The Allure of Fear What is the allure of fear; what pieces of literature have introduced this concept to us? Novels and short stories such as “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe and “House Taken Over” by Julio Cortazar are two stories that use the allure of fear to draw readers in. This concept, the allure of fear, is portrayed through irony and diction that instills a sense of terror, extraordinary horror, and the anticipation of the unknown. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, fear is used through grotesque and grimacing diction and the use of descriptive and horrific settings. For instance, Montresor describes a setting where he and Fortunato”...passed through walls of piled bones, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost …show more content…
Now, in comparison, both “The Cask of Amontillado” and “House Taken Over” use the allure of fear, but how do these eerie stories differentiate from each other? Each story has its own unique use of fear throughout its writing. For instance, in “The Cask of Amontillado”, ironic statements such as when Montresor responds,” and I to your long life” to Fortunato’s statement,” I drink.to the buried that repose around us” (Poe 61), are very commonly used. On the other hand, in “House Taken Over”, deeper psychologically concerning comments and details, like when the narrator comments,” We were fine, and little by little we stopped thinking. You can live without thinking” (Cortazar 41), used to instill fear throughout the novel. “The Cask of Amontillado” allows the reader to know beforehand that Montresor is planning to enact his revenge on Fortunato, leaving the reader to want to dive deeper into Montresor’s grimacing thoughts and actions. However, “House Taken Over” keeps the reader interested through suspense and anticipation; yearning to know what is in the house, what will happen next, and what horrific details follow. Overall, both of these pieces of literature use a personalized, individually unique way of filling their reader
fortunate while meeting his own death. They’re many examples of symbolism and irony in “The Cask of Amontillado.” Montresor meets his fake friend Fortunato and tells him about amontillado. Montresor had probably been humiliated or embarrassed by this jest, because he is angered once he lays eyes on him from a distance. Fortunato was wearing a jester outfit which makes him seem that he is not meant to be taken seriously. Once met he then manipulate Fortunato into following him into the catacombs of
“The Tell-Tale Heart,” published in 1843, and “The Cask of Amontillado,” published in 1846, are two literary works of Gothic fiction written by Edgar Allan Poe. Both of these compelling stories have many prominent similarities and differences. Poe has developed unstable narrators in both “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado,” but the circumstances in each story are distinctively different. While an old man’s hideous eye drives the narrator to madness in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the thirst
The Dark Side of the Mind Exposed in Cask of Amontillado "A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong." With that statement, Montresor begins his tale of revenge deciding that the act must be slow and sweet and that in order to fully enjoy it, his adversary must be aware of his intentions. Hidden within those same few lines, lies not only this horrid plan, but also the
Poe’s “A Cask of Amontillado”. These two short stories deal with death from a completely different angle. In these stories, both main characters seem to gain satisfaction and happiness through the death of another character, even if these deaths require what would in normal circumstances be considered horrible acts in any other circumstance. In Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” the main character, Emily last name, is the last aristocratic member of her society. Left with her father’s house and not much
visionary. It was until 1818 that Romantic poetry started to be published in North America. Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson can be taken as examples of American Romantic literature. The Romantic writer is often both praised and condemned for emphasizing the strange, the bizarre, the unusual, and the unexpected. Born in Boston on January 19 of 1809 Edgar A. Poe was the most melodramatic
among people. Some do not believe some of Poe’s short stories to be filled with horror. It is just how one perceives it. It is obvious that his stories do contain characters with disturbed psyches; such as in his stories, “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Edgar Allan Poe was not the first writer of his time to write horror stories. Horace Walpole and Charles Brockman Brown both had popularized horror stories by Poe’s time. However, these horror stories were often ignored
in his unique writing. Edgar Allan Poe's mental disorders, pride, and negative relationships within his family are reflected in “The Cask Of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale heart,” and gave them their characteristic qualities. Poe's mental disorders helped to give “The Cask of Amontillado” its unique atmosphere. Poe was depressed when he wrote “The Cask of Amontillado.” The Complete Idiot's Guide to Psychology lists “thoughts of death, loss of interest in things [one] used to enjoy, and feeling down
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” utilize character responsibilities to create a sinister plot. For Hawthorne, protagonist Young Goodman Brown must leave his wife at home while he partakes in a night journey. For Poe, ancillary Fortunato covets a pretentious manner towards his wine tasting skills, and after being ‘challenged’ decides to prove his expertise by sampling Amontillado. Hawthorne and Poe showcase a theme of darkness but differ in their
murderers is And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. The story takes place in the 1930’s on Soldier Island. Ten strangers trapped on the island are one by one killed off in accordance with the poem Ten Little Soldiers. The Tell-Tale Heart, Cask of Amontillado, and Murderers are all literary works that give insight into the mind of a murderer like Christie’s classic book. The Tell-Tale Heart was written in 1843 by Edgar Allen Poe. The short story is about a madman who murders an elderly gentleman
To his pleasure the cat followed it home and stayed with him, soon becoming his wife’s favorite. Before long, the man’s drunkenness started to take over, and he found himself slowly starting to loathe the animal. Although he hated this cat, he knew his wife was fond of it and he did not want the same outcome as before. Darkness and evil thoughts soon consumed him causing him to act unreasonably. Once
The revenge of the Cask of Amontillado 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. The author introduces the readers to the narrator who is known as Montresor when he is talking to an unknown audience. In the course of the discussion
of knowledge and opinions associated with them. The two stories that stood out to me were The Great Gatsby and “The Cask of Amontillado.” In these two stories the general message is lust and how lust can take over one’s body and the way they live their life. In the well-known novel, The Great Gatsby, it is about a wealthy man that has so much love for Daisy that he lets it take over his entire life. Gatsby continually refers back in time to when he was with Daisy before he went to the war. Daisy had
the narrators of "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado" as devious, obsessed characters. Both are overpowered by the need to consume the life of their victim. Though they use different strategies to carry out the murders in different ways, obsession is the driving force in both. It is this obsession that inspires them to design cunning strategies and carry out the executions. The obsession of Montresor in "The Cask of Amontillado" and of the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart"
movement where Dark Romantic writers such as Poe and Hawthorne focused on the human nature predisposition to move towards sin and self destruction. The plots of Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where are you going, Where have you been?” and Poe's “The Cask of Amontillado” progress through the depiction of the aspects of Dark Romanticism and the power of human nature's dark side. In Oates’ story, Connie is a vain fifteen year old girl living in a fanciful world in attempts to break away from the struggles of
“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, the main theme is revenge. Montresor was insulted by Fortunato, we are never told what the insult was, but it was serious enough that Montresor vowed to enact revenge. People want and take revenge every day, and Poe decided to portray that in one of the darkest ways possible, murder. The perfect revenge must be performed flawlessly, without getting caught, having no regret, and the victim knowing why revenge is being taken. In the story “The Cask of Amontillado”