In the Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” the narrator, Montresor, tells the reader about how he plans the revenge on Fortunato. The narrator lures his friend, Fortunato, for the Amontillado, then he takes Fortunato to the catacombs and buries him into a wall. The quote “In the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris” (Poe 186) describes the direct description of setting of the story. The setting of “The Cask of Amontillado” was in an underground catacomb in Italy. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Poe uses character traits, an atmosphere of horror, and dark time to show the great impact of setting on the plot. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor is the protagonist whose motive is to vow revenge and murder Fortunato and the perfect …show more content…
The narrator says, “I had told them [his servants] that I should not return until the morning, and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house” (Poe 184). The quote represents rising action as Montresor used reverse psychology on his servants so he can easily lure Fortunato into the catacombs without anyone witnessing it. Montresor says, “A succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form” (Poe 186). The quote represents the impact of the setting on the climax of the story because Montresor took Fortunato way deep in the catacombs so no one will be able to hear Fortunato screams. The narrator says, “there remained but a single stone to be fitted and plastered in” (Poe 187). The setting has a huge impact on the falling action as Montresor buries Fortunato in the wall so no one can recognize them. The resolution of the story is “In pace requiescat” and the impact of the setting is the crime which took place in narrator’s house and only the narrator knows about the murder so no one disturbs Fortunato and he rests in peace. Throughout the whole story, Poe tries to create a suspense with the use of different settings and descriptions. Moreover, in “The Cask of Amontillado,” the darkest and the most fearful setting take place in the catacombs. It is the perfect place to plan a murder without anyone even recognizing the murderer. The timing of the story plays an essential part in the story. The story takes place during the dusk time of the day during the carnival season so it would be difficult for people to speculate where they were going since it would be almost
While confessing his crime, Montresor seems as not having any feeling of guilty due to the peaceful way that he started to narrate at the beginning of the story. But, as soon Montresor started to talk about his feelings of jealousy and hate towards Fortunato, the reader can change the way its reading the story and the point of view towards Montresor. The “Cask of Amontillado” gives an open clue in the beginning of the story of why Montresor killed Fortunato and the motive of madness that he got along the story while confessing his crime. Montresor didn’t start to narrate the story angry or tense but calmly, accepting what he did and how he planned. The “Cask of Amontillado” took place
To begin with, “The Cask of Amontillado” is a story of revenge in which Montresor, the protagonist, retaliates to the “1000 injuries of Fortunato” (Poe 1) that he had bore; by meticulously planning the murder of his foe. Montresor seeks to avenge the insults made to his ancestral family name by Fortunato.
As Montresor and Fortunato reach the entrance to the catacombs, Poe adds nervousness to Montresor by using words that explain his movements or the surroundings around him and Fortunato. He is so close to murdering Fortunato, and Montresor is feeling a little doubtful on how it is going to go down. Montresor is
In the short story “The Cask of Amontillado,” it deals with how someone can turn a seemingly nice night into a horrible and tragic ending. Montresor lures an inebriated Fortunato to show him a rich wine. But in a twist, Montresor chains him up and suffocates him. It uses an exceptional amount of irony, verbal, situational, and dramatic irony. Edgar Allan Poe, author of “The Cask of Amontillado,” writes using three different variants of irony to create an eerie and suspenseful atmosphere within the plot.
An important element in any story is setting. Authors use setting to convey certain feelings brought on by the character’s surroundings. It also subliminally serves to illustrate the character’s intentions. In “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allen Poe uses the dark, imposing setting to do just that, communicate the underlying theme of the story, being death, revenge and deception.
In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, the dark side of human nature is illustrated through the character of Montresor and his victim, Fortunato. Montresor is a manipulative and vengeful person whom is obsessed with the downfall of Fortunato. Through the acts, words, and the thoughts of Montresor, one is able to see him carry out his plan for revenge.
In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor tells the story of how he got revenge on Fortunato. There are differing opinions on why Montresor is telling the story: is it a confession or is it so he can relive the perfect crime he committed? After close examination of the story, it becomes evident that Montresor is bragging about committing the perfect crime. The story is not a confession because Montresor boasts about his cleverness at luring Fortunato down to the catacombs and taunts Fortunato multiple times without remorse.
Montresor knew that Fortunato was drunk from being at the carnival all day. To get him in the catacombs he simply just mentioned that there was Amontillado down there. Once they are in the catacombs Poe uses some distinct wording making the reader use his imagination. “It was in vain that Fortunato, uplifting his dull torch, endeavored to pry into the depths of the recess (6).” Poe uses the adjective dull to give a sense of low light that is associated with fear. He then switches to say, “…pry into the debts of the recess (6).” This simply means exploring the catacombs, however it inputs a sense of fear because when exploring the debts there is an unknown which creates fear. The imagery he uses makes the reader see the story as if he or she is there. Poe writes, “We had passed through long walls of piled skeletons, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs (5).” He uses the word “intermingling” giving the sense that there are bugs and animals squirming around in the catacombs. In this case he simply means that large cask or puncheons and tightly packed together.
