The Cask Of Amontillado Literary Analysis

A staple of gothic literature is the eeriness and creepiness of the setting. Often a run-down castle or monastery, in Poe’s short story The Cask of Amontillado, the setting is the catacomb of the protagonist’s, Montressor, family. The crypt is damp and narrow, and always leads downward. The possibility for freedom decreases as the characters move deeper and deeper into the catacomb. They venture so far into the catacomb that air is hard to come by and they have difficulty breathing. The setting of the story perfectly mirrors the feelings of freedom and confinement in both Montressor and Fortunato. Montressor remarks that “It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with excessive warmth,” (Page 748) which sets the scene of the Italian town that the main characters reside. The purpose of this essay is to show that if the reader can’t see how the setting of a story reflects on the theme of the story, then the reader can never fully comprehend an important pillar of gothic literature.

The carnival is the literal celebration of freedom, with both Fortunato and Montressor participating in parties and parades, and getting drunk. The irony of the carnival is that Montresor is planning on murdering Fortunato, on the day of celebration before Lent. One would expect the planning of a murder to take place on a stereotypical “dark and stormy night,” but what we are left with is irony because it takes place at a happy festival. The purpose of the carnival is so everyone can prepare for the seriousness and sacrifice of Lent, yet Fortunato’s carnival experience is drastically different than how he originally envisioned the night going. The irony serves to poke fun at the seriousness of Montressor’s gothic feelings of revenge and