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Symbolism In The Cask Of The Amontillado

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“I want to show people how there are variations and different interpretations of good and evil.” -Hideo Kojima. This quote shows us that nothing is exactly what it is and that everything is subject to different standpoints whether good or bad. Every action or event has the ability to be justified. It just depends on the perceiver. The Gothic Short story “The Cask of the Amontillado” By Edgar Allen Poe sheds light onto common human ambitions and characteristics, whether it is the lust for revenge, power, or class struggle. The story is told through a first person narrative in which the narrator gives the reader precise accounts on his endeavour for revenge. In “The Cask of The Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, the author establishes this idea of revenge through …show more content…

To begin with, revenge is established through the use of symbolism in “The Cask of the Amontillado”, and allows the act to be viewed through a marxist lense. The Marxist lense is a literary criticism based of of the theories of Karl Marx. A person of this school of thought would focus on the class differences, economic or otherwise, as well as the implications and complications of a capitalist system. Marx even asserts that, “There will always be conflict between the upper, middle, and lower (working) classes and this cycle of contradiction revolution and tension must continue”. “The Cask of the Amontillado” fits into this school of thought as it deals with class struggles between the evidently upper class (Fortunato) and the evidently lower class (Montresor). One of the first encounters of this class struggle can be seen where it says, ““The Montresors”, I replied, “were a great and numerous family,” the quote continues with Fortunato replying “I forget you arms”” (Poe 4). In this section of the story Montresor is telling Fortunato how great his family was and

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Due to the use of first person in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” Montresor’s syntax and diction are the only mechanisms used to characterize Fortuno in the story. This subjects the perception of both Fortuno and Montresor to a great deal of bias. Although Montresor claims that Fortuno has committed “a thousand injuries” (127) there are never any specific instances of his treachery cited within the text.

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“The Cask of Amontillado,” by Edgar Allen Poe is a story about revenge. The protagonist, Montressor, is confessing to a “you” about a murder that he had committed in the past. To determine the “you” the social classes of Montressor, the location of the story and revenge must be analyzed. In the story, Montressor speaks about Fortunato and says, “He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine.” (Poe)

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Montresor tortures Fortunato, both physiologically and physically. Montresor clearly gives Fortunato “multiple chances to escape his fate” (Delany 34), as he gives Fortunato obvious clues to his true intensions. These include leading Fortunato into a place for the dead, telling Fortunato not to go due to his severe cough that made it “impossible to reply” (Poe 5) at times, reminding Fortunato of his family arms, mentioning Luchesi, and showing Fortunato a trowel. Montresor seems to receive morbid joy out of the fact that Fortunato is so intoxicated that, just like the foot on Montresor’s coat of arms, he is unintentionally “stepping into his own destruction” (Cervo

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In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Edgar Allan Poe displays the theme of revenge and manipulation. The narrator Montresor pledges revenge on Fortunato for an insult that is never explained. He maintains an appearance of goodwill towards Fortunato and decides to make use of Fortunato's weakness for fine wines against him. During the carnival season, the narrator approaches Fortunato, telling him that he has come across something that could pass for Amontillado a rare and expensive wine. Fortunato being excited about the news insists on accompanying Montresor to the vaults to determine whether it is Amontillado or not.

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What is imagery? Imagery makes it simple to visualize the events in a story in a way that it is appealing to the reader. The author of “The Most Dangerous Game” and “The Cask of Amontillado” utilized different methods to efficiently use imagery throughout the two stories. Connell states, “Night found him leg-weary, with hands and face lashed by the branches, on a thickly wooded ridge” (Feldman 230). This example of imagery represents Rainsford’s lousy condition, lack of strength and exhaustion due to his presence on Trap Island.

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Furthermore, Poe uses Montresor’s smile as a symbol that reveals that Montresor is malevolent. When Montresor gets closer to Fortunato, the narrator reveals “he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation”(59). This shows that Fortunato does not expect Montresor’s true intentions. Fortunato is blinded by the intoxication and flattery words Montresor uses, for he is too arrogant. The audience knows what Montresor’s intentions are, but Fortunato does not know them.

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This connection between words and the readers created a different mood as the story progressed from one event to another. Poe described the events with much detail it helped readers envision the events. Montresor’s revenge had readers entertained and feeling different moods as they discovered what was Montresor’s

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The Cask of Amontillado Argumentative Essay Edgar Allen Poe is a famous writer who is well-known for his short stories. The Cask of Amontillado is one of Poe’s short stories which is about two men, Montresor and Fortunato. Fortunato did something to Montresor, the act is unknown, but it angered Montresor badly enough to make him feel the need to seek revenge. The story portrays Montresor’s long, drawn out plan to kill Fortunato. In the story, it is clear that he was set on killing Fortunato, because of his actions and emotions shown toward Fortunato.

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A Questionable Flaw In a fight between good versus evil, good is the recurring victor. However, when the good and evil are fighting within oneself, the outcome is not as desired as we wish it would be. Abraham Lincoln once said, “I would rather be a little nobody than an evil somebody.” Although good should definitely triumph evil, most people struggle between the two and it is a recurrent flaw.

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#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.

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Symbolism is something that figuratively represents something else, which is prominent in the both stories “The Cask of Amontillado”, and “Young Goodman Brown”. Friend is someone who should be trusted, but what happen when that trust no longer exist? According to the story of “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allan Poe stages the facts of humiliation and revenge which is the result of losing life by own friend. Through the story, Montresor is the vengeful character and Fortunato is the victim. On the other hand, what will happen when the good people lost their faith, trust, puritanism?

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Have you ever been insulted or judged by someone for something you did or the way you represent yourself to society? In the short story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, it talks about two friends Montresor and Fortunato, whose fates are determined by murder and revenge. Montresor planned to seek revenge on his friend for the insults he has committed despite Fortunato who isn’t aware of Montresor anger. The author of “The Cask of Amontillado” used symbolism and imagery to describe the theme of revenge.

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The “Symbols” of Amontillado Symbols can tell a story in a deeper sense of detail through characters, setting, and even their environment. Objects, characters, or their emotions can give valuable information; information that lets the reader know about what might happen further in the story. Edgar Allen Poe’s, “The Cask of Amontillado” has many different kinds of symbols tell how unfortunate Fortunato is by his own Name his friend Montresors name, and the Coat of Arms in the cellar. To start off, Fortunato’s name is a symbol in itself because of what kind of character he is. His name has the key word “fortune” and his name also means lucky in Italian, which means that the character Fortunato should be a lucky person.

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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.

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For the rest of Montresor’s life, he has to hold on to the secret that he murdered Fortunato. Secrets such as these take a toll on individuals. Another take on “The Cask of Amontillado” is that Fortunato acts as a symbol for Montresor. By killing Fortunato, Montresor is also symbolically killing a part of himself that he is ashamed to possess.

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