Poe wrote in the “Masque of the Red Death,” “The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men,” (Poe 1). It goes to show to what length people will go to survive. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor's cellar represented the embodiment of death
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?
Mood is what draws a reader’s emotion to a story. The mood sets the scene for a story to play out on. In “ The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe there is a strong mood that drives the story. The mood is dark, angry, and mysterious. Key details and scenes help illustrate the mood.
As Edgar Allan Poe writes “The Cask Of Amontillado,” he writes of two “friends” that go into a deep dark catacombs to find an inexistant cask of wine. Montresor tricks a former friend, Fortunato, whom he now hate, into the dark catacombs in order to kill him. Edgar uses the torches as they venture further into the catacombs as a clear indicator of the tone. The further the duo ventured into the catacombs “the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame.” With less and less light illuminating the surroundings, the more dark and menacing the tone became.
In his short story, The Cask of Amontillado Edgar Allan Poe creates the suspense by using his narrator Montressor who opens up the story by telling us about his hatred towards Fortunado for the wrong and insults he has inflicted upon him without disclosing any detail so taking his reader by surprise. After this Poe creates another suspense about his costly and rear wine. Montressor entices Fortunado by tell him about the wine knowing his weakness and making him prey for it and fell in to the trap and suspense created by him about the rear quality of wine and takes him to his house. Poe also creates suspense through the settings describing the details about the inside environment of his wine cellar, when they reach the wine cellar.
In the short horror story “The Cask of Amontillado” written by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe uses several literary devices to make the story more horror filled. The story begins with Montresor, the narrator, explaining why he wants to get revenge towards his “friend”. Montresor wants to see Fortunato dead because Montresor was insulated by Fortunato. Poe uses figurative language like: dramatic irony, verbal irony, and foreshadowing to give the reader clues about how Montresor tricks Fortunato and kills him. Poe’s uses dramatic irony and gives the reader something Fortunato does not know yet.
Symbolism in The Cask of Amontillado Symbolism can be found almost everywhere when reading. It can elevate the quality of a certain scene, description, or speech. With this being said the short story, “The Cask of Amontillado,” written by Edar Allan Poe uses symbolism to very proficiently describe its scenes, main characters, and personalities.
‘Fortunato’. I only heard a soft, low sound, a half-cry of fear. My heart grew sick.’” The plot of The Cask of Amontillado is shown at the beginning of the first paragraph, where it mentions how Fortunato had spoken wrongly of his proud family name. However, Edgar Allan Poe utilizes different examples of theme throughout his work,
Setting and Tone: The Cask of Amontillado In The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe, Montresor murders Fortunato, who has offended him several times, by taking advantage of his enjoyment of wine. The central idea of the story is that alcoholism can lead to one’s demise due to its impacts on a person's mind. The settings of the festive carnival and the change to the unsettling catacomb of the Montresor family juxtapose one another and develops the central idea by representing the descent into mortality caused by alcoholism.
In Edgar Allan Poe's classic thrilling story "The Cask of Amontillado", Poe does a great job setting up a dark and suspenseful mood. When you are analyzing a story and looking at the mood, you must not get this confused with tone. The mood of a story is the feeling that the reader gets from reading the story. The tone is the feeling the author has toward the subject of his or her story. Poe brilliantly sets up the mood of this story by using multiple elements that all help to feed into the same feeling.
High tension in stories add uncertainty for both readers, and characters, which is vital for Gothic literature. “The Cask of Amontillado” uses a setting that adds a chilling feel to the story and foreshadows what is to come later on. As Fortunato and Montressor approach the amontillado, the setting seems to resemble a literal grave that would be dug in the ground. It is described to be “in depth about four feet, in width three, in height six or seven” (Poe “The Cask of Amontillado” 788-789). This is a dark and unnerving setting that helps audiences better visualize what the characters are seeing, and what Fortunato may even be feeling.
In Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado” it has plethora numbers of symbolism that conveys to us, how the story is about a man that is determined to fulfill his vowed revenge. When Montresor encounters with Fortunato, the way that he was described by the narrator, he “had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells” (248). Fortunato is dressed like a fool, a symbolism given by Poe, in the sense that through the whole story he is going to be under the control of the psychological games by Montresor. Other characteristic of Poe gothic way of writing is the use of symbols like human corpses piled up, darkness, deepness, humidity. This is a presentation very appropriate for what is going
Do you think Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” pulls out three great gothic elements to add suspense to the short story? Does he have information provided to back them up? Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is about a distinctive character seeking revenge on awful insults. Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” uses specific gothic elements that successfully creates a suspenseful mood in his short story. Poe’s
In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” he showcased betrayal, deception, revenge, and death. The idea of death in the story being as something that one can not predict when it will come upon them. It circles around the story of how Forunato, a man with a connoisseurship in wine was blindly led to his death by Montresor, a man who vowed revenge upon him. Edgar Allan Poe’s works deal with questions of death, including its physical signs, the effects of decomposition, concerns of premature burial, the reanimation of the dead, and mourning. (“Edgar Allan Poe,” n.d., “Literary style and themes,” para 1).
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.
