Brought to the scene
We were brought in to the 1840’s to witness a murder, and we got nothing less. In a cask of amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe Montresor, a younger man, portrays his plan to get revenge on his “friend”(p.237) fortunato. Fortunato has spoken ill of montresor's name and he will not show any remorse to him anymore, he states “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could”(p.236) being that he had done terrible things to him over there years. He plans to kill him using his fortunato’s stubborn pride to his advantage. This story is set in the early 1840’s during the carnival in italy right next to where carnivals first started, in greece. Edgar Allan Poe uses symbols such as the Vocabulary, Carnival, and montresor’s
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When Montresor decides he is going to kill fortunato he chooses a very odd place to do such in, the “vaults” under his “palazzo”. The definition of vaults is a large room or chamber used for storage, especially an underground one. The word vault originated in italy around the 1800’s. The meaning of the word palazzo is a palatial building, especially in Italy. When bringing a story to life poe used the basic words used in that time period to portray his story. Poe uses vocabulary remarkably in showing the setting and plot of this …show more content…
In the 1840’s slavery was abolished but like the south and in reference to a rose for emily in a southern gothic even after slavery was abolished was it that there were still slaves in an unchangeable world. So being that italy abolished slaves somewhere between 1811 and 1817 does not mean people did not have any. Montresor says he gave direct orders, that he knew the servants would not follow, “ I had told the servants that they must not leave the palace, as I would not return until the following morning and they must care for the place. This, I knew, was enough to make it certain that they would all leave as soon as my back was turned.”(p…….) he treated them like slaves ordering them not to leave and called them servants. In the 1840’s a lot was happening in the 1840’s that could lead to not noticing the mistreatment of people such as the cinque giornate di milano the five days of milan were the start of the first italian
Dramatic Irony is when an author allows the reader to know more than his/her characters in the story. This technique is used by the authors to add suspense to their literature. Edgar Allen Poe created many suspenseful stories using dramatic irony for the purpose of creating themes about human nature. In the short story “The Cask Of Amontillado,” Edgar Allen Poe uses dramatic irony to develop the theme that one should be careful about insulting another because he/she will seek revenge.
Continually drawing Fortunato’s attention to the nitre on the walls, seems a symbolic manifestation of the web of lies Montresor must weave throughout the journey. He uses Fortunato’s vanity as a weapon against him, "Come," I said, with decision, "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” (Poe).
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...
Imagine walking down the street alone and you see two men. You don’t know who they are and you encounter them. They ask a question, “Where do you live? Who are you?” This would make many people suspicious and nervous. Montresor and Fortunato are two men walking down the street in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado.” Montresor wants revenge on Fortunato. He offers Fortunato some nice wine to get him down into the catacombs. Poe uses suspense when the men are about to go down to the catacombs which creates nervous mood. In the short story the “Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe the author uses suspense to create mood.
... carnival, so that the narrator would not consult another supposed wine connoisseur about the cask of amontillado, the reader must identify with the dark parts of their character and learn from the mistakes of the characters in this story. Like Montresor, all people have faults and by illustrating this extremely flawed character, Poe allows the reader a glimpse at the flaws in their own. Even Montresor recognizes that he must hares his crime, whether to confess or brag, the story could not die with him. Montresor is a vehicle that allows the reader to identify with their own shortcomings. He was consumed by a thirst for revenge, driven by pride, aided by intelligence, and suffering from a sense of inadequacy which created jealousy. Montresor demonstrates that vengeance and pride are impure motivators that lead to sinister thoughts and actions unfit for judgement day.
In The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe uses wine to show a class and power struggle between Montresor and Fortunato and the strong emotions that are tied to wealth in Italy around the 18th century.
