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Edgar allan poe biography essay
Edgar Allan Poe biography
Edgar allan poe biography essay
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The Cask of Amontillado is one of Poe's most famous short stories. In the story a man named Montresor takes revenge upon his friend, Fortunato. Readers don't know what Fortunato did to deserve revenge. During the 1700's in a European city Montresor had a plan to get revenge on Fortunato. The both of them meet during a festival called "carnival season," Montresor then convinces Fortunato to go home with him to an underground wine vault to taste a special type of sherry wine called Amontillado. Although Amontillado might not be real Montresor lets Fortunato know that, but Montresor also pretends to ask another man named Luchesi to taste it just so he can trick Fortunato into wanting to be the one to taste it. Montresor then goes down to his wine …show more content…
vault, and acts on his plan of revenge. Fortunato was in luck, he received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado.
Fortunato had his doubts about it though, so Luchesi decides to be on his way because if anyone will know a real Amontillado it would be him. Fortunato was led through multiple suites of rooms that brought him into the vaults. Going along the vaults, The Montresors were a great and numerous family as you can see all around. Passing through walls of piled bones, and puncheons into the inmost recesses of the catacombs. Luchesi grabbed Fortunato ad shouted the "The nitre!" The nitre increases, it hangs like a moss upon the vaults. Being below the rivers bed drops of moisture trickle among the bones. It is nothing Luchesi said to Fortunato, I need another drink of wine. Fortunato gave a bottle of De Grave to Luchesi, Luchesi finished it up in a quick breath, his eyes flashed with a fierce light. He laughed and threw the bottle upwards with a gesture, Fortunato didn't understand but Luchesi looked at him in surprise and said it's the movement, a ridiculous one. Passing through a range of low arches, arrived at a deep crypt in which foulness of the air caused torches to glow than to turn into flame. At the end of the crypt was walls lined up with human remains piled to the vault …show more content…
ahead. Going along the vault was Amontillado.
In an instant reaching the wall and finding progress stopped by a rock they stood completely confused. Montresor then chained up Fortunato to the granite. In its surface were two iron rings, distant from each other about two feet, horizontally. Throwing the links around his waist it took only a few seconds to lock it. Fortunato was too surprised to fight back. Montresor then barely laid the first layer when discovering that Fortunato's intoxication had worn off. A low moaning cry from inside the hole was heard, it was not the cry of a drunken man. A succession of loud and shrill screams bursting all of a sudden from the throat of the chained form seemed to throw Fortunato violently back. A quiet laugh that followed along a sad voice Fortunato was in pain. A voice laughing along saying what a good joke, an excellent joke indeed. Following along saying we will have a rich laugh about it at the palazzo continuously laughing. The Amontillado! Montresor shouted. Let us be gone is all that is saying, yes let us be gone for the love of God, Montresor. Montresor listened in vain for a reply, he grew impatient. Yelling on the other hand screaming out Fortunato Fortunato, no
answer. Thrusting a torch through the remaining hole came forth in return of jingling bells. His heart grew sick of the dampness of catcombs, he hurried to make an end of his work but forced the last stone into its position and plastered it up against the new masonry. He also re-erected the old pile of bones, and for the half of a century no human has disturbed them. May he rest in peace Montresor said talking about Fortunato.
Meanwhile as Fortunato was concocting his plan beneath the earth, Montressor was heading back to his house feeling slightly guilty about what he had done. “He insulted me, he made me to be less that I am, he had it coming.”, Montressor told himself reassuringly. But that did not erase the ominous tone he now felt in the vaults. Something was not quite right since he pushed that last brick into place in Fortunato’s tomb. Shaking the feeling off as best as he could he reached the top of the catacombs and entered his home with a taste for the barrel of wine that he knew was Amontillado all along. After his drink he returned to his bedroom for the night and before he fell asleep he heard a small voice in his head saying that Fortunato was still alive and that he was coming for him.
One catches a glimpse of Montresor’s lost happiness from his obscure past, moreover his distressed self-esteem, in this statement. His façade begins to slip. The strain starts to show. At last Montresor leads Fortunato to the remote niche and secures him to the wall. Surprised Fortunato does not immediately respond.
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 Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” the main character, Montresor, leads his enemy, Fortunato, into his catacombs, and there buries him alive by bricking him up in a niche in the wall; Poe gives no actual reason for this except to say that Montresor has been “insulted” in some way. In his Science Fiction work “Usher II,” Ray Bradbury adopts many of Poe’s works in creating his story—including pieces from “TCoA.” What separates Bradbury’s work from other authors who borrow works and re-imagine them (Gregory Maguire’s Wicked, Geraldine Brooks’s March, and Peter Carrey’s Jack Maggs, for instance), is that “Usher II,” in its imaginative way, is trying to be one with its predecessor. Bradbury seeks to retain Poe’s love of the double and the secretive (Gothic mentalities where the reader is meant to be a bit uncertain about what they’re reading and what’s going on) while adding, most notably regarding “TCoA,” the things Poe never had much care for: a beginning, an end, and reason—thus making “Usher II” not only an homage to Poe’s work, but a companion piece whose beating heart lies within the original work.
