Unfortunate Fate in “The Cask of Amontillado” From the beginning of the of the story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator, Montresor, opens the story stating that the “thousand injuries” and irreparable insult caused by Fortunato won’t stay unpunished, and he seeks for revenge (Poe 467). Poe creates a sense of terror while he guides the audience to the unexpected revenge. The terror that Poe creates in the audience is only successful due to the use of literary elements. The use of symbolism, foreshadowing, and irony are essential to build the suspense that guides the reader throughout the story to a tragic ending.
In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Edgar Allen Poe uses visual imagery to create suspense. At a crucial point in the story the main character Montresor says “my heart grew sick on account of the dampness of the catacombs.” Here Montresor is contemplating whether or not to “take out” Fortunato. While wandering through the catacombs Montresor intentionally gives Fortunato more wine so that he does not realize he is going further and further into the catacombs. When the reader hears him say “my heart grew sick” that raises the question of why, Montresor feels bad for Fortunato at this specific time in the story. The reader is found in suspense wondering what is going to happen next is Montresor going to kill Fortunato or not?
The Cask of Amontillado is a story that shows just far people will go for revenge. Poe uses the story to send the message to the reader that revenge can only sometimes be settled by death. Fortunato was not so fortunate with his death for being very prideful in his wine tasting skills. Montresor was indeed a monster for wanting to kill Fortunato over a small insult.
In the short story “The Cask of Amontillado”, Edgar Allan Poe uses hyperboles to develop a theme of revenge and retaliation in the plot. Montressor commits much time to bring across “the thousand injuries [for] Fortunato, ...but when [Fortunato] ventured upon insult” Montresor deems revenge (Poe, 1). In this device of a hyperbole which is implied in the hook of the story, the tone and theme of the plot is already starting to set. The over-exaggeration of the many injuries Montresor says he has set up for Fortunato, and the addition of the insults Fortunato provides already describe the disputes between the two.
Foreshadowing is another literary technique that Poe successfully embeds in “The Cask of Amontillado title itself. The word “Cask” in the title portrays/resembles the idea of a real casket where a person lays after their death, which persuades the reader to come to the conclusion that the story involves the death of an individual. Additionally, another substantial moment of foreshadowing entertaining with hyperbole is the opening line of “The Cask of Amontillado”. Poe begins the story with Montresor vowing his revenge upon Fortunato “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge”, which foreshadows Fortunato’s death as Montresor had suffered enough of the insults.
The author's choice of words helps create the mood of shock because he describes Montresor’s actions after Fortunato gets a sense of what is being done to him. The author’s description keeps readers in shock because they can’t believe how cold Montresor was. Even though he never showed the side of him, he had it all along. The author’s use of words in the description makes the readers feel like they are in the story wondering what will happen next. Poe wanted the reader to understand what was going on in the “Cask of Amontillado”, so he wrote a detailed story choosing words that connected with his readers.
The reader’s experience of a piece of literature is affected by the mood of the work, or the feeling it instills in the reader. Authors apply various methods to help set a specific mood, including various sensory details, or imagery, as well as other descriptions. A common type of mood found in literature is an anxious, suspenseful mood.
The Ultimate Revenge in “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allen Poe’s twisted nature is well represented in the unique writing style of “The Cask of Amontillado”. This short story takes the reader into the mind of a vengeful murderer who seeks the ultimate revenge. Throughout the writing, Poe combines emotion and imagery to impact to the reader. The construction of this dark and sinister work is manipulated by Poe by using the theme, point of view and tone.
Edgar Allan Poe wrote “The Cask of Amontillado” in 1846 to resemble a carnival at night. But, Poe had a secret lurking under the setting of the carnival. The Cask of Amontillado features Montresor and his best tricks to get Fortunato alone and to kill him. Montresor’s plan begins the night of the carnival, then to luring Fortunato away from the carnival, and finally to chaining Fortunato up in the catacomb under his house.
#1 Young Goodman Brown’s journey symbolizes his eye-opening of what the real world is. He realizes that the people he knew weren’t the people he once knew. At first, something that may strike a reader is the devil saying to the catechism teacher, “Then Goody Cloyse knows her old friend(80).” first showing that some aren’t who he thinks.
“The Cask of Amontillado” Précis (1). In the short story “The Cask of Amontillado,” Edgar Allan Poe explores the evil that is within us, for example. (2) In the text, Montresor seeks revenge on Fortunato for all of Fortunato’s wrongs toward Montresor by luring Fortunato into his family catacombs and burying him alive (GO OVER WITH GROUP) .(3) Poe displays the evil within us through the use of Irony and first-person narration.
Along with irony and characterization, symbolism is used to prove that people hold grudges, their pride of identity gives way to revenge, which can end in a fatality. The wine and apple are symbolic of temptation. Montresor is deep in the catacombs with Fortunato, but the only thing that he is focused on is the wine, not his safety. They are both used to make them think that they are getting what they want, but instead the opposite happens. “But I must first render you all the little attentions in my power.’
"The Cask of Amontillado", by Edgar Allen Poe shows much about the themes of revenge and karma from the setting of the story. In this story, one of the main characters named Montresor wants to seek revenge on Fortunato, because he has wronged him. So to seek revenge they both were at a carnival and Montresor lured him down into his catacombs where he buries him and leaves him to die. This shows that Montresor got his revenge and Fortunato got bad karma for wronging him.
Before reading the short story “The Cask of Amontillado,” the class was asked to come up with a character analysis while choosing to focus on the character Montresor, who is the protagonist of the wicked tale. The narrator of the short story is Montresor, who tells the readers how he was able to get away with murdering Fortunato, who was a former friend of his. Many times throughout the short story Montresor expresses himself and allows the readers to know his thoughts while he relives what had happened on the day he murdered Fortunato. By knowing the narrator’s thoughts, readers can easily make a character analysis by using characters words, actions, and thoughts. After conducting a character analysis on the character Montresor in the short
Edgar Allan Poe is most famous for the gothic themes he presents in his writings, this was no exception for Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”. Several important ideas are brought up about the story’s central theme of revenge. These ideas can be broken down into 3 parts: the incentive, the extent, and the reaction of the person partaking in revenge. It is essential to consider these ideas while reading Poe’s story, in order to comprehend his views on revenge. It also provides the reader the ability to question their own views on revenge as well as compare it with Poe’s.