1. What can the reader infer about Montresor’s social position and character from hints in the text? What evidence does the text provide that Montresor is an unreliable narrator? We learned from paragraph 23 to 24 that Montresor owns a Palazzo and also has lot of retainers based on that evidence, the reader can infer that Montresor is a very wealthy and successful man. About his character, the reader can imply that Montresor is a heartless, cold blooded, sneaky, manipulative, and untrustworthy man, as well as a man who hold on to grudges. Moreover, Montresor is an unreliable narrator, because he reveals in the first paragraph that he intends to have a revenge on Fortunato, but he did not indicate or clearly prove to the readers how Fortunato
Humans have always struggled against confinement and toward freedom. However, they choose not to recognize that history has proved time and again that too much freedom incites anarchy and too much confinement invites tyranny. It’s the nature of all animals to desire freedom and resist confinement. Many times the animal struggles so blindly it does not recognize it is destroying itself or condemning itself to further confinement. In “The Cask of Amontillado” Fortunato and Montresor are symbols of how human nature manifests differently in different people in varying combinations of psychological and physical freedom and confinement.
The perfect revenge is an action so many scorned have attempted and what so many more have lusted after. Apt punishment for the offender, success without being discovered and fulfillment without regret are all elements for satisfactory vengeance. All were present in "The Cask of Amontillado." However, despite Montresor's actions seeming to be perfect, he does not fulfill the criteria for flawless revenge. Poe doesn't quite allow readers to feel convinced of his main character's peace of mind. Subtle indications are strewn throughout the story that suggest otherwise. Though Montresor intended to cleanse his honor of Fortunato's insults, it may very well be that he only succeeded in creating, for himself, a guilty conscience, forever depriving himself of the sweetness of revenge.
In the Edgar Allan Poe stories "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" the most prominent and important themes that are used are death, logic, and irony. The characters of the narrator and Montresor in these stories are both coldblooded murders who kill for selfish and inane reasons who firmly believe that their actions are justified even though their justifications only make sense in their own minds. They both try to convince their audience that they are sane by explaining to them their reasons for killing their victims and admitting how they did it, which only helps to prove their insanity. The narrator and Montresor are similar in that they both have impaired senses of judgment encouraged by perverse morals and believe that the horrible things that they do are justifiable.
Accordingly, Poe is well responsive to this psychological trait of the human brain. Likewise, Poe employs the perception of perversity and remorse in “The Cask of Amontillado.” The reason of burying Fortunato is not only vengeance, but also a robust reaction that is described in “The Black Cat”. There is a passionate yearning in Montresor to hurt Fortunato even if he has not made any harm to him. Although Montresor asserts that he has been injured several times by Fortunato, he cannot defy calling him “respected, admired, beloved,” admitting his “good nature,” and also calling him “noble” (Little 212). These expressions confirmed that Fortunato is a good quality person and the expression “injuries” used in the first phase of the story is simply a hyperbole that Montresor’s psyche has fabricated. Furthermore, wickedness does not come unaccompanied, but it carries itself a sense of remorse. Even if Montresor reflects himself as the diplomat of his family for deafening down rivals, he suffers remorse while walling up Fortunato. Consequently, Poe’s clasp of unreasonableness and culpability of the human mind is
Because Montresor narrates the story in the first person, the reader is able to perceive his thoughts and understand his motivations and justifications for his ruthless murder in a manner which a third person point of view would not allow. Montresor’s personal narration of the events of the story does not justify his crime in the audience’s eyes, but it does offer a unique opportunity for the audience to view a murder from the perspective of a madman killer. It is Poe’s usage of this unique angle that causes the story to be so captivating and gruesomely fascinating. As the story opens, Montresor explains why it is necessary that he “not only punish but punish with impunity” to avenge for Fortunado’s insult to him. This justification for his crime is a piece of information that the audience is able to learn only because they are permitted inside the mind of the protagonist. In the final scene, when Montresor is carrying out his murder pl...
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is a horror story about revenge and murder that occurred half a century ago. Through the haunting confession of the narrator, Montresor, the reader is able to feel what Fortunato had endured half a century ago. In this tale of revenge and murder the dark, damp, and bone-filled catacombs provide a contrast to life during the “madness of the carnival” (553).
Poe’s use of name choice in the story is also ironic. The literary critic, Elena Baraban discusses the meaning behind both characters’ names in her article “The Motive for Murder in ‘The Cask of Amontillado’" By Edgar Allan Poe. Fortunato’s name shares the root word with fortunate and is Italian for blessed. However, his extensive misfortune in the short story tells the readers this name choice is paradoxical. Montresor’s name however, translates to “my treasure”, which is a metaphor for his ancestry being his most treasured possession (Barbaran
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.