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. In the "Cask Of Amontillado" there are three main symbols that are crucial to the storyline. There are the Catacombs which while obviously representing death as it is a eerie place that is full of dead bodies, it also shows the isolation of Fortunato to the outside world; While also foreshadowing his impending fate. An additional symbol is the cask of Amontillado itself. The cask could be interpreted to represent various things, but the main idea this symbol signifies is Fortunato's desires and greed. All Fortunato cares for is to taste this rare delicacy of a wine and forgoes thinking of his personal health and safety to have it. Montresor ironically warns him he may become ill if he enters the vaults where the wine is kept, " the severe col...
Montresor does not want Fortunato to die from anything other than his own plan of slow death by asphyxiation. Symbolism in "The Cask of Amontillado" This story by Poe has numerous examples of symbolism. For example, the manner in which Fortunato is dressed is ironic for a man with his societal prominence.
Russ,RJ.” Symbolism In edgar Allan Poe’s ‘ The Cask Of Amontillado’.” Yahoo Voices.Yahoo, Inc.,28 April 2008. Web.17 March 2014.
In both stories, events occur to instigate a forced separation of past from present; both protagonists must let go of their pasts to cope with the present. Each character has their own personal motivations and demons to address. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, a major change in social status and life renders Montressor’s other internal identity, represented as Fortunato, useless. The character of Fortunato is a constant reminder of Montressor’s personal loss of power, wealth, and the ending of his noble ancestral lineage. He is also a reminder of how cruel Fate and Fortune were in letting these things happen to his family, his world, and consequently him. Montressor is consumed by the idea of revenge; eliminating the past identity of arrogant and privileged Fortunato, thereby letting himself move on and adapt to a different life. He symbolizes moving on from his past by burying Fortunato; he destroys the part of his past that can no longer exist in his present. He does all of this for the sake of himself and his pride, nothing else.
In "The Cask of Amontillado," Poe utilizes foreshadowing in a most grim and dark way. First, when Fortunato says, "I shall not die of a cough" 1, Montressor replies, "True-true"2. Instead, Montressor knows that Fortunato will perish from his vengeful scheme of walling him up, and having him die of starvation and dehydration. Fortunato is a proud man and he does not think that his death with be due to something as petty as a cold. Rather, he believes that his life will end as a result of some courageous act and he will die a noble death. However, Montressor can only laugh at this thought because he knows Fortunato's death will be far from noble and his pride will be broken when he is caught in his trap. Another instance of foreshadowing comes with the trowel scene. At one point in their journey, Fortunato makes a movement that is a secret sign of the Masons, an exclusive, fraternity-like organization. Montressor does not recognize this hand signal, but claims that he is a "mason". When Fortunato asks for proof, Montressor shows him his trowel. Montressor implies here he is a stonemason and, that he will be building things out of stones and mortar such as Fortunato's grave.
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most celebrated writers in American literature. He is well known for his style of writing, which is dark and morbid in nature. Poe makes use of irony as well as foreshadowing in many of his stories, including the short story “The Cask of Amontillado”. For the most part, Poe's descriptions in his writings are haunting and realistic. Some often speculate that Poe derived his unique style of writing from his personal life struggles.
“The Cask of Amontillado,” by Edgar Allen Po is a compelling short story bursting with suspense and horror. Many consider the story one of the most macabre Po has ever written. The basic plot line is about a psychotic man who traps his friend in a catacomb and walls up the exit. “The Cask of Amontillado,” is an extremely suspenseful story because it combines foreshadowing, expert character development, and skilled word choice into a riveting tale of horror.
The Cask of Amontillado is considered to be one of the best short stories. Written by Edgar Allan Poe in first person and having all the main events as a three hundred page fiction book, The Cask of Amontillado is a complete novel. This short story has several themes which function from the first page of the story such as: suspense, fear, and revenge.
The first literary device used by Poe in his short story “The Cask of Amontillado,”
“The Cask of Amontillado” starts out with Montresor, the narrator, saying, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” Simply by reading the first sentence of the story, it is easy to see that Montresor is vengeful and plans to get “revenge” on Fortunato and there is a lot more to come in the story.
Edgar Allen Poe’s gruesomely fascinating tale of vengeance and murder, “The Cask of Amontillado”, achieves its effect only through its usage of the first person point of view. This unusual perspective enables the reader to view the characters and conflicts through the eyes of the narrator, as he first discusses and justifies, and eventually, carries out his plans for the ruthless murder of his friend. The eerie tone and disorienting and materialistically-related setting of the story contribute to its theme of defending one’s honor and name and avenging all wrongdoings, even something so small as an insult.
An important element in any story is setting. Authors use setting to convey certain feelings brought on by the character’s surroundings. It also subliminally serves to illustrate the character’s intentions. In “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allen Poe uses the dark, imposing setting to do just that, communicate the underlying theme of the story, being death, revenge and deception.
Gothic literature is known for captivating readers by bringing to light the dark side of humanity. The Gothic possesses many key elements such as paranoia, anxiety, death, etc. It strikes fear and suspense in the reader not by creating fictional monsters, but showing the reader the types of monsters that lurk within human beings. In “the Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, various themes of the Gothic are present throughout the short story such as gloom and doom, darkness, and madness. These elements are used to enhance the central theme of the piece: revenge. I will argue that Poe uses a number of the Gothic elements to craft an intense dark tale of revenge: an unreliable narrator, madness, darkness, a haunted setting, and evil/devil
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’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.
Poe starts out with a man, by the name of Montresor, wanting revenge on another man, named Fortunato. Most of the story takes place deep in the Montresor family catacombs. As Montresor lures Fortunato into the catacombs, he chains Fortunato up to a small hole in a wall, bricks it over, and leaves Fortunato to die. Even through the traits of anger, hatred, and revenge, as the story progresses on, Montresor, the main character in “The Cask of Amontillado”, starts to show signs of feeling guilty for wanting to murder Fortunato.