ipl-logo

Diction In The Cask Of Amontillado

624 Words3 Pages

In The Cask Of Amontillado, Poe uses word choice, figures of speech, sensory details, imagery, and sentence structure to portray a certain mood in his writing, This mood is usually dark, menacing, and invokes fear in the reader. One example of this is diction. Poe uses exquisite word choice to vividly explain a setting and actions. The way Poe crafts his words and chooses which words to explain scenes in the story gives the reader a great visual. For example, “The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy grew warm with the Medoc. We had passed through long walls of piled skeletons, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs” (pg, 2). This evidence shows the great word choice chosen …show more content…

The reader can also see the setting of the catacombs and see how dark and eerie they are. Poe also uses figures of speech to craft his story. One example of this is, “The bells upon his cap jingled as he strode” (pg. 2). This then appears again later in the story, “I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells” (pg. 4). This represents symbolism in the story, This is a type of figurative language that Poe uses in his stories a lot. He used the jingling of the bells on Fortunato’s cap to stand for the eeriness during the whole story. Also, to give a sort of calm and serenity sound to the story. As he explains the jingling of the bells, you can almost hear them ringing on the cap and you invision Fortunato. Whenever you read a scene with the bells in it, you get a weird yet mysterious mood. Another example of symbolism is, “Putting on a mask of black silk and drawing a cloak closely about my person” (pg. 2). The black silk represents the darkness and horrid effect of this story. It also adds mystery to the mood. Poe also uses vivid sensory details to craft his

Show More
Related
168 Words | 1 Pages

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

Read More
976 Words | 4 Pages

“I undid the lantern cautiously-oh, so cautiously --cautiously (for the hinges creaked)”(Poe). A grand amount of imagery is used in the quote to show the darkness of the story. Hinges creaking create a picture of an old, spooky house, therefore eluding to a darkened

Read More
635 Words | 3 Pages

This story is composed of a variety of rhetorical strategies that helps the audience understand the message the author is trying to pass on. Throughout the story, Edgar Allan Poe used a specific type of tone, he used symbolism, and personification to prove his dark point.

Read More
706 Words | 3 Pages

This example of symbolism was the one that stands out the most. The 7 chambers of Edgar Allen Poe are similar to the 7 stages of life of William Shakespeare. While Prince Prospero is rushing through the

Read More
844 Words | 4 Pages

Poe uses symbolism a lot in his stories to make his writing have a more eerie feeling. ”The Tell-Tale Heart” and “Masque of Red Death” both have symbols that induce fear into the main characters hearts. In The Tell-Tale Heart Poe writes “...for it was no the old man who vexed me but his evil eye “(75).The narrator kills an innocent old man for that hr thought the old man's eyes were judging. Although the old man just had cataracts ,the narrator could not stand the man for his eye he compared looked as vulture's eye. The narrator was afraid of this old man and his “evil eye”.

Read More
819 Words | 4 Pages

Poe, who is often known for using challenging and varying sentence structure, uses elements of syntax such as polysyndeton and parallel structure to create a dark and ominous mood. Poe uses syntax in the first paragraph when he starts several sentences with “But in the…” and then names a specific room. This is effective because he describes each room with different features, but each feature has an equally discomforting feeling accompanying it. He uses polysyndeton in the second paragraph when he described the sound the clock made; he wrote, “...there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and exceedingly musical.” The combination of the different qualities of the sound are important because not only does it mirror the complex reaction the characters have to it, but it illustrates the significance of the clock.

Read More
886 Words | 4 Pages

Poe tries to evoke suspense in the reader's mind by using several different

Read More
1054 Words | 5 Pages

The fictional short story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe takes place in the catacombs of Montresor’s palace, during the carnival’s climax. The story begins when Montresor, the villain of the story, vows revenge on Fortunato. Throughout the story, the author doesn't tell us what the revenge will be, but his choice of words in the details creates a mood in the reader. The author’s detailed description in the short story creates different moods in the reader like anger, satisfaction, curiosity, and victory because the chosen words connect with the audience.

Read More
1072 Words | 5 Pages

In The Cask of Amontillado the foreshadowing can been seen in very start when Montresor is talking to a person and telling about his killing and getting away with if it. The foreshadowing also can be seen when Fortunato and Montresor are getting a vine called “DeGrave” and when they are walking in there there is bodies chained and bones hanging on the walls foreshadowing Fortunato 's faith. In both stories Poe uses well placed foreshadows and they make the reader wonder more of what will happen next and how will the story end. Poes plots are

Read More
698 Words | 3 Pages

In Poe’s stories, the main characters experience fear, but they all handle it distinctively. Poe uses irony, symbolism, and imagery to show how fear affects the narrator’s mindset, along with their future.     In “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Masque of Red Death”, the main characters try to isolate themselves from evil, but Poe uses irony to show that death is inevitable.

Read More
945 Words | 4 Pages

In “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Poe uses varieties of figurative language, like similes and hyperbole. Furthermore, in “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator uses his “acute hearing” as a sense of hyperbole. For instance, ”But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst(76)”. The narrator makes it out to seem like he has some sort of super hearing where he can hear the actual heartbeat of the old man.

Read More
618 Words | 3 Pages

An example of a way Poe uses this is when he adds syntax to his writing in Tell-Tale Heart. “ ....Louder-Louder-Louder”(paragraph 37). This small fragment is an excellent example of how Poe expresses tone and reveal a frightening atmosphere that adds to the gothic and horror theme. Also in Poe's poem Annabel Lee, Poe uses extreme detail explaining the seas symbolism that reveals a lost love of Poe, his dead wife.. “In her sepulchre there by the sea, In her tomb by the sounding sea”(Stanza 6).

Read More
1822 Words | 8 Pages

Whether it’s guilt overriding their senses, killing someone because of a fear, the fear of being buried alive, the fear of disease, fear of the dead, fear of dying. In “Cask of Amontillado” (1846), Poe plays on the fear of being entombed. He projects these fears onto the reader. He uses dark language to project a horrific setting, such as putting an emphasis on the catacomb—how dark and decrepit it is: “We descended, passed on, and descending again, arrive in the deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame” (21). The walls “had been lined with human remains” just like the Catacombs in Paris.

Read More
552 Words | 3 Pages

“The Use of Irony in "The Cask of Amontillado" Edgar Allan Poe is a phenomenal writer and makes many points in his writings. There are three different ways in Poe 's writing of "The Cask of Amontillado" that irony is used: verbal, situational and dramatic. Verbal irony can be seen when Montresor first sees Fortunato at the carnival. Situational irony is also used and can be seen between the meaning of Fortunato 's name and his destiny, as well as Montresor 's response to his own. The last way irony is used is dramatic irony, this can be seen by any reader, this occurs when Montresor tells Fortunato he is also a mason.

Read More
855 Words | 4 Pages

After Poe was honorably discharged from the military, he married his 12 year old cousin who died shortly of tuberculosis. These events heavily contributed to his writing style by giving events to base stories as well as a viewpoint on the world. Overall, Edgar Allan Poe’s twisted and ominous writing style focuses on using physical imagery and connotative syntax to show imagery. Through Poe’s short stories and poems, Edgar Allan Poe visual and metaphorical imagery to illustrate the theme of revenge and death. In the short story, The Cask of Amontillado, Poe uses strong descriptive adjectives and physical descriptions to convey imagery.

Read More

More about Diction In The Cask Of Amontillado

Open Document