The cask of amontillado criticism

Literary Analysis of The Cask of Amontillado

“Writers who wrote at his time, the likes of James Rusell Lowell, called him the most philosophical, discriminating and fearless critic of imaginative works in America. They rhetorically suggested that he used ‘prussic acid’ instead of the usual pen ink that other writers use due to the great criticisms.”(Baraban) Edgar Allan Poe proved that criticism was his main motivation in writing. He was primarily a criticism oriented writer and other artists called him ‘the tormented artist’. His works include poems such as The Raven, Tamerlane and Other Poems and journals such as The Penn and The Stylus. (Baraban). “French Poe is less bizarre than French Freud, but more puzzling, because its literary authority ought to be overwhelming, and yet vanishes utterly when confronted by what Poe actually wrote.” In 1846, Edgar Poe published a short story, The Cask of Amontillado. The main theme of the story is revenge.

Montresor, the main character and the narrator of the story, narrates to an anonymous person about how he took revenge on Fortunato, a fellow nobleman. Montresor narrates that Fortunato had insulted him and his family and had hurt him a thousand times, but Montresor had suffered in silence. “Living as we do at a time when the family has ceased to exist as political unit, we may need to make a special effort to understand Montresor’s attitude toward his rights and responsibilities as a member of noble a family.” It was now his time to take revenge by burying him alive in his family’s catacombs. Poe’s writing is explicit and clear. The only main challenge is that he leaves the reader with a lot of unanswered questions: what so great insults had Fortunato made on Montresor to deserve such kind of death? What evidence does Poe give the reader of such insults? Why did Montresor not take legal action, by taking Fortunato in a court of law to have justice done on Fortunato for the insults? The narrative is unreliable and leaves the reader with no option but to accept Fortunato’s fate with no back-up evidence. Edgar also displays Fortunato as a vulnerable blinded character who never noticed the weirdness of the situation to try to flee himself. Comment by Owner: Pace of story?

The story is centered around two characters: Montresor and Fortunato. Montresor, the narrator and the wronged character is from an old great family. He has always had the intention of taking revenge on Fortunato for “insulting him more than a thousand time.” (Stepp) He takes revenge by luring Fortunato into his family’s vaults in the catacombs and buries him alive. Montresor is vengeful, manipulative and hypocritical. Fortunato is a nobleman who is strong and feared. He is also an insulter, according to Montresor. His main weakness is excess intoxication. According to Montresor, he loves drinking fine wine and he claimed that he was a judge of fine wine. Comment by Owner: Comment by Owner: Example?

A stereotype in the story is the perception that Montresor is a quiet and jovial character whose revenge motive would not be an evil one. The writer has made the reader like Monstressor; he has put up with Fortunato’s insults for long, he greets him warmly and even creates the illusion that he takes care of Fortunato’s health by saying “I can see you are trembling with the cold” (The Cask of Amontillado). Montresor also creates the illusion that he does not want to go to the vaults with Fortunato and he allows him to take his arm and pull him to the vaults. The break-in stereotype in Montresor’s character is displayed when he urges Fortunato to move with him deeper into the vaults by luring him with wine an empty promises of Amontillado. He then chains him on the wall and locks the vault with bricks leaving him for the dead. Comment by Owner: Need to change whole paragraph

The setting of the story is in a lonely street in Italy where Montresor meets Fortunato drunk and alone in an evening in spring. The next large setting is an underground catacomb during the carnival season. The catacomb is a burial vault that has piles of bones and dead bodies. The setting significantly contributes to the horror in the story. It is dark, cold, damp and the air is heavy such that “their lamps almost went off in the catacombs” (Gargano). There are rows of bottles of wine lying among the bones and the piles of bones against the wall tower over their heads.

The Cask of Amontillado has an internal narration. I prefer an internal narration to an external narration. The internal narrator, Montresor, is good; he gives all descriptions of the story's setting, and the catacombs especially. From his narration, the reader gets a clear mental picture of how the catacombs might have looked. His narration also magnifies the horror and terror that is supposedly intended by the writer. His description of Fortunato is also explicit and the description of his state of intoxication answers the reader why he could not realize the questionability of the essence of moving deeper and deeper into the vaults.

The story is filled with symbolism. The vault where Montresor is supposedly storing the wine is a literal death place. There are actual piles of bones, it is dark and there is insufficient oxygen, all characteristics of a death place. The vault is a symbol that foreshadows the death of Fortunato. The cask suggests freedom and confinement, how Montresor would be free from insults from Fortunato by confining and burying him in the catacombs. The journey through the catacomb from smaller to smaller and fouler places suggests that as they move further from fresh air, Fortunato was also moving further from his freedom. Besides, the story itself is a symbol; even though Montresor has the freedom he wanted; he is still trapped by the happenings that is why he narrates the story. He cannot forget it, in his mind, he is still down there in the vault with Fortunato. Comment by Owner: Need one human symbol in this paragraph

The main theme of the story are revenge. Montresor is devastated by how hurtful Fortunato has made him feel. It gets worse when Fortunato insults Montresor’s family name. As a result, Montresor decides that he will take revenge. He takes advantage of Fortunato's weakness: love for wine. He manipulates Fortunato into believing that there is wine (Amontillado) in his family’s vaults and that he was going to ask Luchresi to taste it with him. The thought hypes Fortunato to pull Monteressor into the vaults. Montresor takes advantage and directs Fortunato into the deeper insides of the catacombs by luring him with other brands of wine. He then chains him in a small vault and locks it with bricks leaving him for the dead. Comment by Owner: Delete this section and need to add own thought about this story. Must have 10 lines all together

Works Cited Comment by Owner: All should be in proper MLA Citation

Baraban, E. V. (2004). The motive for murder in" The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe. Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature, 47-62.

Gargano, J. W. (1967). " The Cask of Amontillado": A Masquerade of Motive and Identity. Studies in Short Fiction, 4(2), 119.

Stepp, W. (1976). The Ironic Double in Poe's" The Cask of Amontillado". Studies in Short Fiction, 13(4), 447.

White, Patrick. “‘The Cask of Amontillado’: A Case for the Defense.” Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 26, no. 4, Fall 1989, pp. 550–555. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=7135901&site=ehost-live.

Bloom, Harold. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” and Other Stories . New ed., Bloom’s Literary Criticism, 2009.