Gothic Elements In The Cask Of Amontillado

In Edgar Allan Poe’s, “The Cask of Amontillado” begins by telling us that Montresor feels as Fortunato has hurt him. Fortunato has greatly insulted him, “the thousands of insults of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.” (Poe 165) Although, the lack of evidence throughout the story, we readers never know what the insult ever was. Montresor must get revenge. As Montresor is conducting hits revenge on Fortunato, it is the week of Carnival in Italy and people were dressed up in all sort of costumes. Fortunato was dressed in a jester’s outfit that later provides irony in the short story because he is a fool to go down into the catacombs and face his death. Montresor is engulfed with secret murder and revenge that he makes a grave pit in the wall for Fortunato because as the family motto of Montresor, “No one provokes me with impunity” (167). The coat of arms of Montresor was “A huge human foot of gold, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are embedded in the hell” (167) which the foot represents Montresor and the snake would be Fortunato. Although Fortunato has hurt Montresor with his quick venomous insults, Montresor will ultimately crush him and arise the true victor.

In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, the theme man’s inhumanity to man is distinct. In the beginning, Montresor lures Fortunato to his home to taste a wine named Amontillado.

However, Montresor has a characteristic that, not shown prominently, but given through little hints until the end. That secret characteristic is guilt, guilt for wanting to kill Fortunato. Some of those hints show at the carnival, down in Montresor’s catacombs, and even as Montresor is building in the wall to keep Fortunato in to die. At the carnival, Montresor calls Fortunato his ‘friend’. “It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend.” (Poe). In addition, Montresor is talking about Fortunato, with the term friend being used. Another is, “I was so pleased to see [Fortunato]...” (Poe). In this part of the story, Montresor even says himself that he was happy to see his friend, Fortunato. He shows signs of actually liking Fortunato, but for strongly believing in his family motto and arms of revenge, he feels the need to get revenge on Fortunato for what he did to Montresor. Montresor greets Fortunato kindly and with warmth, “[m]y dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day!” (Poe). Montresor

We soon see foreshadowing of Fortunato's impending doom when the issue of Montresor's shield of arms is brought into the conversation as "A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.". Even more appropriate is Montresor's family motto, translated as, "No one wounds me with impunity". Such a visual depiction and mental conviction due to family honor and history creates all the more impetus in Montresor to carry out the punishment that Fortunato deserves for wronging him, and more likely the family honor. When Montresor finally captures Fortunato in the catacombs, the climax of his precisely calculated deed, he revels in the sound of Fortunato's chains rattling, and "that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labors and sat down upon the bones". However, his satisfaction soon turns to apprehension when suddenly "a succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting from the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me violently back". He hesitates at this moment, when his revenge is sweetest, when he should bask in the suffering of his "enemy", and finds himself contemplating the shrill screams of his captive! He does eventually compose

Montresor is hurt from what Fortunato caused him and that is pain due to the things he has done to lead up to the events. It states “ THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat.”(Poe 1).  Montresor has hatred towards Fortunato, who caused damage inside him mentally making him want a form of revenge back at him. The mood of the story starts off with hatred, but now as Montresor and Fortunato are the catacombs causing the scene go to spooky. It says “Its walls had been lined with human remains piled to the vaults overhead in the fashion of the great catacombs of  Paris.”(Poe 5). Catacombs is a very odd place to look for wine because of what’s stored inside of it. One can see from this that Montresor and Fortunato have arrived to the catacombs which causes the mood of the story to change due to dead bodies surrounding them. Edgar Allan Poe expressed every detail and helped the readers envision the events with his mood changes.

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

Kind, supportive, and uplifting, friends are wonderful, great companions. They always are there for you and have your back no matter what the situation. But when friends disagree, what started as a lighthearted conversation can soon turn feverish, and when a person is wronged, they seek revenge. The authors of the two texts “The Cask of Amontillado” And “A Poison Tree” show this betrayal precisely in the two writings. “The Cask of Amontillado”, published in November of 1846 by Edgar Allen Poe, Is the story of two friends, one a wine connoisseur and the other is from an affluent family. When the connoisseur (Fortunato) insults the wealthy man (Montresor), Montresor wants to get revenge. He successfully reaps his revenge by claiming to Fortunato that there is a cask of Amontillado, a rare and expensive wine, in the catacombs.Fortunato is beckoned into the catacombs by the expectation of wine, but is soon trapped in by his now adversary. There was no wine after all. In ‘A Poison Tree”, A man has been pirating his narrator's apples, and he was not going to allow him to get away with it. The man murders the other man and appears to be satisfied when he is laying on the ground the next morning.

Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” was a warning to alcoholics written in his time of sobriety. This short story has been shown to have links to the dark temperance movement, all though Poe never confirmed these allegations. The alcohol not only makes him more susceptible to Montresor’s trickery, but it also leads to his ultimate demise.

Amontillado is a classically known amber-colored, medium-dry sherry wine, and in the case of Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado, it is the taste for Amontillado that results in the unfortunate and rather untimely death of Fortunato at the hands of the maniacal Montresor. Revenge is something that no one should have to experience; however, sadly sometimes, it is an inevitability that cannot be avoided. The Cask of Amontillado exposes Poe’s dark side and cruelty towards society and the world. In this short story, Poe tells about a rich drunk man, Fortunato, picking on a not-so rich friend, Montresor, but things quickly take a turn when Montresor decides to take out his revenge against his “pal.” Poe uses ethos, logos, and pathos deeply throughout his storyline to enhance the story and better the imagination of the characters, the deep meaning behind the setting, and the Amontillado’s secret.

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

Edgar Allan Poe portrays conflict by creating tension between Montresor and Fortunato. In the story, tension is merely only seen through the eyes of Montressor because of the animosity that he has against Fortunato for the cursing of his family's name which was one of an old and honored one. Montresor states his revenge by saying “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed my revenge.” Montresor is stating that he had been able to bear insults, but once his family's name was insulted, he was driven to seek revenge from this humility. Montresor's evil intentions to murder Fortunato come solely from Fortantos insulting demeanor. The conflict that is shared between Fortunato and Montresor is the main factor which creates the theme of revenge in this story.

Poe uses foreshadowing as a technique to emphasise the theme of revenge he has created the story around. The story has shown to have foreshadowing throughout to help the reader understand what the character Montresor has planned for Fortunato. In the story, Poe uses the detail of Montresor carrying a trowel in his pocket. A trowel is a flat blade used to spread things, or in this case spread the mortar on the bricks to enclose Fortunato. By showing that Montresor is keeping the trowel close to him shows that he is prepared to finally get his revenge on Fortunato, and put his nerves to ease. The second detail Poe uses is Montresor’s family motto. Montresor in the story mentions his family motto which is. “ Nemo me impune lacessit”. Which means, “ No one attacks me with impunity”. The family motto is used in this story to show that Montresor will not stand for anybody who punishes him in any shape or form. Somehow Fortunato has done something to wrong Montresor, and by sticking with his family motto. It is foreshadowing the idea that Montresor will do something to get his revenge. When Montresor finally has Fortunato intoxicated, Montresor decides to finally make his move. Montresor decides to lure Fortunato down into the Catacombs by using his one weakness, wine. By stating there is a wine that Montresor bought and he would Fortunato to test it leads us to believe it is a trap. Montresor then goes on and says that the wine is the catacombs. The word catacombs has a negative connotation with leads us to believe this is foreshadowing the event where Montresor makes his move to get his revenge. Foreshadowing was just one of the few ways Poe used

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

In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” one of the main details involved in the plot is alcoholism. Fortunato thoroughly enjoys good wine and drank a lot. Not only did he drink often, but he also was extremely knowledgeable about “fine wines” as Poe writes. Fortunato liked to think of himself as a judge of whether a wine was good or not. Based on all this, Montresor decided to tap into this weakness of Fortunato’s to seek his revenge after Fortunato mocked Montresor’s family name. Montresor then caused Fortunato to become drunk. In this and other stories, alcoholism and drug usage are very prevalent in Poe’s writing, but the references always seem to reflect his own life addictions and show us how truly depressed he was.

     In this story the character of Montresor is revealed through his own words. When he reveals he is going to punish Fortunato for merely insulting him, that he has planned the whole act of vengeance, and that he has been playing as being Fortunato’s friend, we know we are dealing with a deranged personality. His character is also revealed with references to his family. It is almost as if Poe has Montresor’s ancestors tell the reader how nicely he fits into the family tree. His legacy from his family motto “No one attacks me with impunity” and a coat of arms that depicts a serpent whose last wish before death is to poison the foot that crushed it. Does the fruit of ever fall far from the tree? Montresor is as evil as his forebears were. He shows no remorse about what he has done, even in old age. When he says, “May he rest in peace” at the end of the story, the reader gets the feeling he means, “ I hope you stay there and rot” rather than, “I hope you found joy and peace in heaven.”