Edgar Allen Poe’s tale of murder and revenge, “The Cask of Amontillado”, offers a unique perspective into the mind of a deranged murderer. The effectiveness of the story is largely due to its first person point of view, which allows the reader a deeper involvement into the thoughts and motivations of the protagonist, Montresor. The first person narration results in an unbalanced viewpoint on the central conflict of the story, man versus man, because the reader knows very little about the thoughts of the antagonist, Fortunato. The setting of “The Cask of Amontillado”, in the dark catacombs of Montresor’s wine cellar, contributes to the story’s theme that some people will go
It is often said that revenge is sweet, but that phrase does not hold to be extremely true throughout The Cask of Amontillado. There are various themes and lessons throughout the story, but there is one theme that seems to be shown more than others. The most prevalent theme is that jealousy can lead to vengeance, and ultimately lead to the downfall, or even death, of a person. This theme is clearly evident through the two main characters, Montresor and Fortunato. By looking closer at Montresor’s words and actions toward Fortunato, it is apparent that there is a superfluous amount of jealousy between them. This jealousy that is between them ends up playing a major part in Montresor ultimately killing Fortunato, someone who was thought to be one of his best friends. The author uses the characters and their actions to develop a solid plot line and prove the point that jealousy and revenge can destroy a person, both figuratively and literally.
All of these descriptions that Poe creates through conversation between the characters and the details we are pulled along through the story, much as Fortunado is pulled along through the catacombs, where we all see his demise. Montresor eventually chains Fortunado to the wall and build up the cask that he will forever be in, alluding to the talk of the mason background of Montresor’s family. At the end Montresor thinks to himself, “my heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so,” (Poe
Montresor is the brutally insensitive narrator and presents his story from a unique first person perspective. Poe was intricate in telling this story from his point of view. He could have chosen to paint a picture for the readers through the eyes of Fortunato or possibly an outside narrator’s perspective. Poe makes an interesting decision as to who was going to tell the story. Significantly, he does not explain the nature of Fortunato’s transgression through Montresor's point of view. To explain further, Montresor tells the story in the first person, the reader is able to be directly aware of his thoughts therefore
Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado is thought to be one of his most popular vengeful short novels. The two main characters, Montresor and Fortunato are re-acquainted friends who meet each other at The Carnival. Montresor has intentionally planned to lure Fortunato to his own death by deceiving him to believe that Fortunato is coming to Montresor's family catacombs to taste a fine wine “Amontillado”. After Montresor leads Fortunato into the crypts, Montresor eventually chains Fortunato up in a secluded section and mortars him behind a brick wall while he is still alive. The story ends with Montresor throwing a flaming torch into the small opening while he continues to put the last brick in place, essentially burning Fortunato alive. Edgar Allan Poe creates conflict between characters Montresor and Fortunato which primarily creates the major theme of revenge in this story. Edgar Allan Poe depicts setting in this novel by portraying death by illustrating human bones, within a cold and damp crypt to contribute to the eerie theme of revenge. Montresor's characterization is expressed through the betrayal of his friend, which adds another element to the theme of revenge in this story. In Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe utilizes conflict, setting, and characterization to create a theme of revenge.
The rest of the story takes place in the catacomb. In the basement of the catacomb is a graveyard. The passageway is claustrophobic, dripping with nitre from its proximity to a water source, and always leads downward. Fortunato doesn't know this, but he is descending a stairway to Hell rather than to sample a rare wine. They walk through the graveyard in the middle of the night. Not to forget that they are drunk and are getting more drunk. The room gets smaller and smaller and the cold keeps on increasing. It is gloomy and they only have 2 torches. This is a setting that has all the elements, a perfect gothic story would have. Next lets look at the atmosphere. In the story the purpose of Montresor is very clear and Fortunato is completely unaware of it. This creates an atmosphere of suspense, mystery and horror. It is dark, oppressiveness, and full of strange sounds. Another element that Poe uses in his stories is the Psychology of the people. Montresor's motive for murder is vague. He refers to thousand injuries but never gives a specific reason for doing so. It can be concluded that Montresor is insane but even this is questionable because of intricate details of the plot. In this story the intentions of Montresor hurting Fortunato is very clear. Though this is not directly implied in the story but with every passing minute it becomes even more clear. But what will be Fortunato's punishment is still not clear. And that makes the plot
The setting of The Cask of Amontillado factors into the criticism. The beginning setting describes the carnival. A place of “supreme madness”(Poe 2) was in full swing. Reading on the setting grows darker, damper, and colder. As they journey through the catacomb, Montresor and Fortunato move into smaller and smaller—and fouler and fouler—spaces. This suggest that, as they move father away from open air, they are also