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
Fortunato doesn’t want to go over “it is not the engagement, but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted.’ The vaults are insufferably damp.’ They are encrusted with nitre” (4). Fortunato sensed that Montresor is inviting him over to get back at him for the thousand injuries he has done to him. Montresor plan is to get him in the vaults and slowly as they keep walking through the catacombs, letting the nitre Fortunato is inhaling kill him. As they walk through the catacombs Fortunato starts cough impatiently trying to gasp for air, but let’s Montresor know it is nothing. This shows how Montresor deceives Fortunato into thinking it’s a friendly walk through the catacombs as he is drinking some of the Amontillado he promised to offer him that’s causing Fortunato to have a sever cough. They reach a point in which Fortunato collapses on the ground because it gets hard for Fortunato to breathe, in addition he is super intoxicated. Montresor sees his opportunity and takes advantage to chain Fortunato from his ankle “a moment more and I had fettered him to the granite” (8). While Fortunato is tied up, Montresor builds a wall so he could conceal him in the catacombs “I had completed the eight, the
...ows the reader to interpret the end of the story by himself, which brings imagination into the picture. Why does Montresor hesitate in putting up the last stone? This makes the reader wonder if Montresor was beginning to feel guilty. At the end of the story Montresor and Fortunato talk a little. Montresor called aloud, "Fortunato!" No answer came so Montresor states, "I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth only a jingling of the bells. My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so"(153). This statement leads the reader to believe that Montresor may have had a moment when his conscience begins to creep up on him. He quickly states that it is the dampness of the catacombs that makes his heart sick.
...rfeited” (33). Montresor has inquired about Fortunato’s health throughout their walk to the catacombs. It is too late for him to change his mind so all that is left to do is seal him in.
Carefully, cautiously the Montresor plotted precisely how he would exact revenge upon Fortunato. Much time and great energy was devoted to this plan, selecting a time that would be best: during carnival when the town would be celebratory, his servants apt to run off and join the celebration, when the two could silently disappear without notice or question. No detail is forgotten; he allows for no deterrents. He follows through with such a confidence that never does he stumble or hesitate in carrying out his plan. The Montresor indicates that he had never given. To continue with this ploy, he even goes so far as to express false concern for Fortunato as they pass through the catacombs. Blaming the nitre and damp, the Montresor suggests that they turn back as not to compromise Fortunato’s ill health, though he has no intent of doing so. Never once until the very end did Fortunato have cause to suspect that there were any foul plans afoot.
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.
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 Cask of Amontillado? by Edgar Allan Poe is a story about two men at a carnival, the narrator Montresor, who is being eaten by jealousy, and Fortunato, a rich drunk man that has a weakness for wine. It is through deception that Montresor achieves his revenge against Fortunato. He did not believe that killing Fortunato is wrong because of the insults and injures Fortunato brought against him. ?The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne.? (Poe, 75) says Montresor. Montresor brought Fortunato down into the catacomb. This was his chance for revenge.
Edgar Allan Poe is one of greatest American authors and poets. He is well-known as a master of using irony in his story. “The Cask of Amontillado” is a horror story about revenge of Montresor upon Fortunato. Fortunato believes Montresor is his good friend, but he ends up with being chained and walled in to the catacombs. There are three types of irony used in this short story: verbal irony, dramatic irony, and situational irony. Using these ironies, Poe wants the readers to understand about Montresor’s “friendship” with Fortunato.
The Cask of Amontillado is an eloquent story narrated from the murderer’s point of view. Montressor seeks revenge against Fortunato for numerous insults the reader can only imagine. In order to determine the severity of the apparent injustices, Fortunato himself must be understood. Montressor describes him as being “rich, respected, admired, [and] beloved,” as well as “a man to be … feared” (Poe 274-276). Fortunato was a flawed individual, however. His greatest imperfection was his love for wine. Fortunato’s “connoisseurship” (274) of wine resulted in his intoxicated state throughout the short story. His physical and mental capacities were impaired by his drunkenness, and as a result, he was unable to resist Montressor’s lure into the catacombs.
Edgar Allen Poe wrote “The Cask of Amontillado” which is a horror and a short story. Edgar Allen Poe was born in 1809 after his two siblings,and by the time Poe was one, his father had left the family. His mother died when he was three and, Poe was taken in by a wealthy John Allen from Richmond, who never fully adopted Poe or accepted him. The story “The Cask of Amontillado” is about the narrator, Montresor, who believes that he has been offended one too many times by his friend, Fortunato, yet he never tells exactly what insults occurred. Montresor feels he needs to get revenge on Fortunato. During an Italian celebration Montresor tricks Fortunato, who is very drunk, to go down to the catacombs with agreement, to taste some top-notch Amontillado (a type of wine). When they finally reach the spot where the so-called Amontillado is, Montresor chains Fortunato inside a hole in the catacombs, sealing the hole with bricks, and leaving Fortunato to die, deep inside the catacombs. Many similarities and differences occurred in the book and the movie, “The Cask of Amontillado.”