cask of amontillado literary analysis essay

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A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Cask of Amontillado’ is one of Poe’s shorter classic tales. It was first published in 1846 in a women’s magazine named Godey’s Lady’s Book , a hugely popular magazine in the US in the mid-nineteenth century. (The magazine had published one of Poe’s earliest stories, ‘The Visionary’, twelve years earlier.)

‘The Cask of Amontillado’ is one of Poe’s ‘revenge stories’, and the way he depicts the avenger’s psychological state is worthy of closer analysis.

Plot summary

First, a quick summary of the plot of ‘The Cask of Amontillado’, which is our way of saying ‘those who wish to avoid spoilers please look away now’. The story is narrated by the murderer, Montresor, who takes revenge on a fellow Italian nobleman, Fortunato, during the carnival season.

Fortunato, drunk and dressed in motley, boasts that he can tell an amontillado from other sherry, and so Montresor lures his rival down into Montresor’s family catacombs, saying that he has some amontillado for Fortunato to taste. Fortunato finds the descent difficult, thanks to the nitre in the catacombs, which exacerbate his bad chest.

Montresor plays on Fortunato’s inherent sense of pride in his knowledge of wines, by telling him that, if Fortunato cannot make the journey into the catacombs, they can turn back and Montresor can give the wine to Luchresi, another nobleman, instead.

Of course, this only makes Fortunato even more determined to be the one to taste the amontillado, and so they two of them keep going. When they arrive down in the catacombs, Montresor having plied his enemy with Medoc wine, he chains his drunken rival to the wall and then proceeds to wall him up inside the family vault, burying the man alive.

Fortunato at first believes it to be a jest, but then realises that he has been left here to die. Fifty years later, Montresor says that the body of Fortunato is still there in the vault.

Why does Montresor want revenge on Fortunato? This is where we see Poe’s genius (a contentious issue – W. B. Yeats thought his writing ‘vulgar’ and T. S. Eliot, whilst praising the plots and ideas of Poe’s stories, thought the execution of them careless) can be seen most clearly in ‘The Cask of Amontillado’.

For Montresor has every reason to confide to us – via his close friend, the addressee of his narrative, who is our stand-in in the story – his reason for wishing to kill Fortunato. But instead of getting a clear motive from him, we are instead given a series of possible reasons, none of which quite rings true.

It may be that Poe learned this idea from Shakespeare’s Othello , where the villainous Iago’s reasons for wishing to destroy Othello’s life are unclear, not because Iago offers us no plausible reasons for wishing to cause trouble, but because he offers us several , the effect of which is that they all cancel each other out, to an extent.

This is made clear in the opening words of the story:

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 gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely, settled – but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk.

Immediately, we are given an insight into the motive for the crime, but there is a sense that Montresor  wants  his crime – which he almost views as a work of art – to be acknowledged and even appreciated, in a strange way, by the victim. In other words, as Montresor explains, he wants Fortunato to know who has killed him (and why), but he wants to make sure nobody else finds out:

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.

That opening sentence is like a literal enactment of the familiar phrase, ‘to add insult to injury’. This provides a key clue to the motivation – shaky and vague as it is – of Montresor. His revenge is not motivated primarily by any tangible harm that Fortunato has done him, so much as a sense of resentment, a way Fortunato has of making Montresor feel inferior.

There are several clues offered by Poe in the story which suggest this as a plausible analysis of Montresor’s character and motivation. First of all, there is Fortunato’s name, suggesting fortune (wealth) but also being fortunate (luck), two qualities which don’t tend to enamour people to you, even though one’s possession of one or both of them hasn’t necessarily harmed anyone else. As F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby , put it: ‘Nothing is as obnoxious as other people’s luck.’

Although ‘Montresor’, the narrator’s name, suggests literally a ‘mountain of treasure’, the fortunate Fortunato still has the edge: as we know from such stories as Lawrence’s ‘The Rocking-Horse Winner’ , money is worth little without luck, for luck is how one acquires more money (though hard work doesn’t go amiss, of course). Another clue comes when Montresor fails to interpret a gesture made by Fortunato:

He laughed and threw the bottle upwards with a gesticulation I did not understand.

