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Comparing The Horror In The Cask Of Amontillado By Edgar Allan Poe

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Modern classics such as the novels written by Stephen King are masterful examples of suspenseful horror that have been read by millions worldwide. However, many people don’t know about one of the foremost authors of early horror, Edgar Allan Poe. Poe helped to solidify the horror genre, using distinct stylistic ideas in all of his short stories, such as “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Black Cat”, and “The Cask Of Amontillado”. Poe utilizes many similar tools and formats for his gothic stories, creating a distinct format that he consistently adheres to. Poe in part codifies the horror genre through his use of suspense, while also managing to slip in ironic scenarios throughout his short stories. Poe’s use of horror in his stories is consistently graphic, but more so disturbingly calm and sadistic in nature. In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, after suffocating his master, the narrator calmly and methodically divides up the corpse in order to more easily hide it. He describes this in vivid detail, “The night waned, and I worked hastily, but …show more content…

He describes the sounds he hears as he walls Fortunato into the small enclosed space, “There was then a long and obstinate silence. I laid the second tier, and the third, and the fourth; and then I heard the furious vibration of the chain. The noise lasted for several minutes, during which, that I might hearken to it with more satisfaction, I ceased my labors and sat down upon the bones” (Poe, “The Cask Of Amontillado” 9). The lack of vision in this scene instills a great deal of suspense in the story. Limited only to the sounds emitting from the chamber, the narrator knows not what is happening within. Throughout the process of laying the bricks for the wall, the reader doesn’t know if Fortunato is about to escape at any point. This suspense parallels other cases within Poe’s other

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Poe’s stories “Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” display the dark romantic theme of a man’s soul by the development of the setting, plot, and characterization. As both stories begin, the initial device used to advance the theme is setting, which remains grim and sinister throughout the duration of both stories. Accompanying these physical details is the plot, each of which includes the murder of an innocent man. Most notably, the characterization of each piece’s narrator allows the audience to fully understand their internal struggle and its final resolution. While “Cask of Amontillado” contains an overall intriguing and unexpected plot as well as setting, the narrator’s characterization proves this story to conclude in a less

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The authors also want the readers to have a mutual hatred towards Fortunato. 2. The techniques the author uses to help the readers visualize the place, people, and the events taking place within the story is imagery. He goes into details about the settings, and he also describes the coldness of being underground. The author also uses foreshadowing “I shall not die of a cough” and Montresor says “true” meaning he’ll probably die from dehydration and starvation in the vault.

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With the creepy setting of Cask, Connell was able to use a plethora of nerve-racking words. This included the sentence in paragraph 69 of Cask that says, “At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious.” By using words like “remote” and “crypt” he created a suspenseful image in the reader’s head that foreshadowed at the death of Fortunado. Furthermore, it says, “It was in vain that Fortunato, uplifting his dull torch, endeavored to pry into the depth of the recess. Its termination the feeble light did not enable us to see” (70).

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Poe is able to build suspense through foreshadowing. Montressor is dressed in black and looks ominous while Fortunato is dressed as a jester, implying that he is about to made a fool of. On their way into the vault, Montressor continues to mention how they should turn back because the potassium nitrate could make Fortunato sick. This leads the readers to believe that it is possible that Fortunato will relent and go back, but deep down inside it’s obvious that Fortunato is never going to make it out of the vault

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657 Words | 3 Pages

Next, Montresor replies, “It is this, I answered, producing from beneath the folds of my roquelaire trowel.” (239). Although Fortunato does not understand that Montresor has lured him into the catacombs of his home with the intentions of murdering him, but the reader knows

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Without, further ado let’s analyze Edgar Allan Poe’s writing The Tell-Tale Heart. The first horror genre element I noticed in his writing was an internal source of horror.

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The quote shows the author's details create a shocking mood in the readers because he describes a detailed image the helps the reader envision what is going on. This action takes the audience by surprise because they know Montresor is getting revenge, but they aren’t told what it will be so they are as clueless as Fortunato. Montresor threw a torch in the niche where he tied Fortunato up and he finished closing up the wall, killing a man who considered him a friend. “I thrust a torch to the remaining aperture and let it fall within… I force the last stone into position; I plastered it up.” (pg7)

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Edgar Allan Poe’s frightening gothic style poetry and short novels about fear, love, death and horror are prominent to Gothic Literature and explore madness through a nerve-recking angle. The incredible, malformed author, poet, editor and novelist is recognized for his famous classical pieces such as “The Raven”, “Berenice” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”, pieces of work that mystically yet magnificently awakens readers with a gloomy spirit. Awakening the subject of madness through written work was viewed as insane during Poe’s times. Yet Poe published some of the worlds most magnificently frightening pieces of literature throughout history. In the following essay I will examine and cautiously analyze

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Montresor had sent all of his servents away so that he could lure a drunk fortunato down the damp vaults. Fortunato, who was

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The theme of evil is also one important theme to analyze which is significantly pronounced throughout the story. The presence of evil manifests further as the story goes on, with Montresor demonstrating more and more evil acts as he lures Fortunato deeper into the catacombs. The author amplifies the suspense by describing the coldness, darkness, and bones that surrounded the characters. With this intention he plays out his act of revenge of eventually burying Fortunato alive, which consequently drives Fortunato to express fear, desperation, and disbelieve of his current situation. By the same token Montresor takes some time piling rocks to bury Fortunato thus he takes time to enjoy the cries coming from him while he urges Fortunato to leave the catacombs, knowing that he had chained him to the wall and was also buried, making it impossible for him to leave.

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The scary tone has a trend through all of his stories which makes the reader more engaged. In “The Tell Tale Heart” Poe talks about death and how an eye viewed as, “an evil eye” could cause someone to kill. It took some time, but Poe lead the whole story up to the gruesome murder scene. “First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and then the legs.

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As well as the irony of not only Fortuanto’s name but also how it seemed that the entire way down Fortunato didn’t even notice the bones on the walls, which doubled in effect given he is going to be spending the rest of his life surrounded by them. Towards the end of the story Montressor describes to the reader how he locked up Fortunato: “Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. ”(Poe 88). When the Montressor describes how he left Fortuanto by himself to rot, and how he changed the setting in a way so no one would ever find Fortuanto, Poe is able to convey to the reader how much Montressor hated Fortuanto.

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The way Poe sets up his story with the tension could create a fearful atmosphere. He did not just focus on portraying a narrator with a certain fear, he would use language that would make the reader feel fear. He packed in images of darkness and horror in order to create these atmospheres that presented fear in many different ways. Poe being known as a master of the horror

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768 Words | 4 Pages

Down in the catacombs, Montresor is teasing Fortunato. Then Montresor is starting to put the wall up with Fortunato in it alive, “I had finished a portion of the last and the eleventh ; there remained, but a single stone to be fitted and plastered in. I struggled with its weight ; I place it partially in its destined position.” (page 4) Montresor was killing Fortunato alive, by putting him in the wall and covering it up so that no one will be able to find him. He wanted him to suffer and die a long, slowly death.

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1056 Words | 5 Pages

Gothic Elements in the “The Tell Tale Heart” The classic short story of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, written by one of the all time masters of horror, Edgar Allen Poe, has always been used as an excellent example of Gothic fiction. Edgar Allen Poe specialized in the art of gothic writing and wrote many stories that portrayed disturbing events and delved deeply into the minds of its characters. In "The Tell-Tale Heart," Poe revolves the plot around a raving individual who, insisting that he is sane, murders an old man because of his` “vulture eye”. The three main gothic elements that are evident in this story are the unique setting, the theme of death and decay, and the presence of madness.

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