Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
What are the gothic elements of the cask of amontillado
Literary Response Easy on the cask of amontillado
Literary Response Easy on the cask of amontillado
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Gothic short story “The Cask of Amontillado” is a perfect example of Poe’s art, all the elements connected to the artistic, gothic setting. This element is the fits the setting of the story; a cold vault that carries depth, as it is . In the gothic element is something strange , complicated or difficult to understand.
The short story expresses mysterious inspiration that makes the reader analyze it carefully and in detail to fully understand the importance within its plot. In that gothic context, the Poe developed a mysterious style aimed at the setting of the plot.
The story is described a planned revenge caused by an insult, and carried out cruelty in the vaults of Montresor Palace. The most riveting aspect of the work is how Poe blends
…show more content…
From the very beginning, the narrator, Montresor, clears up the reason for his grudge against “Fortunato,” whom he wants to murder in a cruel way, which ‘punishes with impunity’. According to the narrator, it does not make sense to make up for a wrong if the enemy is given the possibility to defend himself. Montresor must show no mercy when committing this evil deed.
In “The Cask of Amontillado,” one evening, during a Carnival party, Montresor persuades the drunken Fortunato to go to the vault of the Palace to check if he has really bought the Spanish wine, “Amontillado.” Fortunato is not sure about the genuineness of the wine and wants to check its quality. He also wants to show his expertise. The author knows the victim’s personality very well and takes advantage of it to carry out his plan of revenge.
Montresor tries not to make Fortunato suspicious. In fact, Montresor pretends to smile at Fortunato and he invites him to a wine test, showing also a large concern for his cough. But in the narrative, the narrator’s “smile” is a, devilish grin aimed at filling
One catches a glimpse of Montresor’s lost happiness from his obscure past, moreover his distressed self-esteem, in this statement. His façade begins to slip. The strain starts to show. At last Montresor leads Fortunato to the remote niche and secures him to the wall. Surprised Fortunato does not immediately respond.
In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor made up in his mind that he would carry out his act of revenge on Fortunato. Whatever offense Fortunato committed against Montresor drove him to the brink. The hatred inside was somewhat poetic. Montresor schemed to every detail how to carry out his revenge. The setting of the story is a dark, gloomy night at a celebration during carnival season. Montresor would be detailed in describing the monetary status of his enemy, his wardrobe or costume he wore to the celebration. He would set the mood as cheerful. Despite the ill feelings he has towards the now drunken Fortunato, Montresor pretends to care for his company to lure him towards his cunning plan. He strokes Fortunato’s ego and his love for wine to draw him towards the cellar. The dark, damp halls, the claustrophobia, and the human skeletons lying about the earth were all a foreshadowing of Motresor’s plan for the drunken Fortunato. It enhanced suspense to the story, building up to the climax which would be Fortunato entering into his grave. As they further enter the hal...
While at the carnival, Montresor bought some of the finest Amontillado wine to use in his vengeful plan to murder Fortunato. He then meets his "friend," Fortunato. Fortunato is wearing "a tight fitting parti-striped dress and head is surmounted by the conical cap and bells" (Poe 528). By him wearing this outfit, makes it great for the narrator because he is going to make a fool out of Fortunato. Montresor is a manipulative person. He challenges Fortunato's connoisseurship on wine tasting and leads him to his family estate.
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
In the short story "The Cask of Amontillado" a man that could possibly be insane seeks revenge on another man after being insulted. Montresor, being the one that was insulted conjures up a plan to get vengeance on Fortunato the man that insulted him so terribly. Montresor runs into Fortunato at a carnival purposely, he then mentions a unique rare wine named Amontillado. This rare wine attracts Fortunatos attention immediately and he becomes interested in this wines authenticity. Montresor teases Fortunato by mentioning Luchresi,implying that he didn't think of Fortunato first and was going to see Luchresi about the Amontillado. Fortunato insists that that he must try this wine and while doing so insults Luchresis' skills in wine judging. Montresor then invites Fortunato to try the wine in his "vaults" where the wine is kep...