I looked at him in surprise. He repeated the movement – a grotesque one.

‘You do not comprehend?’ he said.

This taut, clipped conversation continues, as Poe deftly outlines the underlying reasons for the animosity that exists between the two men. In short, Montresor fails to understand the significance of the gesture Fortunato performs, leading Fortunato to suspect that Montresor is not a mason. Montresor insists he is, but Fortunato is having none of it:

‘You? Impossible! A mason?’

Fortunato asks Montresor for a sign that he really is a freemason:

‘It is this,’ I answered, producing from beneath the folds of my roquelaire a trowel.

‘You jest,’ he exclaimed, recoiling a few paces. ‘But let us proceed to the Amontillado.’

This moment suggests a further underlying reason for Montresor’s desire for revenge: Fortunato insults him by belittling him and reminding him that he is not part of the same ‘club’ as Fortunato.

It may be that Montresor – his name perhaps suggesting acquired wealth rather than first-rank nobility like Fortunato (who has inherited his wealth and name by being ‘fortunate’ enough to be born into the right aristocratic family) – is not quite of the same pedigree as Fortunato, and so has had none of the advantages and benefits that Fortunato has enjoyed.

Poe makes his point by some subterranean wordplay on mason : Fortunato refers to the freemasons, that secret elite society known for its mutual favours and coded signs, gestures, and rituals, but Montresor’s trowel suggests the stonemasons, those artisans and labourers who are not aristocrats but possess great manual skill.

This pun is confirmed later in the story by Montresor’s reference to the ‘mason-work’ when he is walling his hapless rival up inside the catacombs.

‘The Cask of Amontillado’ can be productively linked – via comparative analysis – with a number of other Poe stories. Its murderous narrator links the story to ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ and ‘ The Black Cat ’; its focus on revenge and the misuse of alcohol links it to ‘Hop-Frog’; the alcohol motif is also seen in ‘The Black Cat’, while the use of jester’s motley also suggests a link with Poe’s other great revenge tale, ‘Hop-Frog’, where the title character is a jester in the employ of a corrupt king.

The live burial motif is also found in Poe’s story ‘ The Premature Burial ’ and ‘ The Fall of the House of Usher ’.

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10 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado’”

There is something very odd about this story – the title emphasises the ‘amontillado’ which the murderer uses as bait for his victim, and the victim dreamily repeates the word as if it refers to something very unusual and precious. But unless there is something special about this cask – and no one suggests that there is, it could just as easily be the kind of wine you can buy in Sainsbury’s – and I frequently do, to use in cooking. And there is the dismissal of the man who ‘cannot tell Amontillado from sherry’ – but actually of course Amontillado is sherry. And it’s not an ‘Italian wine’ but Spanish. Did Poe know all this? is he implying that the two are not the aristocrats they seem and claim to be, but a pair of drunken louts? or did he use the name because it sounded exotic, without knowing what it was…

I think he used the whole ‘Amontillado is sherry’ thing as a joke. Fortunato and Montresor are an awful lot alike, after all. Even there names mean the same thing.

This is one of my favorite Poe stories and a fantastic analysis!

Thank you! It’s one of my favourites too – and there are plenty of fine stories to choose from :)

Nobody likes a clever dick, do they?

Sent from my iPad

Iago–yes, that is very clear intertextuality. I’ll bring that in with my Othello unit with my seniors.

Reblogged this on Greek Canadian Literature .

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“The Cask of Amontillado” Analysis

This essay will provide an in-depth analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado.” It will explore the themes of revenge, pride, and deceit, as well as Poe’s use of irony and symbolism. The piece will examine the psychological aspects of the characters, particularly Montresor, and how Poe builds suspense and tension throughout the narrative. The essay will also consider the story’s historical context and its place in Poe’s body of work. PapersOwl offers a variety of free essay examples on the topic of Analysis.

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“The Cask Of Amontillado” Analysis

The short story “The Cask Of Amontillado” written by author Edgar Allen Poe, unfolds agrisly act of revenge performed by Montresor against his noble Fortunato because he insults him. This vengeance leads to the Montresor murdering his noble Fortunato, the story depicts a picture of punishment and terror. Montresor uses revenge against one of his best friends but underneath the horror can be simplified to him actually being a character whom is rather prideful and clever causing him to commit a successful murder and feel no guilt.

