...The act Of revenge In Edgar Allan Poe's "A Cask of Amontillado" we learn of a man who seeks vengeance on an acquaintance, named Fortunato. "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge." (14) The story starts by defining a grudge that Montresor holds against Fortunato, and then goes on to explain that Montresor seeks vengeance in an impunitistic way. He Leads Fortunato deep into his family's catacomb on a quest for a sherry known as Amontillado, Montresor's idea of plastering Fortunato into a brick wall quickly becomes a reality. Once ensnared, Fortunato was left to die. His tomb was left untouched for years to come. We learn in the story that revenge is a dish best served cold. The theme of revenge in the story is strongly advised. The story begins with Montresor explaining the he has been irreparably insulted. Every time he sees his wrong doer he acts as if there is no grudge held, when in reality Fortunato's insult is all but forgotten. Montresor lives as if there has been no wrong doing, until he ponders up what he feels is the perfect impunitistic act of revenge. "I must not only punish but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong." (14) Once his plan has been thought of as an act of impunity Montresor acts. Leading Fortunato away from the carnival...
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...Ever heard of a perfect crime? In the story The Cast of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor accomplishes murder because he is determined, intelligent, and vengeful. Montresor seeks out revenge after Fortunato insults him many times. Montresor tricks Fortunato into going inside huge underground vaults, there Fortunato thinks he will drink the Amontillado. As they proceed to the end of the vaults Montresor chains Fortunato up, builds a burrier, and leaves Fortunato there to die. Here Montersor will conquer revenge, and his determination and intelligence will show. Montresor shows many great qualities one of them is his determination. When Montresor walks Fortunato through the vaults, he tells the reader, “It is farther on, but observe the white web work which gleams from these cavern walls.” (Poe 347) When Montresor says this he is determined not to get Fortunato to turn around by showing him the walls which have niter. Fortunato is pleased with the niter and continues walking. Another time the reader sees Montresor’s determination is when he tells the reader, “As you are enegaged, I am on my way to Luhesi. If anyone has a critical turn, it is he. He will tell me ---.” (Poe 346) Afterwards he is interpreted by Fortunato, which shows Fortunato is ready to go. This was Montresor way of showing determination to get Fotunato to go with him. Another great characteristic is Montresor has is his intelligence. As Montresor is walking Fortunato through the...
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...that have lasted the test of time. Poems, books, and operas all found roots in the use of consumption with metaphors, symbols, and images; defining a horrific and dramatic death, reversing it into the personification of beauty and grace. This paper examines consumption as it converges on the minds and pens of 19th century authors. The Art of Death: Consumption in the 19th Century Consumption in the 19th century was a widely misunderstood illness that by its very nature created some of the most dramatic writings. Poets, authors, and playwrights alike all used consumption as a form of expression in their writings. They found a certain dignity within the disease that probably affected everybody in one fashion or another. Poets like Edgar Allen Poe and Henry David Thoreau were influenced by the people in their lives that were close to them who contracted the disease. Others, like John Keats and RL Stevenson, had a direct connection as they themselves dealt with the deadly, predetermined path on which they must walk. Authors Victor Hugo, Puccini, and Verdi all used consumption as a catalyst to some greater, higher meaning in their stories. It was delicately embellished in some writings, while others it was shown with deep, dark metaphors. “Consumption was the leading cause of death in the 19th century, a scourge that affected men, women, and children of all ages, classes and geographic locations. A chronic malady characterized by a harrowing cough...
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...Reference. In my view, "The Tell-Tale Heart" foregrounds different stages of Ego-Evil as the narrator defines himself through the narcissistic eye, the malicious glare, and the enigmatic gaze of the other. In the story, the narrator clearly grounds himself as a powerful Master who can determine all values. As a result, he sees that he is sane, and that his disease is good. His disease has merely "sharpened [his] senses -- not destroyed -- not dulled them" (91). He remains an absolute Master who has an eye for the ultimate Truth, hence he can "calmly tell [the readers] the whole story". This episode foregrounds the way of the eye, which is always on the side of the Subject and its narcissistic fantasy. In the Lacanian context, the eye allows the self to see itself as a unified creature and as a judge, hence the eye is essentially related to the imaginary "identity-building" process. However, as the eye sees what it wants to see, "sight" or "insight" can mean bias. As noted by Ellie Ragland, the eye gives a narcissistic perspective of "unification and fusion" that does not guarantee truth, though it certainly offers a personal "principle of law or judgment" (95). In the story, the eye's bias shows itself when the narrator immediately views the old man's disease in a negative light. The old man's cataract is seen to be the "Evil Eye" (89). If we borrow Martin Buber's concept, we may as well call it the "I-Thou difference." John Cleman believes that the narrator's mental...
