Edgar Allen Poe was an author during the 1800’s who wrote many short Gothic literature stories during his time. Poe’s stories usually consisted of death, revenge, and horror, which is the true essence of what Gothic literature is. “The Black Cat” and “The Cask of Amontillado” are two of his many gothic short stories. These stories both have death and horror to them, but there are differences that make these two stories special in their own way. The stories, “The Black Cat” and “The Cask of Amontillado” are both similar and different in setting, plot, background, and characters. The similarities in the stories, “The Black Cat” and “The Cask of Amontillado” shows the pattern in which Edgar Allen Poe writes his Gothic stories. For instance, in …show more content…
“The Cask of Amontillado” it states, “Quickly I began to build the wall again, covering the hole where Fortunato stood trembling.” and in “The Black Cat” it also states, “I easily removed the bricks with a crowbar and having carefully placed the body against the inner wall, I propped it up in that position while I replaced the original wall.” Clearly, these quotes show one of the main similarities between the two Gothic stories, as both of the stories have corpses being hidden and sealed up by walls. This similarity is just one example of how these Gothic stories are similar and how this example contributes to the plot, which is that it helps lead the stories to their climax even though they have different endings. The second similarity is the nature of the characters. In both stories they are drunk, which leads to further development of the plot. For instance, in “The Cask Amontillado” Montresor makes Fortunato extremely drunk, which helps him carry out his plot of revenge against him. Furthermore, both of these stories are told as flashbacks, which makes the narrator’s point of view unique, as it is interesting how they tell their experience from the future. In the story, “The Black Cat” the main character is telling his story while on death row in prison, which makes him tell the story in a different way. Even though there are similarities in these two Gothic stories, they are also differences between them, as they can’t be exactly the same.
In the story, “The Black Cat” the narrator gets caught for killing his wife by the police, when in, “The Cask of Amontillado” Montresor gets away with his revenge on Montresor. These two differences in these stories make their plots have completely different endings to them. For instance in, “The Black Cat” it states, “In the next moment, they were all breaking apart the wall, which fell down. The corpse, already decayed and clotted with blood, stood before the eyes of the police.” Also, in, “The Cask Amontillado” it says, “I hurried to force the last stone into its position. And I put the old bones again in a pile against the wall. For half a century now, no human hand has touched them. May he rest in peace!” Clearly, you can see how these stories ended in very drastic ways, making similar, but also very different and unique in their own ways. Another part of these stories that makes them different is their setting, with, “The Black Cat” taking place in either England or France where places vary from a house, to a backyard, to a cellar in the story. And then with, “The Cask Amontillado” taking within a catacombs in Italy. This shows how the settings in these stories are a main part in what makes them different from one
another. In this final analysis, the stories, “The Black Cat” and “The Cask of Amontillado” are both similar and different in setting, plot, background, and characters. The similarities that these gothic stories have make the plot seem to have a pattern between both of them, but their differences is what separates them apart from one another. Edgar Allen Poe seems to always have a pattern with all of his gothic stories, but always inevitable makes them different which is exactly what you see here in, “The Black Cat” and, “The Cask Amontillado”.
Comparing the Narration of The Cask of Amontillado and The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most celebrated literary authors of all time, known for writing very suspenseful, dramatic short stories and a poet; is considered as being a part of the American Romantic Movement, and a lesser known opinion is he is regarded as the inventor of the detective-fiction genre. Most recognized for his mystery and macabre, a journey into the dark, ghastly stories of death, deception and revenge is what makes up his reputation. The short story under analysis is a part of his latter works; “The Cask of Amontillado”, a story of revenge takes readers into the mind of the murderer.
Reading Edgar Allen Poe’s works such as “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Tell-Tale Heart” are both written around 1840’s and written in the gothic style. Poe displays his horror short stories, in which the reader can differentiate his signature style. Although many of Poe’s significant works may have a similar theme, the reader can distinguish the themes through the characters in “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Tell-Tale Heart.”
