that lines the Montresor vault walls is very relevant to the imagery of this story. "The nitre!" I said; "see, it increases. It hangs like moss upon the vaults. We are below the river's bed. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones. Come, we will go back ere it is too late. Your cough --"(Poe). Montresor is describing what the nitre has done inside of the catacombs, and how unsafe it is. Fortunato because even more sick from breathing in the nitre which makes him cough terribly. Fortunato tells Montresor that the nitre would not kill him and Montresor replies saying “true” because he already knows what lies ahead for fortunato. Contrary, to how it seems Montresor is just playing mind games with Fortunato because he knows that Fortunato will not turn back from the Amontillado no matter how sick he becomes. “Nitre, or potassium nitrate, may be found in crystal form upon cave walls, as in Poe's story. Its presence in Montresor's vaults not only indicates how damp and therefore unhealthy they are, but also-because nitre can be used to create gunpowder-implies the potential explosiveness of the situation”(Mustafa). The proof of imagery here is how Montresor is more dangerous to Fortunato than this deadly chemical is. Edgar Allan Poe illustrates so much imagery in his stories to effectively draw a picture of what is happening for his audience. Imagery is an important part of bringing a story to life. In fact without imagery a story will just be very bland and boring. Edgar Allan Poe uses imagery to bring his stories to life and really get the point across to his audience. Edgar Allan Poe has some dark and mysterious writing techniques so digging deep into the imagery is key to understanding the story. Ultimately, imagery is found all throughout “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe's strong words that create a mental picture inside of the reader's mind.
In Edgar Allen Poe’s tale, the setting of Montresor’s catacombs provides Montresor with a place where he can kill Fortunato with almost no evidence on who killed him, helping his attempt at making the perfect crime. The catacombs in “The Cask of Amontillado” are old with spider webs as well as “long walls of piled skeletons, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost rec...
Russ,RJ.” Symbolism In edgar Allan Poe’s ‘ The Cask Of Amontillado’.” Yahoo Voices.Yahoo, Inc.,28 April 2008. Web.17 March 2014.
Montresor seeks revenge on Fortunato by stating, “A succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me violently back” (Poe 379). Montresor is now getting revenge on Fortunato by chaining him up deep in the catacombs behind this big wall that he has just created. He is doing this to get payback for the things that Fortunato did to him at an earlier date and going by a plan he made to do everything. Montresor gets revenge and satisfies himself. He undergoes the action of doing so when he explains, “I forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up, against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For a half of a century no mortal has disturbed them” (Poe 379). Montresor is building a huge wall deep in the catacombs with Fortunato behind that so no one can hear him scream and so he can die there and if that is not bad enough he is even chaining him up and drugging him in the process and then after that he is putting the bones back where he found them so even if someone did go back there no one would see or hear anything. That is some smart and painful planned revenge. This is how Montresor got revenge on
"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.
In the Montresor family Catacombs, it is a dark, damp, and maze-like place, not to mention underground as well. The quote, “We had passed through walls of piled bones, with casks and puncheons intermingling into the inmost recesses of catacombs.” shows that the catacombs were truly a large burial site, not just a storage type of thing, which in turn added to the eerie feeling. Another thing that added to this feeling is when Poe wrote, “Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris.” this quote, while similar to the last, still nonetheless added to an discomforting overall feeling. In the end Fortunado was chained to a wall and hidden away in those
The setting of a story sets the tone for the entire piece. Without the appropriate setting, what the author is trying to express is lost. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Edgar Allan Poe uses the setting as a way to set the stage for the events that will come. Poe’s settings make his stories interesting, as well as easy to understand because of his descriptiveness and writing techniques. His use of vivid details and symbols in his settings intrigue the readers and set a particular tone. Each and every setting has a direct meaning and reason attached to that of the story and time.
“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.
The first literary device used by Poe in his short story “The Cask of Amontillado,”
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
No matter who we are when we are born, we are all born with a competitive spirit. We all have the desire to do better than one another, even if at the expense of another. What happens if one turns its victories and superiority into what is perceived harmless banter. What becomes of the person that has been bested does he/she shrug it off, does he/she conceal it and use it as fuel to best his opponent, or does he plot revenge. In The Cask of Amontillado, the author Edgar Allen Poe gives us a tale of a scorned gentleman 's plot to seek the ultimate revenge on his one-time friend and rival. Poe puts the reader in the deranged perceived mind of it murder Montresor who is giving us a deathbed illustration of his detailed execution of his former
Irony and symbolism are tools used in writing to convey individual messages throughout the story. It is Edgar Allan Poe’s intense use of symbolism and irony throughout the Cask of Amontillado that gives this short story its suspense and horror filled theme.
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
Womack, Martha. “Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado.’” The Poe Decoder. Christoffer Nilsson, 1997. n.pag. Web. 6 Nov. 2011 .
Edgar Allan Poe's strong use of symbols throughout "The Cask of Amontillado" is what makes this story worthy of examination. The clever use of these devices by the author to shape this horrifying and gripping short story has made this piece be regarded as a classic American horror story, which revolves around the theme of vengeance and pride.
Edgar Allan Poe, author of "brilliant reviews, poems, and stories," was born in 1809, and sadly died, a young man, in 1849 (665). To truly understand Poe, one must note the time period in which he wrote. It was an age of Literary Realism and Dark Romanticism, which was Poe's arena. The concept of "New Literary Criticism" was not yet mainstream. However, Poe was a critic as well as an acclaimed author. By observing the talents that Poe admired in the writings of others, one may better understand the inner workings of Poe's infamous short stories. In 1854, Poe wrote a review of the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne entitled "The Importance of the Single Effect in a Prose Tale" (854). In this essay I will compare the strengths Poe champions in Hawthorne's works with those that accentuate Poe's well known short story "The Cask of Amontillado."