The author Poe uses a variety of fictional elements to reveal Montresor’s dark essence, the concept of revenge, and the dark setting to help increase the atmosphere of horror in this gothic story.

In “The Cask Of Amontillado” Poe takes the reader on a trip into the mind of what many would say is a mad man, however, we learn that Montresor is not a mad man but rather a prideful man. The story tells of what appears to be a horrifying act of revenge, made even more horrifying by the fact that vengeance is being taken without there being a real offense known. However, it is clearly seen in the character of Montresor how pride is actually very powerful, early on we are introduced to this characteristic trait. His pride is so great that “…when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (Poe, 402). Montresor refuses to let himself be put down by anyone else because he would then seem inferior and frail, this causes him to plan his act of revenge on Fortunato carefully. Montresor’s pride stems from his family name, their family motto “Nemo me impune lacessit,” meaning “No one attacks me with impunity” (Poe, 405).

This lets us know that his ancestors too felt that they were above letting anyone address them in a way that might be expressing disapproval or disappointment. It shows that the ancestors were prideful, they felt that if anyone were to attack them that they would be dealt with a bigger force. This explains why it is the Montresor cannot look past Fortunato insulting him, he feels that it is only right to quell any “serpent” (Poe, 405) who would have the courage to attack him and his honorable name. This particular belief is what leads Montresor to his moral downfall, planning and executing the murder of his best friend Fortunato.

Montresor’s character is not only prideful but also very clever, unfailing performance in tricking Fortunato into his cellar and the method he chose for murdering his friend allows us to know that he is actually a very clever man. Montresor cleverness is able to trap Fortunato, leading Fortunato to his death. He knows that his best friend Fortunato is a a man who has “prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine,” (Poe, 402). He uses this to his advantage, he is able to lure Fortunato to his cellar however, before he lures him down to the cellar he wants to know if Fortunato is expected to be anywhere. He tells Fortunato, “My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature. I perceive you have an engagement. Luchesi-,” (Poe, 403). Montresor has done this twice by now, he does not want anyone to come looking for him or for Fortunato to be expected anywhere. So when Fortunato has replied, “I have no engagements;- come,” (Poe, 403) Montresor is able to then take Fortunato to his cellar knowing that no one is expecting him, leaving behind a cold trail. Fortunato is completely unaware of what is coming to him. He has no suspicions or doubts even about the events coming due to Montresor being able to act so well. He is able to act so well, he acts as if he would not mind returning by repeatingly offering to turn back, this only makes Fortunato want to keep going.

Montresor is awfully clever, he is constantly playing with Fortunato’s pride as he is leading him to his death. There was multiple times where Montresor offered to turn back because Fortunato has a cough and because of the dampness that they are in the midst of because of the catacombs but Fortunato responds “the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough” (Poe, 404). Fortunato refuses to admit that there is any physical weakness that could prevent him from tasting the Amontillado. Knowing that Fortunato will not turn back because he is being prideful, Montresor then leads him to the crypt, this is where he plans to bury him alive, saying, “…herein is the Amontillado” (Poe, 406). Montresors clever plan has now built up to this moment, he has gotten Fortunato right he has wanted him, he commits murder without thinking about it twice. Fortunato’s pride blinded him and ends up getting him murdered due to the effects of his insults towards Montresors.

“The Cask Of Amontillado” is a very strong tale of revenge, the antagonistic narrator of the tale, Montressor, pledges an act of revenge against Fortunato for offending him. Montresor uses the support of his family motto “Nemo me impune lacessit,” meaning “No one attacks me with impunity” to seek vengeance. Montresor finds it important to let Fortunato know what is happening to him, “a huge human foot d’or, in a field of azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are embedded in the heel” (Poe, 405). Montresor will gain pleasure from the actuality that Fortunato’s ignorance, of the all the events that surround him, especially his savoring curiosity for the wine Amontillado. This will be the ridiculous cause of his death as a consequence, creating the effect needed for Montresor. Montresor will gain pleasure from the fact that Fortunato will slowly die, as he will sober with terror the final blow will come from the realization that his big craving for the wine has led him to his death.

