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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servants to portray Fortunato and montresor in their time period. The vocabulary Poe uses brings us back to the 1840’s the words he uses are very important to the time period of the story.
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…
story. Another symbol Edgar Allan Poe used to portray Fortunato and montresor in there time period would have to be the Carnival. The carnival developed in france it is supposed to start on christmas until ash wednesday. Carnival dates December twenty fifth until march sixth. Some time in this time span which happens to be a lot longer than portrayed in the book it seemed as if the carnival was only to last a week or weekend. Poe showed the time period in the carnival in describing the busy time of year. Such as when the argument arises of how montresor received a cask of amontillado in the first place around the time of carnival. I have bought a full cask of a fine wine which they tell me is Amontillado. But….” “Amontillado! Quite impossible.” “I know. It does not seem possible. (p……) this gives us around what months. Carnival originated in france which is not to far from italy where the cask of amontillado is set. Carnival meant peace and joy the exact opposite of what montresor was planning to do to fortunato you can feel the irony growing in the story. The third aspect of time Poe uses is his description of his “servants” (p…….) Montresor mentions his servants in describing his empty home soon to be filled with murderous screams covered by the sounds of carnival.
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
war. From just a single word you are brought to the scene you can see the architectural differences from then and now with the single word palazzo. The origin of each of these symbols leads back to the scene itself. Carnival describing the time of year and the feeling in the air of joy and somewhat partying. The servants still being mistreated and bossed around after over 30 years of slavery being abolished. Edgar allen poe uses his amazing vocabulary, the history of carnival, and the servants montresor orders as a way of showing us the atmosphere montresor survived in and the atmosphere fortunato died in.
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.
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” is a short psychological thriller. The murder of Fortunato haunts Montresor so greatly that he feels the compulsion to tell the story some fifty years after the fact. He appears to be in the late stages of life desperately attempting to remove the stain of murder from his mind. That it is still so fresh and rich in specifics is proof that it has plagued him, “Perhaps the most chilling aspect of reading Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ for the first time is not the gruesome tale that Montresor relates, but the sudden, unpredictable, understated revelation that the murder, recounted in its every lurid detail, occurred not yesterday or last week, but a full fifty years prior to the telling” (DiSanza).
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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).
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.
... 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 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 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.
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.