...Montressor knew that Fortunato loves wine and other liquor. Montressor made Fortunato believe that they were just going to see an Amontillado but in fact, he is going to lead Fortunato to his death. He led him to the catacombs of the Montressors and there, he buried Fortunato alive with "in pace requiescat" as his last words. Edger Allan Poe was famous for the use of Irony and Symbolism in his stories and this story is one of his masterpiece where he showed his talent. The cask of Amontillado have many Irony and Symbolism in it threw out the whole story. In this paper I am going to discuss about the irony in the story setting, the symbolism which shows the reverse physiology used by Montressor in his speech and other irony and symbolism in the story. The setting of the story have several ironic meaning which describe the faith which Fortunato will face at the end of the story. The story began at dusk which gives an ironic meaning because the beginning of the story marks the end of Fortunato’s life. The time dusk stands for the end of Fortunato’s life in this story. As the beginning of the story starts with the end of the day it is ironic. Another irony in the setting is the Montressor’s catacombs. When Montressor told Fortunato that he have Amontillado in his catacomb Fortunato didn’t believed it at first as because it is a very rare wine. Fortunato thought of himself as an expert in wine,...
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...Once they are further into the catacombs Montressor again addresses the spider webs saying, “See, it increases. It hangs like moss upon the vaults” (Poe 52). Poe has Montressor bring up the webs again to foreshadow that he has a trap in place. The webs also increase the closer they go into the catacombs to symbolize that they’re getting closer to Montressor’s trap. One of the most obvious symbols that Poe incorporates into this story is the name of the Characters. Fortunato’s name literally means fortunate, happy, and blessed. This bit of symbolism that Poe has added to his story is ironic. It shows irony, because Fortunato is just the opposite of these qualities. Instead of living a fortunate, happy, and blessed life; Fortunato ends up being...
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...Short stories written in different time periods consist of many of the same styles/elements. The authors of these short stories have many hidden meaning behind their words. “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edger Allan Poe, the “Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and, “Cast of Amontillado” by Edger Allen Poe have similar styles such as, using symbolism to enhance and foreshadow the reading. The author in Cast of Amontillado uses symbolism through the meaning of the title its self “ Cast of Amontillado” since Amontillado mean wine, and in the story the plot mainly happen based on the characters drinking wine, I thought the name symbolizes the results/effects in an irony way or drinking wine in this story. Since the character lures the other character...
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...Comparative Literature Paper Lillian Beller World Literature October 14, 2012 University of Phoenix Comparative Literature Paper Selfishness and revenge are woven through “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner like a fine silk thread, supporting the theme of death in each. In the short story, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, the cause of death is never obviously revealed but lightly hinted upon Emily as the cause. “The Cask of Amontillado,” a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, the cause of death is revealed but no one knew the cause of Fortunato’s disappearance. These stories contain many differences as well as similarities ranging from imagery, symbolism, theme, and tone. The recognizable commonality of the two is the theme of death. Each of these stories portrays death, or murder, as a result of vengeance, revenge and betrayal. “The Cask of Amontillado” deals with the death of Fortunato and “A Rose for Emily” deals with the death of Homer and Emily. William Faulkner never admits that Emily is the cause of Homer’s death but gives the audience clues that suggest Emily was indeed responsible. Emily’s death seemed to be of natural causes (Faulkner, 1931, p 531). Edgar Allan Poe, in “The Cask of Amontillado” tells the audience of Montresor’s plot of revenge and murder of Fortunato. Betrayal and revenge are obvious throughout both stories. In “A Rose for Emily,” Emily first betrayed Homer after he...
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... there is no shown repercussions of Montresor’s actions. In this reading response we will discuss the basic outline of the story, the setting, and, the symbolism behind each portion of the story. The Cask of Amontillado is set in an unspecified Italian town in what I estimate is the early 1800’s during carnival season. The story starts off by the main character and narrator Montresor telling a backstory about how Fortunato insulted him, and that Montresor vowed to get revenge. Montresor formed a plan to get his revenge during carnival when all his servants would be away. When Montresor runs across Fortunato in the streets, he tells Fortunato that he is on his way to the rival wine connoisseur in town Luchasi, to get a pipe (130 gallons) of a wine named Amontillado authenticated. This causes Fortunato to follow Montresor to his demise....
