Cask Of Amontillado By Edgar Allen Poe

The Romantic literature period was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement in the the beginning to mid eighteen-hundreds. Two famous writers for this type of writing was Edgar Allen Poe and Washington Irving. Washington Irving wrote the short story of “The Devil and Tom walker.” Edgar Allen Poe wrote the short story of the cask of Amontillado. In this essay these topics will be touched on, theme, gothic elements, similar literary devices and characteristics of romanticism.

Both of these literary works have compelling themes but the theme that most closely relates the two short stories is Betrayal. They both use betrayal in similar ways. In “The Cask of Amontillado” the main character Montresor betrays his friend because

In “The Cask of Amontillado” there were many elements of gothic literature like death, a dark and disturbing setting and isolation. One part of the story contained all of these points. Here is the quote that shows it, “I placed my hand upon the solid fabric of the catacombs, and felt satisfied. I reapproached the wall; I replied to the yells of him who clamoured. I re-echoed, I aided, I surpassed them in volume and in strength. I did this, and the clamourer grew still.” (Poe) This shows that he has killed and he now feels satisfied like he has no more anger within himself. It also shows that they are alone because as they were both screaming no one heard them. “The Devil and Tom Walker” also has many elements of gothic literature. Two quotes that show the elements are, “He looked up, and beheld a bundle tied in a check apron, and hanging in the branches of the tree…”(Irving) and also “Tom seized the checked apron, but, woeful sight! found nothing but a heart and liver tied up in it!” (Irving). Both of these quotes show the errryness, the death, and also isolation. The quotes show isolation because they show that his wife's organs have been hanging in a tree for a day and no one noticed or saw them. The death part is pretty self explanatory because he found his wife's organs in her own

One way that Nature was used in this story was in the swamp when Tom first went to go and meet “Old Scratch” which was a “short cut”. Also nature was meant to be evil in this story a quote that shows this is, “...a gulf of black, smothering mud; there were also dark and stagnant pools, the abodes of the tadpole, the bullfrog, and the water-snake, where the trunks of pines and hemlocks lay half-drowned, half-rotting, looking like alligators sleeping in the mire.”(Irving) This shows how all of the animals are dark and creepy and all of the plants are dead and rotting in the swamp. On the other hand “The Cask of Amontillado” really didn't have nature in it. The one thing that could relate to nature in “The Cask of Amontillado” is when they first went into the catacombs with the nitre. The quote that supports this is ““The nitre!" I said; "see, it increases. It hangs like moss upon the vaults. We are below the river's bed. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones. Come, we will go back ere it is too late. Your cough --”(Poe). This quote supports the nature aspect because Nitre is a crystal compound that is made with sodium and