The dark setting is used to amplify the atmosphere of horror in this story, its purpose is to suggest that there is either freedom or confinement, the freedom or confinement of characters, in this case Fortunato. When look at “The Cask Of Amontillado” we are able to see how the story moves from freedom to confinement as the story goes on. It begins with a carnival, the carnival is a literal celebration of freedom, which both characters Montresor and Fortunato are participating in. When they begin to journey on through the catacombs, both characters are moving into smaller places, the places are also getting fouler. This hints at the fact that since they are moving away from fresh air, that they are actually moving away from freedom.

Towards the end of the story, Fortunato is trapped what could be considered far away from freedom, he is chained and bricked up inside a crypt with no air and no freedom. Meanwhile Fortunato is trapped, we know that Montresor is physically free, but is he mentally free? Out of all the things that Montresor can do, he chooses to tell the story, he chooses to bring up what he has done. This means that he is trapped, he cannot forget what he has done. He doesn’t feel guilty that he has done it but he is not free from what he has done.

Montresor uses revenge against one of his best friends but beneath the horror, it can be simplified to him actually being a prideful and clever character, causing him to commit a successful murder and feel no guilt. Poe uses a variety of elements to reveal Montresor’s character, revenge, and the transitioning setting to amplify the horror in this story. Underneath all the horror, we can see that Montresor, a prideful and clever character who uses Fortunato and his pride against him to successfully plot his revenge using a dark setting.

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Literary Devices in “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe Essay

Introduction, figurative/symbolic expressions, works cited.

The ‘ Cask of Amontillado’ is a literary classic story, which can pass as an ordinary narrative piece of literature to the average ordinary reader. To readers with a critical eye however, the figurative speech, and the hyperbole contained in the story cannot go unnoticed.

Irony – Montresor, who is committed to punishing a perceived wrong, is also committed to carrying out a wrong without being punished for it. By his own admission, Montressor states that “a wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser” (Poe 3).

As such, Montressor states that he would punish the person who inflicted him with injuries, because to him, the wrongs committed against him were worthy of punishment. Ironically, though, Montresor states that he would be avenging insults with death, since he perceived that as the ultimate revenge. Unfortunately, Fortunato seems not to have suffered the pain of dying, as Montresor would have liked.

Paradox – Montresor triggers a paradox by juxtaposing in the same sentence the phrase “punish with impunity,” two words that are ordinarily antithetical. As human nature would have it, people are often quicker to see weaknesses in other while ignoring their more apparent flaws. As such, Montresor finds his companion’s “transgression” worthy of the cruelest death, and believes that his cause is so right that he deserves to get away with it.

Sarcasm – In human speech, very few styles of expression are as cruel as sarcasm. Although in this case Fortunato is ignorant of the sarcasm, Montresor is nevertheless invoking it when he says, “my dear Fortunato, you are luckily met”’ (Poe 3). It is as if Montresor, if he were understood for his true intentions, were saying, ‘It is your ill-luck that you have met me today’.

It is often the cruelest hearts that fashion the most effective sarcasms: sarcasms so sharp-edged that they slice through their target audience’s ears without their ever getting to understand their full true meaning. The cruelty resident in Montresor’s dark mind is exhibited in his solitary musing: “I was so pleased to see him that I thought I never should have done wringing his hands” (Poe 3).

Oxymoron – Montresor engages in oxymoronic speech by describing the attendant’s abandonment of their duties at his palazzo as “making merry in honor of the time” (Poe 4). This was in direct disregard for his instructions to them not to leave the house at all while he is away.

Of course, there is the implication that he knew beforehand what they would do. By the attendants behaving just as he had anticipated, Montresor gets his perfect alibi. To protect themselves from the charge of absconding duty, they would swear that he had been on a journey and had not at all returned that whole day.

Hyperbole – There is a sense of this in Fortunato’s statement that he drinks to “the buried that repose around us” (Poe 5). Dead bodies may be immobile but as to whether they are at rest, is a matter of conjecture.

