The Cask Of Amontillado Analysis

Storytelling is powerful; it lets the speaker reminisce about their experience to fill the void of curiosity from the audience. In “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning, the Duke negotiates with the Representative of the Count in attempt to marry the Count’s Daughter, whilst talking about the ex-wife’s lack of care towards their marriage and giving hints that he took a part of her death. While in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”, the narrator, Montresor, tells a story to an unknown person about his revenge on an unsuspecting victim, Fortunato, that insulted him. Given that a person is driven in telling their story, storytelling is there to act in favor of the speaker’s self-interests which is fueled by the power of emotions, whether

Considering the Representative’s ability to easily contact the Count and his daughter as demonstrated when the Representative says, “We’ll meet / The company below,” the Duke tells his story in hopes that the Representative would quickly give him the passage in contacting the daughter of the Count (47-48). Even though he has shown indications that he was responsible for ridding his wife, he still has her “painted on the wall” and described her as “a wonder” (1,3). By describing the portrait with such positive diction, it shows his connection with the painting from an internal factor, not because he likes her, but from the sense of company that the portrait mentally provided. The portrait, obviously, does not provide enough to the Duke, resulting in him moving on to the Count’s daughter. Since the Duke “chuse never to stoop” as low as the Duchess, it demonstrates a sense of dramatic irony considering that the Duke, himself, is no better than the Duchess since he was the one that “gave commands” to kill her (43,45). The negotiation between the Duke and the Representative stemmed from the Duke’s desperation for a more high class woman was caused by the loneliness he plunged himself