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...Seeing Poe’s Struggle with Alcoholism through his Stories “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Black Cat” Jen Andalou Edgar Allen Poe’s stories “The Black Cat” and “The Cask of Amontillado” are among his most popular. Both of these stories can be read on several different levels causing everyone who reads them to come up with a totally different interpretations, yet none of the interpretations I have read seem satisfying. The two stories at first seem simple enough, with “The Black Cat” reading as a darker version of “The Telltale Heart”, this time with the conscience given a physical form, and “The Cask of Amontillado” as a chilling tale of revenge exacted told as a deathbed confession. Yet these simple interpretations leave too many questions. Many reviewers unfairly single Poe’s works out as coming directly from his subconscious, ignoring not only how carefully Poe chose his words and phrases but also the sources that inspired the stories (E A Poe Society, “Autobiography”). That being said, I think Poe did deliberately use his stories as a kind of self-therapy thus revealing at least a little about himself. A large constant in Poe’s life was his fight with alcohol, which made itself known in his writing in many ways. The main theme of Edgar Allen Poe’s stories “The Black Cat” and “The Cask of Amontillado” centers on the narrators’ attempts to wall off, or suppress, his alcoholism, with the narrator succeeding over alcoholism in “The Cask of Amontillado”...
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...dungeons add to this. Gothicism in general adds a very dark yet intriguing view of whatever story is being told. Gothicism causes readers not to view thinking as a simple process but more as a transformation of reality. The imagery that is set forth in Gothic literature can place a person’s imagination somewhere that they could not have taken ir on their own. People don’t usually think with the vivid amount of detail that is given with these stories and thus, a very thrilling experience is given. Just take, for example, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado. This story gives the plot and completion of the death of Fortunato. In this story, Montresor lures Fortunato into a wine cellar, gets him belligerently drunk, chains him to a stone and then begins to wall him in. Fortunato believes that this is a joke, but it is by no means funny. Montresor’s last words to his entrapped victim was the Latin phrase meaning, “May he rest in peace.” Edgar Allan Poe was a master of Gothic writing and this story is...
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...Edgar Allen Poe’s The Black Cat, much like many of his other stories, is a tale of inexplicable violence and perverseness, and yet it is an amazing insight into the mind’s ability to observe itself and even give itself away, as evidenced in end of the tale of the narrator. Indeed, even the narrator himself is aware of this fact that he is going insane somehow, and even with this knowledge and the knowledge that he continues to proceed in his insanity it’s not enough to stop his descent. The narrator takes time and details each aspect of his madness, in a sense observing his actions from a detached perspective, even though the story is written in the first person, like a psychiatrist. There is however a tinge of awareness and perhaps some sense of guilt in how the narrator conveys the story. Much of his actions make no sense and seem to have no logical intent, and perhaps that is what Poe tries to convey when the narrator describes and his actions in the word, “PERVERSENESS.” One interesting note is that the narrator defends himself in the very beginning with “Yet, mad am I not—” and yet he begins to logically process his reactions with, “have terrified — have tortured — have destroyed me.” Thus, in the very act of saying he isn’t mad, and then by logically outlining his guilt, he shows his own descent into madness and his objectivity throughout the process, questioning whether the narrator feels guilty at all or not. After The Black Cat begins with the narrator’s description...
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...NOTES ▲ Reblog PHOTO ▲ smoothie recipe ▲ 07.25.12 ▲ 133 NOTES ▲ Reblog ask “H K L !” -collinesjaune K: Favourite TV show. Pretty Little Liars, CSI, The Mentalist, Bones, Criminal Minds, Psych, Dexter, Monk, Sherlock Holmes, Castle, Revenge, The Big Bang Theory, Masterchef Australia & The Next Food Network Star H: Favourite book. I just answered that question, but hey I can have more than one favorite book :D 1Q84 - Haruki Murakami High Fidelity - Nick Hornby The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger The Beautiful and Damned - F Scott Fitzgerald A clockwork orange - Anthony Burgess The Virgin Suicides - Jefferey Eugenides Sherlock Holmes This Side of Paradise - F. Scott Fitzgerald Stories by Edgar Allan Poe To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee The Sense of an Ending - Julian...
