The Yellow Wallpaper and The Cask Of Amontillado

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The Yellow Wallpaper and The Cask Of Amontillado

The short story, " The Yellow Wallpaper", written by Charlotte Gilman, and "The Cask of Amontillado" written by Edgar Allan Poe, are stories in which the plots are very different, but share similar qualities with the elements in the story. "The Cask of Amontillado" is a powerful tale of revenge, in which the narrator of the tale pledges revenge upon Fortunato for an insult. "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a story about a woman, her psychological difficulties and her husband's therapeutic treatment of her illness. She struggles over her illness, and battle's her controlling husband. The settings in both stories are very important, they influence the characters, and help with the development of the plot.

In "The Yellow Wallpaper" the setting helps define the action as well as to explain characters behaviors. The setting is which the story takes place is in the narrators room, where she is severally ill, and she is "locked up" in the room which served as her cage. The room in which the narrator is caged in is a nursery, "it is a big, airy room, the whole floor nearly, with windows that look all ways. The paint and paper look as if a boys' school had used it." The narrator describes the color of the walls as repellent, almost revolting, it is an unclear yellow with a dull orange. The condition that the narrator is in, the repulsiveness of the room, and the room haunting her, drives her into insanity.

"The Cask of Amontillado" takes place in an appropriate setting, not only is the setting underground, but also in the blackness of the night. The story begins around dusk, one evening during the carnival season in a European city. The location quickly change...

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...he wall, he thinks about his rejected opportunities and his unbearable regret. As he sobers with terror, the final blow will come from the realization that his life is ending in his catacombs dying with his finest wine. The catacombs, in which he dies, set the theme, and relate well with the story. Without the yellow wallpaper in the short story, the significance of the wallpaper would not mater, nor would it set the theme or plot. At night the wallpaper becomes bars, and the wallpaper lets her see herself as a women and her desire to free herself. She needs to free herself from the difficulties of her husband, and from her sickness. The settings in both, set up the elements of the stories and ads to the effect in both of the short stories.

Bibliography

Branson, Leigh W. Edgar Allen Poe's Literary Neighborhood, 17 Mar. 1997

*htt://www.geocities.com/Athens

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