In her article, Renee utters that when the thought of vengeance build up in an individual’s brain, it coerces him insane and does not tolerate him to present it a second thought. The first sentence of the story, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge,” clearly describes the whole theme of the story as a deeply enrooted revenge in Montresor’s mind” which is an absolute portrayal of retribution that occurs due to arrogance and jealousy. Author sees himself as a superior individual and was victimized by a superiority complex which is quite visible through the phrases which he wrote in the story that Montressor expresses superiority as showed his victim as a foolish person by attributing weird physical appearance and dress appearance in which he described his dress code of “tight fitting parti striped dress and head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.”
To me this clearly is a hint that Montresor is already fed up by Fortunato’s insults and injuries, and clearly is going to seek his revenge later on the story. My second pick will be when Fortunato says "the cough 's a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough”, to which Montresor answers “True, true” (Poe). By saying this Montresor also gives us clue of the fact that there is a plan coming to Fortunato’s
You were not to be found, and I was fearful of losing a bargain (Poe 332)”. This revels Montresor notices that Fortunato is not able to tell Amontillado from Sherry as he is a great wine-lover. When Montresor is coughing, Fortunato is trying to convince him to leave: “Come,” I said with decision, “ we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was”. This shows jealousy and kindness of Montresor against Fortunato at the same time that is quite sarcastic. From this perspective, Montresor envious all of the things that Fortunato has and who is not reconciled to someone surpass him in the status. He mistakenly feels that this is the injury created by Fortunato resulting in his revenge. Therefore, he blame on Fortunato for all fault that he should eradicate him as soon as possible before he become a threatening when it is too late to take any action. Additionally, he does not even regret his choice and believes everything he does is right. This is because he tries so hard to makes an effort to draw Fortunato to his trap and put down his vigilance simultaneously by
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
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
Unlike “The Tell Tale Heart” were the narrator loved the old man just hated his eye, the narrator of “The Cask of Amontillado” hated Fortunato but did things that make it look like he loved him. Montresor approaches Fortunato with claiming to have acquired something that could pass for Amontillado. Here Montresor may seem like he is being nice but he really just using Fortunato’s love for wine against him. As they went through the catacombs Montresor gave Fortunato enough wine so that he would be drunk and would be oblivious of what was happening as they went deeper and deeper into the catacombs. Fortunato never expected this to be the plan but just as a simple act of kindness from Montresor. As mentioned in the introduction of this paper the narrator of this story wanted revenge. Why does the Montresor want revenge? Well it is mention in the story on page three “THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” but never gives us a full reason just that Fortunato insulted the Montresor in some
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
The Cask of Amontillado is an eloquent story narrated from the murderer’s point of view. Montressor seeks revenge against Fortunato for numerous insults the reader can only imagine. In order to determine the severity of the apparent injustices, Fortunato himself must be understood. Montressor describes him as being “rich, respected, admired, [and] beloved,” as well as “a man to be … feared” (Poe 274-276). Fortunato was a flawed individual, however. His greatest imperfection was his love for wine. Fortunato’s “connoisseurship” (274) of wine resulted in his intoxicated state throughout the short story. His physical and mental capacities were impaired by his drunkenness, and as a result, he was unable to resist Montressor’s lure into the catacombs.
In The Cask of Amontillado a very important symbol lies in the cask of Amontillado itself. Amontillado is an extremely rare and valuable vintage wine. However, its functionality and usefulness are especially limited. As a substance whose only real intention is to intoxicate the drinker, it perfectly summarizes Fortunato’s abandonment of reason and common sense in his pursuit of gaining wealth and power. Furthermore, Fortunato is not only oblivious to the insult he has given Montresor, but he blindly and drunkenly follows him into an obviously dangerous circumstance in the pursuit of the cask.
Due to this grave insult, Montresor has vowed to seek revenge on Fortunato. On a night of celebration, Montresor promises Fortunato a taste of the wine Amontillado which lies in his family’s catacombs. He guides a drunk and gullible Fortunato through a series of chambers beneath the palazzo. When reaching to the final chamber, Fortunato awaits his fate, which is being buried alive in the catacombs. Due to his intense desire to seek