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...Cornelius Hughes Dr. Montgomery LibA 102 October 13, 2009 Poe’s Use of Irony in His Short Stories Gargano says that “Poe intends his readers to keep their powers of analysis and judgment ever alert;…” (178). Poe is not your average type of literary figure. He often uses personification, metaphors, and symbols in order to give hints at details that would otherwise be unknown. These type of tactics help to keep the readers on their toes, otherwise they would be subject to misinterpreting what they read. In particular, Poe was a profound user of irony in his short stories. Poe used irony to depict the errors in his characters’ ways of thinking and their actions. Stories such as “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, and “The Masque of the Red Death” are all short stories that convey this notion. It is my intention to, based on the evidence found and presented, to prove this point. Let us first look at how Poe’s use of irony proves this point in “The Cask of Amontillado.” . The setting of the events is an “evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season” (Poe, “Cask” 426). This setting alone is symbolic for in this time during a carnival, people dressed themselves in costumes, becoming for a short time something other than their normal selves. Both Fortunato and Montresor are outfitted. Fortunato is wearing “a tight-fitted parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells” (426). In short, his attire was much...
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...By Or An Animal You're Scared Of ,Well I Have By Watching A Scary Movie .Egdar Allan Poie Scared People By Him Always Writting Weird And Sad Stories . In This Essay I Will Discuss Poe Life And How Did It Affect His Personal Life Through His Year He Lived. Edgar Allan Poe Was Born In Richmond , Virgina. To The Parents Of Elizabeth Poe And David Poe.When Edgar Was Three Years Old His Dad Left Him & Elizabeth. After Edgar Mom Dies Of TB When She Was 24 Yrs Old . Later France And John Adopted Him , Though John Never Liked Him. He Grew Up With Them , When He Was 17 Years Old He Attended The University Of Virgina . Earm Money By Gambling. John refused To Help His Foster Son. Later He Ran to Boston In 1827 And Published A Poem But Didn' t get Attention So He Joined The Army , But Dislike It And Ask His Fosterdad For Help . John Agreed to Help Him To To A US Military Academy He Waited For A Response To Be Admitted ,Threrefore He Published Another Book And Recieve As A Writter. After He Learned That John Had Remarried A Woman That Was Young Enough To Have Children . So Poe Admissed Himself From West Point .In 1835 He Moved With His Aunt Marie Poe Clemm In Maryland. Married Her Cousin Virgina Thought It Was An Odd Marriage Because Virgina Was 13 Yrs Old And He Was 27 Yrs Old When They Got Married .Poe Helped HIs Family By Working As An Editor At Various Magazines . Virgina Died On...
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...Autobiography of Edgar Allen Poe Edgar Allen Poe is an American writer who had many famous poems such as “The Raven”. He was a short-story writer, critic, poet, and editor. Poe is famous for his stories and poems of mystery and horror. Poe was a foster child. His mother, Elizabeth Arnold, died when he was only two. His father David Poe had passed away and left his mother to care for three children Henry, Edgar, and Rosalie (Poets.org.). After this; Poe went to live with his grandparents. Poe was adopted by John and Frances Allan. John was detached and strict. His adoptive father John was a tobacco merchant and was very wealthy for his time. They lived in Richmond, Virginia. Poe’s adoptive parents changed his life and made him more reformed and intelligent. Poe was educated in private academies, excelling in Latin, in writing verse, and declamation. When Poe was only seventeen, he attended the University of Virginia. Poe was only given about a third of the money that he needed to pay for his college from John. Edgar began to play cards and gamble to make up for the money that John didn’t supply him with. Poe soon began drinking and he fell into a large amount of debt. He became so poor that he was forced to burn the furniture he owned for heat. Poe had to stop going to school due to the debt that had accumulated. When he left school he was poor, without a job, and his adoptive father had forgotten him. Poe went on...
