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Theme Of Imagery In Cask Of The Amontillado

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Edgar Allan Poe is known for helping spread the Gothic and Horror genres. Many of his stories are tragic and deal with murder, depression, and the gruesome part of life people usually try to escape by reading. One topic he covered well was revenge and how one's own personal hell differs from person to person. His short story, “Cask of The Amontillado” is called one of the greatest written short stories of all time. In this story he uses color images, dramatic irony, and vision to take the dark downward spiral of revenge and fear while showing the reader how toxic and unforgiving behavior can affect someone. Poe uses simple but effective color imagery to help express the theme of revenge, horror, and uncertainty of what is to come. When Montresor puts on his black, silk mask, it is as if he has become a different person. The color represents death and the darkness that has overcome Montresor and him trying to play God. The mask itself is how he separates himself from his once best friend. He views himself as the judge and jury in the situation. It represents him cutting himself off from the rest of the world and cutting off all his emotional ties to Fortunado. Montresor sees himself as the one to give Fortunado his death sentence, so “he is costumed as an executioner” (Platizky 207). Another example of important color images is the change of setting from a cheerful, colorful festival to descending into the dark and mysterious catacombs. When the story starts, Fortunado is wearing bright party clothes to enjoy the carnival; his “carnival identity is a motely clown” (Whatley 56) with bells for the occasion. He is dressed as a fool because that is what Montresor plans to make out of him by the end of the night. Montresor is very manipulative and uses a merry carnival setting to throw off his friend and makes Fortunado realizes that even supposedly cheery settings can have unsettling secrets but catches on to this a little too late. Montresor sends off the servants and uses the carnival to make sure no one will ever notice the horrendous crime he will commit later in the night. As they both go deeper into the catacombs, the quicker the setting changes into an uneasy environment with a “long and winding staircase”

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