The Cask Of Amontillado Essay

“The Cask of Amontillado” Through the Biographical Strategy Edgar Allan Poe’s life was filled with hardships and failures. When Poe was just two years old, his mom and his dad both passed away due to Tuberculosis. A year later, John and Frances Allan, a wealthy couple, adopted Poe. Frances Allan loved Poe very much. John, on the other hand, did not. John refused to pay for Poe’s college, although he easily had the capability. Instead, he sent him to the military. When Poe was thirty eight years old, Virginia, his wife, died of Tuberculosis. Poe also had a terrible drinking problem. Although it is upsetting to look back on what depressing events occured in Poe’s life, these events would shape Edgar Allan Poe into the writer that people know today. One story that shows many signs of struggle in Poe’s life is “The Cask of Amontillado.” Poe resorted to writing this story, as well as many other dark stories,

His parents, dying when he was just two, set the tone for what would happen to just about everybody that would get close with Poe. When Poe was 19, his foster mother, Frances, passed away. At age 21, Poe’s older brother, Henry, fell ill and passed away. Sixteen years later, his wife and cousin, Virginia, died from an illness as well. Everyone that Poe really cared about ended up passing away before Poe was even fourty. All of this death could have taken a toll on his mind and his thought process. In the story, the narrator also shows signs of possibly having something wrong with his mind as well. The story states, “He did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation”(737). This is a very dark action. To smile at the thought of killing another man is something that is totally not normal. This could be a sign that Edgar Allan Poe was also a little bit troubled in his mind after so many fatalities of loved ones. It is even possible that Poe had these thoughts about people that died in real