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..."The Raven" is a beautifully written, yet dark narrative poem by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published on January 29, 1845, it marks Poe’s opening the door into recognition. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a grieving lover, outlining the man's slow fall into madness. "The Raven" was first accredited to Poe in print in the New York Evening Mirror. Its publication made Poe widely popular in his lifetime, yet brought him no financial attainment. Soon reprinted, mocked, and illustrated—opinion is divided as to the poem's standing, but it nonetheless it remains one of the most famous poems ever written. The poem itself contains mystery, laid out by his style. His style, alludes mystery by the use of ambiguity. Not only is the theme itself extremely ambiguous, but this ambiguity is brought on by his use of diction—the words he chooses are ambiguous, and this hinders the straightforwardness of the theme, creating it to also be ambiguous. Some of the ambiguous vocabulary he uses are the words soul, angels, chamber, nevermore, and raven. The soul is defined as the spiritual part of a human being, regarded as immortal. The soul has multiple meanings, differing by cultures and perceptions. The soul can be denoted as the God within—the principle of life, feeling, thought, and action in humans. It can be symbolized as survival or eternity, as the soul is believed to survive death and be subject to happiness or misery in a life to come. Furthermore, the soul...
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...The Purloined Letter: Plot Identifications One early autumn evening begins the Exposition of the story; the introducing of characters, setting, and the basic situation. A discussion between men named Dupin, the unnamed narrator, and the Prefect of Parisian Police describing the main conflict of the story: that a letter has been stolen from the French Queen by a political opponent, Minister D— Leading us into the Rising action, the series of events that build up to create tension and suspense, the Queen is now being blackmailed but is unable to formally accuse the thief because of the private information that the letter contains. The police have tried several times to retrieve the letter by searching the minister’s house and pretending to mug him twice, suspecting that he might have been carrying the letter but they still have yet to succeed. The Prefect now feels that because the minister is a poet, he is a fool. Dupin responds by telling the Prefect to thoroughly search the man’s apartment once more. The Prefect took Dupin’s advice and returned a month later but was still unable to find the letter. The reward had now been doubled and the Prefect advised Dupin that he would pay 50 thousand francs to anyone who could obtain him the letter. This now carries into the Climax of the story, the high point of suspense. Dupin tells the Prefect that he has retrieved the valuable letter and that he may now write him a check on the spot, and gives the astounded Prefect the stolen letter...
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...Wilson1 Instructor Jester ENGL 1102 June 17, 2013 “The Tell-Tale Heart” Have you ever been paranoid before, or have you ever met someone who was totally crazed with paranoia? Well, we all have encountered someone with a case of paranoia, but not too many instances where it led to murder. In the story “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe, was devastating to say the least Poe is basically carrying out what was in his heart at the time. He is so paranoid about the old man’s eyes. He sees the eyes as “that of a vulture-a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold” (Poe 229). Who thinks like this? The old man didn’t do anything to him but look at him. He actually was stalking this man in his own house. What sane person breaks in one’s house and watch over them while they sleep? Poe was obsessed with this old man, until it haunted him for about a week. I know from experience one can get so paranoid until being around certain types of people will make you feel uncomfortable. I can admit I use to be paranoid about people, with physical disabilities. I was so afraid of them because I didn’t understand the condition. Once I understood the different conditions then I became less fearful. I felt really bad for the old man because in a sense he was paranoid. The old man often heard sounds in his house but thought it was just maybe his own Wilson2 There were times when he thought...
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...the poem Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator experiences an attraction so strong that it transcends the living world. Poe focuses on the eternal love between the narrator and Annabel Lee; how the love between these two star-crossed lovers exists even after death. With the use of poetic devices such as tone, imagery, symbolism, repetition and rhyme, Poe tells a powerful story about love. This poem takes the form of a ballad. Poe uses this form to tell the story of the narrator and Annabel Lee. Characteristics that make this poem a ballad are its strong rhythms, repetition of key phrases and rhymes. As a ballad, this poem is very song-like. It is easy to imagine Poe reading this story of love and death intimately to a group of people. The tone of the author is both resentful and passionate. He is resentful of the angels who took Annabel away from him before her time. At the same time, he is also passionate. Poe writes, “And neither the angels in Heaven above/ Nor the demons down under the sea/ Can ever dissever my soul from the soul/ Of the beautiful Annabel Lee”, this shows that even though they have been physically separated, their love continues to grow stronger. In addition, Poe uses end rhyme to emphasize the poem’s subject. Every other line ends with an ee sound, “sea”, “me” and “we” all rhyme with Lee. This makes it clear to the reader that she important to the author. Another point to note is Poe’s use of imagery and symbolism. Poe describes the setting of...
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