The Cask Of Amontillado By Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe remarked in The Philosophy of Composition that he believed that “poetry, even more than fiction, provides the possibility of taking the reader out of body, in effect out of time…” (“Edgar Allan Poe” 734). Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809 and his parents were Elizabeth Arnold and David Poe Jr. Both his parents presumably died in their early 20s and lived with The Allans, a foster family who took him in. Poe had a troublesome relationship with John Allan, his foster father because Poe would accumulate $2000 in debt, which got him kicked out of university. Mr. Allan would eventually order Poe out of his house due to a quarrel. The 18-year-old Poe would head for Baltimore until he would head to his birthplace. Many of Edgar Allan

One gothic element that The Cask of Amontillado has is a labyrinth-like structure by having the catacombs. This element usually helps shape the tone and emotions that the characters will have. The labyrinth can also play into the theme of a story and also be used as a metaphor for something in the story. The catacombs create this eerie feeling that both the characters and the reader feels, and this is shown by it saying, “My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so”(Poe “The Cask of Amontillado” 790). The labyrinth-like structure of the catacombs helps foreshadow what’s to come. Its claustrophobic feeling gives a subtle hint to the reader of what's to come, and it plays into adding to the atmosphere and mystery that the story has. Clearly, the setting that Edgar Allan Poe selected was intentional, so it would contribute to the tone that he was creating for the

This gothic element creates this idea of death and decay in the catacombs, which will play heavily near the end of the story. One of the times that death is brought up is when the book says, “Within the thus exposed by the displacing of the bones, we perceived a still interior crypt or recess, in depth about four feet, in width three, in height six or seven”(Poe “The Cask of Amontillado” 788-789). This shows death and decay by having them move the bones, which makes an obvious mention of death. Them entering the crypt represents a passage into death because Fortuna is practically walking toward his demise by entering the crypt. The quote also helps further the idea of this claustrophobic space by stating the exact measurements, which allows the reader to picture how small it is. Edgar Allan Poe uses the crypt and the remains inside of the crypt as an element to show that Fortuna is walking towards his