Literary Elements In The Cask Of Amontillado

The mood is the overall feeling or atmosphere of a work of literature. A writer may produce a unique mood through the use of literary devices. The story "Three Skeleton Key" by George G. Toudouze is a horror story about three men who are attacked on an isolated island trapped by ravenous hordes of rats. The narrator, Le Gleo, and Ichtoua are lighthouse keepers off the coast of Guiana. They saw a Dutch three-master ship recklessly making its way toward their treacherous shores. Soon after that they discovered the ship has no crew, and hordes of rats have overwhelmed them. The ship crashes on the rocks of Three Skeleton Key while the hordes of rats fill up the island to the brim,

What atmosphere or mood does the setting create (for example, darkness may create a mood of fear or unhappiness while light or bright colors may create one of happiness)?

For example, “They were out in the field as soon as breakfast was over, and southern Illinois at that hour was pink with sunrise and swelling redbud and clusters of bloom over the apple orchard across the road”(7). As the setting is described it creates a warm feeling that makes the readers feel enchanted and lighthearted. The author also allows the readers to feel peaceful and content. Mood is also used to enhance the story by creating an atmosphere that allows readers to feel different emotions and feelings. “If someone had asked Jethro to name a time when he left childhood behind him, he might have named that last week of March in 1862”(92). This gives the readers feelings of sorrow and anger. The atmosphere is used to bring the reader into the novel by allowing them to feel powerful and remorse for the characters. As a result, the mood creates a flood of emotions that helps bring the story to life through the setting and

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.

Could you keep a gruesome and murderous secret to yourself for 50 years? A good horror story should contain suspense and fear but also should include a well-produced plot, setting, and should include literary devices. Well, the author is able to successfully accomplish this in the short story, “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe. Due to its dark, eerie and crowded setting like the catacombs, the riveting plot that makes the story suspenseful, and the intriguing point of view that helps the reader understand what Montresor is feeling make this story clearly a prime example of a quality horror story.

The authors want to paint a picture in your mind of what is happening in the book. It helps you understand if the characters are scared, sad, or happy. If you don’t have a mood for the story, you will never understand what the characters feel about their surroundings. “Rainsford sprang up and moved quickly to the rail, mystified. He strained his eyes in the direction from which the reports had come.

Similarly, in Saki's short story, "The Interlopers," the mood helps to illustrate the overall theme of the literary piece. One example is that the author establishes the mood of vengeance and hostility as the author states, "Ulrich von Grandwitz patrolled the dark forest

8.) The mood that is created by details of the setting is a depressed, but determined mood. The setting is depressed when the story first starts, when the reader learns the characters are living on a lunar colony and Marvin has never seen "Outside". "When Marvin was ten years old, his father took him through the long, echoing corridors that led up through Administration and Power, until at last they came to the uppermost levels of all and were among the swiftly growing vegetation of the Farmlands. Marvin liked it here: it was fun watching the great, slender plants creeping with almost visible eagerness toward the sunlight as it filtered down through the plastic domes to meet them. The smell of life was everywhere, awakening inexpressible longings

“The Cask of Amontillado,” written by Edgar Allan Poe, is a short story detailing the murder of a drunken man named Fortunato by someone he considers to be a dear friend, Montresor. The text as written by Poe leaves little room for speculation regarding the actual events that take place, but the cause and meaning of the events are left up to interpretation. In the first sentence of the story, Montresor makes his intentions clear, stating that it was when Fortunato “... ventured upon insult [he] vowed revenge(Norton 174).” The specifics of this insult are never revealed, which leads the reader to ponder what Fortunato could have said or done that would prompt Montresor to kill him. The reader knows nothing about the relationship between these two men except that they have known each other for a period of time long enough for Montresor to have borne “the thousand injuries of Fortunato…(Norton 174).”

The overall mood of the Cask of Amontillado is based on a multitude of different attributes. These attributes are setting, sounds, rhythm of language, and the narrator's thoughts, feelings, and actions. The Cask of Amontillado has a very dark and spooky setting. The majority of the story takes place in the catacombs of the home of Montresor, the narrator. This gives the story a creepy atmosphere. The sounds affecting the mood are painful moaning, creepy laughing, and the clattering of bones and stones. These contribute to the scary mood of the story. The dialogue in the story switches between Montresor and Fortunato creating a rhythm of language that is ongoing until the last few lines. The narrator's thoughts, feelings, and actions are a major

Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado exhibits the value of reading beyond what is black and white, to uncover the true meaning that is woven in between. The human race does not have the ability to comprehend what another says, without interpreting the conversation and by drawing conclusions. Rather, the journey goes on to discover underlying messages, of what is to be understood. This short story tells the tale of a man who faces the consequences for refusing to take a step back to reveal the greater picture. One cannot always be trusted or befriended for what they say, as there is commonly a deeper meaning. Montresor used very comforting and friendly language when he approached Fortunato, manipulating his train of thought, falling right into Montresor’s scheme.

“Riff-Raff” by Heather O’Neill grains my interest with its odd title and I am still not sure how the title even fits the story. I did not many Canadian fiction authors therefore, I randomly chose O’Neill’s name from a list of authors online. Nonetheless, the theme of the short story is freedom and having the courage to escape a bad relationship.

“Jolly good my man!” Barnabas laughed so hard he sloshed his liquor down the front of his blazer. Fortunato eyes crinkled with happiness at his friend. It was a week until the carnival started, as Fortunato was getting his wine moved from the cellar to the main house, in time for the celebration. Fortunato prided himself on his excellent taste in alcoholic beverages, much better than his fellow man Luchesi, a man as rich as Fortunato, yet is Fortunato’s only competition for wine tasting. Nevertheless Fortunato felt himself better, as Barnabas agreed, laughing as Fortunato make fun of the other man’s taste in wine.

As I read about different types of literary criticism, I felt compelled to apply the Marxist school of literary criticism to Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado.” The Fortunato character appears to have a rising distinguished social status, a nobleness forming an equality, and or possibly surpassing the Montresor character. This changing social status acts as a symbol of the status the Montresor family name and crest used to have but it’s in decline. The success of the Fortunato creates the thousand injuries that aggravate the Montresor to plot and commit murder for revenge of the Fortunato’s success.

Authors use literary elements to enhance their writing through details to describe a scene in the author’s writing, or use language to elevate the story. “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry and “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, both use many literary elements to give their writing more depth. “The Gift of the Magi” uses irony throughout the story when Della and her husband, Jim, both do not have enough money to buy each other gifts for Christmas. “The Necklace” uses a lot of detail to show what Madame (Mme.) Loisel dreams of at the beginning of the short story. “The Necklace” is one of the many short stories that use literary elements to elevate the story and keep the reader engaged in the author’s writing.