Poe’s tale can be interpreted as an allegory of the pain, death, and the senselessness of vengeance. To reflect all the three identified themes, Poe (knowingly or unknowingly) divided his story into three parts. In the first part, Monstresor is infuriated by what he perceives as an insult from Fortunato.

As a result, he vows to inflict vengeance on Fortunato. This part of the story symbolizes people’s desire to avenge for the wrongs committed against them, and to inflict pain on the people who wrong them. As reflected in the conclusion of Poe’s tale, while inflicting pain on a person may seem like the perfect vengeance, it does not fetch as much pleasure as the avenger would like to.

The tale also makes an attempt to convince readers that death, is not necessarily a painful or even bitter experience to those who are dead or dying. This is symbolized by what sounds like Fortunato’s laughter when he finally realizes his fate. Poe also hints at the emptiness of revenge through Montresor’s description of his feeling as “sick” soon as he realized he had just killed Fortunato.

The second part of Poe’s take is apparent when Montresor lures Fortunato underground, and gets him drunk. The third part of the tale on the other hand is reflected in the long journey that two take, only for Montresor to encourage Fortunato into reaching “the extremity of the niche” (Poe 7), where he found iron staples hindering his progress further into the crypt.

Here, Montresor chained Fortunato up, ready to avenge the perceived wrongs committed against him. His vengeance was only pleasurable for a short period, because Fortunato’s cry only lasted several minutes. At the end, Fortunato made fun of his tormentor, and upon his death Montresor admits that his “heart grew sick” (Poe 8).

Poe, Edgar Allan. The Cask of Amontillado . Feedbooks, n.d. Web.

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The Cask of Amontillado: Quote Analysis

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Published: Mar 20, 2024

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“the thousand injuries of fortunato i had borne as i best could, but when he ventured upon insult i vowed revenge.”, “a huge human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.”, “he had a weak point—this fortunato—although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared.”, “the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. i shall not die of a cough.”, “in its surface were two iron staples, distant from each other about two feet, horizontally. from one of these depended a short chain, from the other a padlock.”, “for the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. in pace requiescat”.

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Montresor in “The Cask of Amontillado” Literary Analysis

“the cask of amontillado” abstract.

The paper is a literary analysis of a short story “The Cask of Amontillado”, written by Edgar Allan Poe. The following methods of literary studies are adopted in the paper: biographical, formal, structural, and comparative. The use of such stylistic devices as irony and foreshadowing as well as the “unreliable narrator” technique are discussed in the paper. The analysis explains why “The Cask of Amontillado” is a great example of a gothic tale and a horror story. Although the volume of the story is very short, it is very peculiar to its language choice and form of narration.

Literary Analysis Essay Example

Edgar Allan Poe was an American short-story writer, essayist, and poet. Many of his works include themes of death, burials, and mourning; therefore, the writer is considered to be a representative of dark romanticism genre. The text under analysis is his last short story “The Casque of Amontillado.” Edgar Allan Poe creates a gothic tale of revenge and horror. The strong impact that the story makes on the reader is created with the help of irony.

The short story is a narration of revenge, murder, abuse, and madness. The events take place in the unknown Italian city during the carnival. The first-person narrator, whose name is Montresor, tells that he can forgive anything but an insult. He points out that his friend, whose name is Fortunato, has insulted him and he must take revenge. The narrator tries to justify his actions (Hayes, 2002). Montresor never lets Fortunato know that he hates him; the main hero does not drop even a subtle hint of coldness. It is ironical how the victim does not have any suspicions and is sure of his safety. In the meanwhile, the murderer is waiting for the appropriate moment to apply his horrible idea. During the carnival, Montresor tells Fortunato that he has a cask of rare brandy called Amontillado. Fortunato, who considers himself a great wine connoisseur, is eager to immediately go and examine wine, which is kept in Montresor’s cellar. The two friends leave the carnival unnoticed and go to the wine cellar, which is also a catacomb, an underground cemetery. It is ironical how Montresor asks Fortunato to go out because the cellar is bad for Fortunato’s health. As Fortunato refuses, Montresor offers his already drunk friend another bottle of alcohol and tracks him into a trap where he chains and immures him alive. In the end of the story, Montresor says that he has not been down in the cellar for over fifty years since that day.