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...Amstutz 1 Deborah Amstutz Dr. J. Woolston English 102 15 February 2014 Catacombs and Floorboards. Edgar Allan Poe is considered one of the founding father of the Gothic Society and great horror short stories. These writings were about people on the cusp of events that were grotesque to his audience. It is a known fact that his short stories were on the dark impracticality side of the mind, with characters that were pathological killers. In “The Cast of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Poe portrayed exceptional acts of madness, murders, and decay. In the case of “The Cast of Amontillado,” Poe’s character Montresor seemed mentally disturbed over a thousand injuries and an insult, obsessed with revenge. (1238). This demonstrated the instability or madness of Montresor mental well being. The individual here shows he was committing insanity by letting his emotions rule and not thinking logically. “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the person starts the story stating he is not mad which makes the reader sure of his mental illness. Eight nights he visits the bedroom of the old man, on the eighth night the eye opens; he grows furious as he looks at it and kills the old man. At the end of the story, his madness manifests into the form of the old man’s heart sounds. Illustrating he was insane before and after his killing of the old man. Montresor’s murder is careful calculated, and was illustrated with the trowel. Poe wrote he pulled a trowel from under the folds of his...
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...Death,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” and the poem, “For Annie.” All of these were written by Poe, and each one represents death, and desolation. When Poe was two years old, his mother, Elizabeth Poe passed away. He was then adopted by a wealthy family, but Poe never received any money. He lived a poor life until he married his cousin Virginia. Then, Virginia died and Poe “collapsed from stress.” All of the deaths of his loved ones’ affected his writings, causing him to write with sorrow and ghoulishness. Poe’s stories were written showing his love for his deceased family members, and using different elements to show the pain he was experiencing. One major similarity throughout all four pieces by Poe is symbolism. Each story has its own way to symbolize death. In the four stories death is a main cause because Poe experienced a lot of death in his life. In the story, “The Masque of the Red Death,” the ebony clock symbolizes the countdown to death. Every time the clock ticks, it means someone is a minute closer to death. When the clock stops ticking that means death is close. In the story, Poe says, “And when the minute hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock, a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical,” to show how the clock is operated. This quote is saying that each hour somebody is being affected in an unpleasant way and in this case, its death. The...
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...The “Cask of Amontillado” is a gothic tale of revenge and horror, the true genius of which lies in Poe’s abundant use of symbolism and irony. * Symbolism in "The Cask of Amontillado" Fortunato's Outfit: Fortunato's carnival garb is described as follows: "The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells." In short, Fortunato is dressed as a fool, a symbolic representation of what he is. The Setting: The "supreme madness of carnival season" represents the supreme madness of the narrator's mind. It is the backdrop of carnival season that lends the story its fantastic nature, a nature trumped only by the madness of Montresor's revenge. The Cask of Amontillado: The word cask, a sturdy cylindrical container for storing liquids, and the word casket have the same root. The Amontillado represents two causes of Fortunato's demise: (1) Fortunato is extremely drunk, more than likely drunk on wine. It is probable that his venturing into the catacombs has little to do with his desire to serve Montresor. Fortunato understands that the trip will produce one of two results--free Amontillado or Montresor's humiliation; (2) Fortunato's passion for good wine leaves him susceptible to flattery, flattery which Montresor provides. Montresor: In French, mon tresor means my treasure. The treasure the narrator possesses is the knowledge of the perfect revenge. The Montresor Family Motto, "Nemo me impune lacessit": Fortunato...
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...Insanity is one of the topics widely discussed by many writers. The definition of insanity is “not sane; not of sound mind; mentally deranged” (Dictionary.com). In “The Yellow wall Paper” by Charlotte Gilman, “Young Goodman Brown” By Nathaniel Hawthorne, and “A Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Poe insanity is the most prevalent theme. Each story takes place in a prison like environment and each protagonist is suffering from a form of insanity. The story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman takes place in the late 19th century , which anchors it in a very specific historical moment in terms of women and their perceived abilities. The narrator and her husband John are renting a beautiful, isolated estate for the summer. The narrator says the house is “The most beautiful place! It is quite alone, standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village. It makes me think of the English places that you read about. For there are hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate little houses for the gardeners and people” (Gilman pg.552). It’s a fancy house but more saliently, it stands back away from the road and contains many "locks" and "separate little houses." Overall, this is a very isolating place. It’s separate from the road and therefore could be considered separated from society; the house itself is described as a place that binds and restricts. Within the house the narrator is primarily confined to a “big, airy room….with windows that...
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...Kerrie-Ann Greene Stephen Henrichon ENC 1102 29 January 2016 Death By Wine Edgar Allen Poe writes about a secret murder in the gothic short story, “The Cask of Amontillado”. Montresor, the narrator, lures his victim, Fortunato, into an underground death trap. Montresor tells the story fifty years later. The terror in the story is that the readers never get a clear picture of the motive, only knowing Montresor says in the beginning, “[a] thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (Poe 165). There is a lack of evidence. The “insult” is the final straw. Poe uses imagery, symbolism, and characters to describe the horrific tale of revenge. The story begins with visual imagery...
