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Literary analysis the man who wrote poe
Literary analysis the man who wrote poe
Edgar allan poe writing analysis
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Edgar Allen Poe said it best when he said, “I have great faith in fools; self confidence my friends call it.” This contradicting quote not only described Poe, but it illustrated the character, Fortunato, in one of Poe’s most famous short stories, The Cask of Amontillado. In this tale of insult and revenge, Poe describes Fortunato as a fool, while the reader gets the sense that the protagonist, Montresor, is intelligent and swift in his efforts of retribution. The personas of these adversaries coincide with the attire in which they were draped in. In the commencement of the story, Montresor speaks of Fortunato’s mastery judgment of wines. Although this skill was desired at the time, Fortunato was conceited about the ability he was blessed with.
This sense of egotism was the dominant purpose of his death. His injudicious judgment fuses with his jester-like ensemble which portrays his personality. He was a fool and let his egotistical attitude get him killed, which made him a dolt. In the mind of most readers, the color black paints a disdainful portrait of death and an endless abyss that cannot be overcame. In The Cask of Amontillado, Fortunato’s fate is certain when he insults Montresor. Fortunato was arrogant and judgmental, but his days of being the judge were soon delayed by the executioner. In this case, the masked executioner was none other than Montresor. The gloomy garments that he wore symbolized that he was eminent death for Fortunato. In most stories, the costumes gives hints as to what kind of person the character is. This is especially true in The Cask of Amontillado. Montresor symbolizes death and execution which is foretold by the dark clothing he wears. Fortunato is cast as a fool with bad judgment. In this illustrious tale of redemption and death, the ensemble of the characters reveals the true personality of themselves.
He gives very little information about Fortunato, past that he is a wine connoisseur. There is no mention of what Fortunato does for leisure, his family, or even his job. In fact, the only details the reader receives on Fortunato paint him as a fool, with his costume, his drunken attitude, and obliviousness Montresor is focuses on the facts that make Fortunato look bad; he not only wants Fortunato dead but he also wants Fortunato’s name discredited. Montresor tells the reader even less about himself because there is no background to who Montresor is, what he does, or even what kind of contact he has with Fortunato. The only true details of Montresor that are given must be implied and give a sense of intelligence. In addition, he gives little to no details about the carnival, such as where it was, why the carnival was happening, or even why he chose this particular day to enact his plan. From these details, or lack of details, it seems Montresor doesn’t want his audience to know this information. The audience is supposed to simply look at Fortunato a fool and Montresor a genius, the harbinger of death. The facts such as who these people were, the time, or the setting are not important to Montresor’s focus in the
Have you ever met someone so clever, determined, and cruel to leave a man to die over an insult? Montresor is the perfect example of these character traits. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor uses all of these character traits to get revenge on Fortunado for insulting his family name. Montresor’s clever planning, determination for revenge, and cruel murder are the perfect combination for his unequaled revenge.
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” is a short psychological thriller. The murder of Fortunato haunts Montresor so greatly that he feels the compulsion to tell the story some fifty years after the fact. He appears to be in the late stages of life desperately attempting to remove the stain of murder from his mind. That it is still so fresh and rich in specifics is proof that it has plagued him, “Perhaps the most chilling aspect of reading Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ for the first time is not the gruesome tale that Montresor relates, but the sudden, unpredictable, understated revelation that the murder, recounted in its every lurid detail, occurred not yesterday or last week, but a full fifty years prior to the telling” (DiSanza).
Fortunato prided himself in being a connoisseur of fine wines. They were at a carnival and Fortunato approached Montressor at dusk, the madness of the carnival season. Fortunato was very drunk. Fortunato was dressed motley like a jester.