The story is told in the form of a subjective first-person narration. This makes the text sound more personal and shortens the distance between the author and the reader. The text becomes more vivid and the reader turns into the participant of the events. Still, the reliability of the narrator is doubtful because it is quite possible that Fortunato never hurt Montresor and that Montresor is a madman. Poe uses the unreliable narrator technique in the short story.

The forms of presentation of the story include direct speech, dialogue, narration, and inner monologue. The combination of different forms of narration creates the vividness of the story. The narration can be viewed as the confession of the killer. The slant of the story is not only ironical and tragic but also unemotional at the same time. Fortunato’s name suggests that he is fortunate, but he dies imprisoned alive in the catacomb by his good old friend. It is also ironic how Montresor suggests many times that they should leave the catacomb, but Fortunato only goes in the direction of his death: “‘Come,’ I said, with decision, ‘we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed’” (Poe, 1984).

The atmosphere of the story is mystic, dark, and gothic as many other stories written by Poe because of which he is often referred to as the master of horror (National Park Service, 1999, p. 34). The story is set in a deserted house’s cellar at night. No one can see Montresor, suspect, or stop him: “There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honor of the time. I had told them that I should not return until the morning” (Poe, 1984).

The plot structure of the text is rather complicated. In the very end of the story, the reader discovers that it is a flashback to the past: “Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!” (Poe, 1984).

The text may be subdivided into the five logically completed fragments. In exposition, the narrator tells the story of his insult and reveals his revenge plans. The complications of the plot include Montresor faking his positive attitude towards Fortunato while planning his death, meeting at the carnival, and going to the wine cellar. The climax of the story is the moment when Montresor chains Fortunato. The denouement of the story goes along with Montresor’s building up the walls of the prison and the grave. The closing part of the story is represented by the last two sentences of the story. The methods of conveying character as indirect are developed with the help of the character’s speech and actions. The author does not impose on the reader any point of view. It is the reader who decides whether the revenge was a proper one and whether the insult ever took place.

A bright and rich network of images is present in the text. The title of the story itself is mysterious and does not reveal anything to the reader. It is something unknown and yet the reader does not know that the story is a horror. The author uses contrast in the story: the brightness and vividness of the carnival changes into the dreading underground cemetery with stiff air and hips of bones. This change of location foreshadows Fortunado’s fate.

Symbolism is also present in the story; Montresor’s coat of arms is “A huge human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel” (Poe, 1984). His family motto conveys the idea that no one will harm him without punishment. Here is another foreshadowing of Fortunato’s horrible fate. Judging from the coat of arms and the motto, the reader can make some presumptions regarding what kind of Person Montresor is. The author does not explain the motif of the murder in details, thus leaving to the reader justification or judgment of his horrible act of revenge and homicide. The most powerful irony is in the fact that the real crime remains neither punished nor discovered, while the insult that caused it is nor revealed and nor proven. Perhaps Fortunato never understood why his friend decided to kill him.

“The Cask of Amontillado” is a great example of a gothic horror short story by Edgar Allan Poe. Irony and symbolism create the grotesque story told from the first-person evil narrator. The motif of murder remains undiscovered, adding to the mystery of the story and making it even more memorable.

Argumentative

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Literary Analysis 'The Cask of Amontillado'

The Cask of Amontillado is a short literary work wrote in 1846. From the same author that brought us The Fall of the House of Usher, Edgar Allan Poe. This short story also has a Gothic nature. Edgar Allan Poe, was born in the early eighteen-hundreds. His accomplishments as a poet and author are wide and numerous. He is highly regarded as a central attributed to the American romanticism period. Since Poe was born in 1809, he had the perfect stage to become a Romantic period figure, as Romanticism was at its height from 1800-1850 after having originated in Europe and moving to the young United States. The Romantic period of literature was solidified by an emphasis on strong emotions with a connection to nature. Romanticism examined all parts of nature, including death. Thus, came the motivation for the below analysis of The Cask of Amontilado. Many historians agree that the potential shift toward romanticism was a direct result of the industrial revolution in which many felt we were straying away from traditional values of working land with our hands. Whatever the cause, it is no doubt Edgar Allan Poe became a truly predominant American figure. His works of literature are still extremely well respected to this date.