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...Symbolism in “The Cask of Amontillado” Symbolism in “The Cask of Amontillado” The symbolism throughout Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” constantly pair similar ideas that contradict each other. The characters are unaware of the symbolic details in conversations or events that occur throughout the story. The reader may find him/her self siding with Montresor since we have all been insulted at one time or another, but that doesn’t constitute revenge to the point of killing a person. Literature containing symbolism can be interpreted or viewed differently by the reader. Poe put much effort and thought into the details of his literature, he painted a descriptive picture for the reader matter how dark and dreary. The name “Fortunato” means fortune/fortunate, which is symbolic because it is the complete opposite for the character in this story since his fate has been decided for him, “derivation from the verb fortunate, blessed by the goddess fortuna, or random fate. Naturally, to embrace fortuna was unthinkable in the Reformed traditions. Fate was not random” (87). Montresor is constantly smiling at Fortunato so he will have no suspicion of his bad intentions. “I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation” (108). A kind gesture such as a smile can be misleading, it is hard to depict whether an individual is a friend or foe. Fortunato is dressed as...
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... “no one assails me with impunity”. With that he means, he will ultimately crush Fortunato...Another is when he said, “I drink to your long life” that is in irony. What he really implies is that Fortunato will eventually die soon. With those words that he did not really meant to say comes from his mouth because of the unconscious part of him that shows what he conceals. | The mental processes have three psychic zones: id, ego, super ego | Proofs | * id It is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality, and most of this is of a negative character. * Settings * It was about to dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season...... * The vaults are insufferably damp, dark and the vault in the end of the catacombs is piled with skeletons. * “A moment more and I had fettered him to the granite. In its surface were two iron staples, distant from each other about two feet, horizontally. From one of these depended a short chain, from the other a padlock. Throwing the links about his waist, it was but the work of a few seconds to secure it.”-narrator * At first Fortunato, who recovers from his drunken state faster than Montresor anticipated, he would shake the chains, trying to escape. The narrator stops working for awhile so he can enjoy the sound. * "FOR THE LOVE...
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...to create a disturbing mood is tone. Allen Poe overall tone is unsettling and ominous. He uses irony and a chilling humor to create a feeling of uneasiness in the audience.” We came at length to the foot of the descent, and stood together on the damp ground of the catacombs of the Montresors”(2). He brings Fortunato to a creepy area away from everyone wanting him to leave the party because he wants him away from all...
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...haughty wine connoisseur against whom Montresor seeks revenge. The story begins during the carnival. Montresor avenge against one of his "friends," ironically named Fortunato, for insulting him, and explains that he has found a way to avenge himself that satisfies the two conditions he has: that Fortunato knows for sure Montresor is behind it and that he himself escapes revenge or punishment. Fortunato has a cold. Montresor finds his friend Fortunato at dusk. He is drunk and dressed in carnival costume as a jester. Using reverse psychology, he induces Fortunato, whose knowledge of fine wine he admires, to follow him into the catacombs underneath his palazzo to determine if his newly-acquired barrel storage cask of Amontillado, a kind of Spanish sherry, is indeed authentic and thus worth the price he has paid. They talk as they walk deep into the catacombs, discussing Fortunato's health, the Montresor family motto Nemo me impune lacessit, Latin for "No one assails me with impunity", and membership in the Freemasons. The ominous atmosphere intensifies as they continue to the damp, potassium nitrate air of the Montresor crypt. Dumbfounded at the absence of the Amontillado at the end of their passage, Fortunato stands 'stupidly bewildered' and Montresor takes advantage of the situation, suddenly chaining Fortunato to the wall in a small alcove roughly the size of a coffin. Montresor seals the doorway with bricks as Fortunato regains his sobriety and pleads in desperation. During the...
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...story written by Edgar Allan Poe. Montresor is the main character of the story and also acts as the narrator. The story begins by him vowing his vengeance towards Fortunato for insulting him. Montresor hides his animosity towards Fortunato so he does not expect anything. He maintains a deceiving presence towards Fortunato and plots to exploit Fortunato’s weakness for luxurious wines. Carnival season came upon the city and Montresor finds Fortunato at the carnival. He invites him to try some of his sherry at his home. Montresor doubts Fortunato’s skill with wines which makes him want to prove him wrong. Montresor dresses up in a disguise and leads Fortunato to his home. Once they reach the home of Montresor, he leads Fortunato down to the catacombs. Montresor encourages Fortunato to drink alcoholic beverages, resulting in him becoming intoxicated. Fortunato realizes that Montresor is not who he thinks he is, but being intoxicated, he continues...
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