Edgar Allan Poe has a style that is dark and morbid. His tone is very gloomy and obscure. The tone of “The Cask of Amontillado” is almost tame compared to the tone of “The Black Cat”, his other work we covered. The tone of that work is almost maddening. “The Cask of Amontillado” tone is very sinister and methodic. Whereas “The Black Cat”, has a pulse to a cadence and rhythm though no clear pattern is established. Poe’s style of writing seems so personal, as a reader I had to remind myself this was fiction. His first-person style of writing is so detailed and intricate it is very easy to become invested in the world he creates. “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Black Cat” both have themes of revenge where the supposed victim is untimely
Poe creates a beautiful, suspenseful, and ominous narrative of revenge through these elements. From the beginning of the short story, he creates suspicion regarding trustworthiness of the narrator through the deliberate ambiguity regarding the motive of the murder and outfitting Montresor in black. Poe is using the Gothic elements of an unreliable narrator and darkness to warn readers that there is a hidden darkness residing inside Montresor. Moreover, the connection of Montresor to the serpent brings not only the Gothic component of evil, but also suggests a connection to the devil; also, Poe does not merely use a serpent, but a fanged serpent in reference to Montresor, which means that the serpent is venomous. Using the venomous serpent to portray Montresor in the coat of arms suggests that Montresor’s strike against Fortunato will be a deadly one. Without the use of Gothic elements to create a dark and suspenseful narrative, this story of revenge might be mistaken for a tale of justice. Removal of the Gothic elements in “the Cask of Amontillado,” would greatly reduce the quality of the work and possibly change the interpretation of the short story. In sum, without using elements of the Gothic, a tale of revenge could not be created because it would lack the darkness needed to craft a quality story of
The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe is a short story told in the gothic genre. Although this story was written decades after the popularity of the genre, The gothic genre through its descriptions of the atmosphere as well as its use of grotesque and macabre imagery creates a sense of alienation, chaos, entrapment, uncertainty, and terror in the reader. Gothic literature often deals with themes of death, fears and anxieties, good vs evil, estrangement, and revenge. Furthermore, gothic literature often ends with a sense of moral closure and resolution. The Cask of Amontillado use of gothic conventions can be seen in its setting. However, the story’s unconventional use of irony and omission of moral closure adds to the psychological
Edgar Allan Poe is a wonderful writer. He is most widely known for his hair-raising stories. His writing style is unique in that he uses subtle details to add suspense to his stories. He also uses dark details to help his audience figure out lingering questions they might have upon finishing his stories. One perfect example of his famous style of writing is, “The Cask of Amontillado”. Throughout the story there are four important details that help the reader realize that the murder of Fortunato was not perfect revenge.
A virtuoso of suspense and horror, Edgar Allan Poe is known for his Gothic writing style. His style is created through his use of punctuation, sentence structure, word choice, tone, and figurative language. Punctuation-wise; dashes, exclamation marks, semicolons, and commas are a favorite of Poe. His sentences vary greatly; their structures are influenced by punctuation. Much of his word choice set the tone of his works. Figurative language colors his writings with description. Such is observed in the similarities between two of his most well-known short stories, “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”
This short story easily achieved the effect that Poe was looking for through the use of description of setting, symbolism, plot development, diverse word choice, and detailed character development. In most cases, the setting is usually indelible to a story, but “The Black Cat” relies little on this element. This tale could have occurred anywhere and can be placed in any era. This makes the setting the weakest element of “The Black Cat.”
Edgar Allan Poe is a famous writer in writing detective stories and horror stories. One of his horror stories, “The Cask of Amontillado” was talking about how a man took his revenge to his friend. However, to look deeply in this story, I found that this story was not just simply a horror tale about how a man gets his revenge in the safest way. Instead, it also demonstrates much irony in several areas: the title, the event, the season, the costume, the environment, the characters’ personalities, a man’s dignity and cockiness and at the end, the public order. he are
Poe, Edgar A. “The Cask of Amontillado” The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe.
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is a frightening and entertaining short story about the severe consequences that result from persistent mockery and an unforgiving heart. Poe’s excellent use of Gothicism within the story sets the perfect tone for a dark and sinister plot of murder to unfold. “The Cask of Amontillado” simply overflows with various themes and other literary elements that result from Poe’s Gothic style of writing. Of these various themes, one that tends to dominant the story as a whole is the theme of revenge, which Poe supports with his sophisticated use of direct and indirect factors, irony, and symbolism.
Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Black Cat immerses the reader into the mind of a murdering alcoholic. Poe himself suffered from alcoholism and often showed erratic behavior with violent outburst. Poe is famous for his American Gothic horror tales such as the Tell-Tale Heart and the Fall of the House of Usher. “The Black Cat is Poe’s second psychological study of domestic violence and guilt. He added a new element to aid in evoking the dark side of the narrator, and that is the supernatural world.” (Womack). Poe uses many of the American Gothic characteristics such as emotional intensity, superstition, extremes in violence, the focus on a certain object and foreshadowing lead the reader through a series of events that are horrifying and grotesque. “The Black Cat is one of the most powerful of Poe’s stories, and the horror stops short of the wavering line of disgust” (Quinn).
for dark, mysterious, and bizarre works of fiction. His works sometimes reflected his life experiences and hardships he tried to overcome. Examples of the troubles in his life include alcoholism, having his works rejected over and over, being broke, and losing his family, even his beloved wife to tuberculosis. There is no wonder why his works are so dark and evil, they were taken from his life. A theme is defined as the major or central idea of a work. Poe’s short story, “The Black Cat”, contains six major themes that are discussed in this paper. They include the home, violence, drugs and alcohol, freedom and confinement, justice and judgement, and transformation.
Edgar Allan Poe's strong use of symbols throughout "The Cask of Amontillado" is what makes this story worthy of examination. The clever use of these devices by the author to shape this horrifying and gripping short story has made this piece be regarded as a classic American horror story, which revolves around the theme of vengeance and pride.