The story, in summary, is a story about revenge and death. Even the title of the work foreshadows the dark events that will unfold. In archaic form, a cask equates to a modern day casket, or resting place. Therefore, the reader immediately knows death is a part of the story. In the introduction of the story, the narrator discovers a character, Fortunato (Fortunato translates to English as “fourtainte”, this literary irony truly adds to the story), has been insulting him. The narrator preys on Fortunato’s weakness to consume alcohol (wine). The narrator lures Fortunato into a wine cellar, which also doubles as a catacomb (In ancient Europe it was common for wine cellars to also contain crypts for family members dating back centuries in the same home.). It is important to again note that the character, Fortunato, has a name which translates to lucky or fortunate. Nothing about his experience with the narrator will become fortunate or lucky, again creating a sense of irony. The Cask of Amontilado has several aspects of irony, all of which strongly support the penultimate progression of the story; the author’s use of irony strongly supports the story’s theme and plot development. (It is my personal belief that Fortunato’s craving for alcohol represents man’s addiction to unworldly things, just as the cellar symbolizes a form of purgatory.)

Additionally, the way in which the two main characters are dressed gives the reader a prediction on what is to come. The narrator is dressed in dark clothing, which symbolizes death. Fortunato, ironically, is dressed as a clown, in bright colors. This is possibly the most ironic point in the story. This shows the reader that he is completely unaware of the events that are about to unfold, eventually resulting in his death. Fortunato had been attending a carnival, which accounts for his bright clothing. The light mood Fortunato carried with him into the cellar serves as a further indication of his unawareness of the coming events. Perhaps Fortunato is unaware the narrator knows he has been talking bad about him, which is the whole premise for his revenge.

The story also has several ironic quotes, not just ronic actions or instances. One important quote occurs when Fortunato begins to cough: ‘Enough,’ he said; ‘the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough.’ ‘True—true,” The narrator knows very well why Fortunato is coughing. The cause of his respiratory distress is from sulfur deposits within the cellar. That combined with the poor circulation of air is causing his breathing problems. Instead of heeding the warning from his coughing, Fortunato agrees that a sip of wine that will soothe his throat. Ironically yet again, that which he craves to be a connoisseur of so badly will end his life. Fortunato lays claim that he is an expert in good tasting wine, a claim that will ultimately aid in his death. This too serves as a foreshadowing detail of what is about to unfold. The reader knows the intentions the narrator has planned for Fortunato, death. He shall indeed die of a cough.

One additional ironic quote occurs as they enter the cellar. “I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation.” The narrator identifies to us very plainly his plans to immolate Fortunato. Obviously the narrator has a charming appeal to him. Who else could connive face to face with someone, only to kill them seconds later. Still, as Fortunato begins to struggle to breath, due to the sulfur, he remains oblivious to his fate just a few mere moments away. He now sits in an intoxicated state, struggling to breath, still clearly unaware of his fate to be.

In conclusion, this story is another classical work by Edgar Allan Poe, and reflects his ongoing theme of death and Gothic romanticism. Poe displayed his ability to master all types of literary irony within this particular work; Edgar Allen Poe is an expert at the literary use of irony to convey the plot throughout the majority of his stories. The several aforementioned accounts of irony serve as a way to convey Poe’s theme of death and revenge. Had the story not used this literary element/tool, it would have not been as effective in conveying its overall theme and message. The use of irony truly does progress the story. It is therefore, due the culmination of his expert literary approach, his use of irony, word choice, and other literary elements, we are left with a story that truly conveys artistic ability. Furthermore, this story truly does reflect the sentiments of the Romantic literature period.

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supremestudy.com. (2021). Literary Analysis 'The Cask of Amontillado' . [Online]. Available at: https://supremestudy.com/literary-analysis-the-cask-of-amontillado/ [Accessed: 7-May-2024]

Literary Analysis 'The Cask of Amontillado'. (2021, Mar 15). Retrieved May 7, 2024 , from https://supremestudy.com/literary-analysis-the-cask-of-amontillado/

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