Fortunato exhibits extreme narcissism upon himself and fails to see the bigger picture going on around him. Montresor expended a great amount of time in thinking of a way to defeat his prey in his own world. His target had a weakness of lust for wine, in fact he, prided himself in his connoisseurship. Consequently, too much pride can be harmful according to Jessica Tracy, “hubristic pride is related to narcissistic traits like entitlement, arrogance, and egotism” all which Fortunato exemplified (Oprah). Montresor baited Fortunato into his pleasure “As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi” though we never meet Luchesi his character is of lesser rank when it comes to wine connoisseurship (Poe). Montresor was very clever in this quiet deed; he even took the time to provide many outs for Fortunato whether it was concern for his prey’s health or warnings of harsh conditions ahead. Drunk and prideful he could care less about his health during the cold trot through the vaults “The cold is merely nothing… and as for Luchesi, he cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado” thus his narcissistic ways are even selfish to his own temple (Poe). Fortunato ignores his plethora of coughs and implies to move forward while Montresor ensures him that his health is too precious but again triggers him saying Luchesi is in a
Accordingly, Poe is well responsive to this psychological trait of the human brain. Likewise, Poe employs the perception of perversity and remorse in “The Cask of Amontillado.” The reason of burying Fortunato is not only vengeance, but also a robust reaction that is described in “The Black Cat”. There is a passionate yearning in Montresor to hurt Fortunato even if he has not made any harm to him. Although Montresor asserts that he has been injured several times by Fortunato, he cannot defy calling him “respected, admired, beloved,” admitting his “good nature,” and also calling him “noble” (Little 212). These expressions confirmed that Fortunato is a good quality person and the expression “injuries” used in the first phase of the story is simply a hyperbole that Montresor’s psyche has fabricated. Furthermore, wickedness does not come unaccompanied, but it carries itself a sense of remorse. Even if Montresor reflects himself as the diplomat of his family for deafening down rivals, he suffers remorse while walling up Fortunato. Consequently, Poe’s clasp of unreasonableness and culpability of the human mind is
Edgar Allen Poe uses irony and poetic justice all throughout “The Cask of the Amontillado”. The places where irony and poetic justice hold the most significance are the scenes where, Montresor speaks of the wronging done to him by Fortunato, where Montresor and fortunato speak of the coat of arms, and where at the very end when Montresor traps Fortunato in the catacombs and leaves him to die. These scenes clearly show the use of these two tools that Poe used to tell the story of Montresor and
"The Cask of Amontillado" is one of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest stories. In this story Poe introduces two central characters and unfolds a tale of horror and perversion. Montresor, the narrator, and Fortunato, one of Montresor's friends, are doomed to the fate of their actions and will pay the price for their pride and jealousy. One pays the price with his life and the other pays the price with living with regret for the rest of his life. Poe uses mystery, irony, and imagery to create a horrifying, deceptive, and perverse story.
The short story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edger Allan Poe, is based on Montresor taking revenge on his old friend Fortunato. The play holds many literary elements that connects to the life of the author as well. It is clear in the short story that the author placed his emotions and personal touch to the aspects of the story and the scenery. Some of the elements in the play that are detailed are; foreshadow, hyperbole, and metaphor. The death of Fortunato is foreshadowed in his eagerness to get the wine and in his cough. The latter matches with Poe’s life with the deaths of both his mother and wife to pneumonia. Furthermore, hyperbole comes in as the narrator speaks about the thousand insults that Fortunato has pronounced over him. This as well can be compared to Poe, as he was an editor during his time and may have been criticized for his work also. Moreover, metaphor is used in stating the drunken look that Fortunato is depicted as having during the trip. This may be a comparison to the drunkenness of Poe himself. Every author places their own experiences into their work to make it more believable, or to give more of a draw to the audience.
“The Cask of Amontillado” is a dark piece, much like other works of Edgar Allan Poe, and features the classic unreliable narrator, identified by himself only as Montresor. This sinister central character is a cold ruthless killer that is particularly fearsome because he views murder as a necessity and kills without remorse. Montresor is a character who personifies wickedness. Poe uses this character and his morally wrong thoughts and actions to help the reader identify with aspects of the extreme personage, allowing them to examine the less savory aspects of their own. The character of Montresor detailing the glorious murder he committed is a means of communicating to the reader that vengeance and pride are moral motivators that lead to treacherous deeds and dark thoughts.
In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor sets out on a vengeful mission that will end Fortunato’s life in an untimely fate. Montresor appeals to Fortunato’s love for wine to tempt the unsuspecting fellow to his impending doom. While Montresor tricks the foolish Fortunato frightfully, it is ultimately Fortunato’s pride that leads to his demise in the crypt. Poe uses several literary devices to foreshadow this murderous exploit of Montresor. Through the use of irony, symbolism, and imagery, the story entices readers to delve into the relationships and differences between Montresor and Fortunato.
Edgar Allen Poe’s tale of murder and revenge, “The Cask of Amontillado”, offers a unique perspective into the mind of a deranged murderer. The effectiveness of the story is largely due to its first person point of view, which allows the reader a deeper involvement into the thoughts and motivations of the protagonist, Montresor. The first person narration results in an unbalanced viewpoint on the central conflict of the story, man versus man, because the reader knows very little about the thoughts of the antagonist, Fortunato. The setting of “The Cask of Amontillado”, in the dark catacombs of Montresor’s wine cellar, contributes to the story’s theme that some people will go to great lengths to fanatically defend their honor.
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
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.
“I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation.” (1). This quote comes from “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe. In the story, Montressor (the narrator of the story) talks about how he murdered his once good friend Fortunato. He tells all about how he tricked the previously mentioned Fortunato into his vaults and finally how he walled him in and left him to die. Yet he had managed to keep Fortunato trusting in him so much that he didn’t even comprehend what Montressor was doing until it was too late. Not only had he essentially brainwashed Fortunato into believing he was a good friend, but he had it all planned out, so it seemed. Montressor knew from