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How Does Edgar Allan Poe Create Horror?

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He was abandoned by everyone who loved him, watched them all die, and lived a life filled with the painful memories they had left. Edgar Allan Poe was an early nineteenth century critic, editor, poet, and writer whose life was flooded with fear and pain from an early age on. Because of these experiences he has come to be known as one of the greatest horror authors in literary history. One of his stories, The Cask of Amontillado, reflects his unique writing ability of causing the reader to feel fear especially well. In this short story, Poe creates horror by entering the mind of the killer, bringing terrors that, traditionally, are never perceived. Poe first takes the perspective of the murderer by showing the chilling premeditation of the narrator and killer, Montresor. Montresor can hardly bear the rage he feels toward Fortunado, so he plots the ultimate revenge against him. Montresor decides that “The thousand injuries of Fortunado I had borne as best as I could; but when he ventured upon on …show more content…

This is seen when Montresor seems to feel guilt for his murder but doesn’t have the will or regret to stop himself from finishing it. He states while considering whether to put the last brick of his wall into place that, “My heart grew sick- on account of the dampness of the catacombs (231).” Montresor clearly denies what he knows is wrong; he fails to overcome the hate he feels for Fortunado with what he knows is right. As soon as the reader begins to feel hope that Montresor will give in to his guilt and set Fortunado free, Montresor blames his sickness on the catacombs and finishes the evil deed. The crushing of the last hope for Fortunado is truly terrifying; the act could never be undone, and Fortunado would die. This terrible act, seen and executed from the prospect of the reckless killer himself, brings serious dismay to the

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When it comes to writting performance, Poe is so graceful with his purpose from sentence to sentence. Poe starts his story in a strange way because readers do not know exactly about Fortunato ’s personaily, he insults Montresor whether seriously or not which enables him to receive severe revenge and the result of Fortunato is seemingly predicted : “ A wrong is unredressed....who has done the wrong” (1). In addition, every single detail contains many implications of irony. The name of the victim, Fortunato, means “ the fortunate one”.

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Throughout the short story, The Cask of Amontillado, the author, Edgar Allan Poe, displays countless literary devices that create a specific effect. These devices help create a suspenseful and interesting story for the readers. Without these devices, the story, would not be as compelling and engaging as it would be with the devices. The literary elements allow the reader to analyze and interpret the text and make it more exhilarating for the reader. In the story, point of view, irony and foreshadowing are present.

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In the story, Montresor is angry at Fortunato. So Montresor decides to get revenge. He dismisses the servants, of his house, so as not to interrupt his plan. He deceives and leads Fortunato down into his family catacombs. While this is happening, Fortunato is under the belief that he’s going down to get a cask of amontillado.

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Montresor’s Revenge The killing of Fortunato was no mistake. In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor gets revenge on Fortunato by locking him in a catacomb until he dies. Poe’s use of irony helps to describe the characters and make this short story of revenge interesting to read since no one knows why Montresor is getting revenge. Montresor is a vengeful and manipulative person.

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This causes Montresor to get his revenge by luring Fortunato from the carnival into his catacombs. Montresor, abusing the fact that Fortunato was in a drunken state, leads him into a niche in his catacombs and seals him in there. The traits that allow him to pull off the murder are his intelligence, how cunning he is, and finally how methodical he is. Montresor proves his intelligence many times throughout the poem.

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After burying Fortunato alive and sealing him in the walls of the catacombs, Montresor walks away and leaves his victim to die a slow, agonizing death. When the catacombs go silent and his victims screams cease, Montresor’s heart “…grow[s] sick” showing his contrition (Poe 67). When Montresor’s heart grows sick it displays a feeling of guilt for murdering his old friend; however, it also proves that he had gone through with his plan and locked Fortunato away for good. To show remorse to feel guilt for something you performed; when Montresor shows guilt for his crimes, he proves that he went through with them and should get blamed for the

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This article basically talks about how Edgar Allan Poe wrote great stories, and how he helped carry them on and helped inspire others. It talks about all of his stories like “The Tell Tale Heart”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Raven” and more. Edgar Allan Poe is known for his stories that make the audience jump and he has “feverish imagery that pops off the screen”. In 1953, an animated version of the “Tell Tale Heart” was created and was “unsettling enough that the “British Board of Film Censors gave it an “X” rating, the first ever for a cartoon.” Crazy right?

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Therefore, I believe that Montresor’s motive for murdering Fortunato is not as important to the story as the method he uses, and that Poe’s is using the method of binding a victim as a an allegory of the triumph of providence over the concept of a

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Edgar Allan Poe was and still is one of the most admired writers in the world. Many who admired him loves his great ideas and thoughts throughout story writing,but what influenced this amazing writer to write horror stories?Some would say because of his childhood. When Edgar was two his mother Elizabeth Poe died in a fire,leaving her three children orphans. Until his grandmother came to get Henry. Then Poe was adopted by Mr and Mrs John and Rosalie Allen.

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Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most well-known authors throughout the whole world. A lot of people wonder, is he actually a gothic fiction writer? Some people think that he is a gothic fiction author because, throughout all of his different stories and poems, almost all of them follow the criteria needed to be met. Edgar Allan Poe as wrote over fifty different stories and short stories, some of the people’s favorites would include, “The Mask of Red Death”, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, and “The Cask of Amontillado”. There are multiple different examples and reasons of why Edgar All Poe is a gothic literature author, but I will only list three.

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Fortunato is then put into chains by Montresor. This can be represented by the statement, “My heart grew sick on account of the dampness of the

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Due to the first person point of view, Poe’s literary work offers an insight into his desire for vengeance and the downfall of others with the utmost brilliance. Throughout the story, its narration is done by Montresor and is told

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Consumed with rage, the narrator (Montresor) vows to kill the wine-taster Fortunato for irreparably offending him. Luring a drunk Fortunato into the catacombs of the Montresor family with stories of a cask filled with a rare brandy named Amontillado, Montresor eventually leads Fortunato into a man-sized hole where Montresor chained, locked up, and psychologically tortured him before finally suffocating him to his death. During their “journey” throughout the catacombs, Montresor shows absolutely no regret or guilt for his plan to murder Fortunato. His comments are very ironic, but never remorseful: “ ‘I drink,’ [Fortunato] said, ‘to the buried that repose around us.’ ‘And I to your long life.’

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1118 Words | 5 Pages

Montresor betrays Fortunato by acting as a friend and pretending to lead him to a rich wine, but instead to his death. Poe describes how well Montresor deceives Fortunato by stating, “It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as was my won't, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation” (236). Montresor’s whole plan for revenge lies with deceiving Fortunato into believing him and following him deep into the catacomb where he can be avenged. Throughout the story Montresor refers to Fortunato as “My friend” and when greeting him he exclaims, “My dear Fortunato you are luckily met”, he does this in order to trick Fortunato into trusting him and following him to his death (237).

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The author Edgar Allen Poe was born in 1809, he is a well-known and spoken author, known for the portrayal of gothic and morbid writing techniques. Understanding the world view and living conditions Edgar Allan Poe experiences while writing the Cask of Amontillado, helps with the readers appreciation and understanding of the writing. According to, Biography.com, Poe had a hard life of trials but found joy in his writings also making most of his stories about personal life situations and hardships. Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “A Cask of Amontillado,” portrays foreshadowing through irony, Montresor leading Fortunato to the catacombs, and the trowel that Montresor kept in his coat. The first literary technique that Poe utilizes in, “A Cask of Amontillado” to portray foreshadowing is irony.

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