Paper
Name: The American Literature
Paper
No:
10
NO:
27
Guided
By: Heenaba Zala
Submitted
To: Department of English Maharaja
Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.
Critical
Interpretations of the Story: “The Cask of Amontillado”.
Introduction:
Edgar Allan Poe
was American writer and he was more famous for his short stories. He is well
known for his tales of ratiocination, his fantastical horror stories and his
genre founding detective stories. Edgar Allan Poe was born in 19th
January 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and He was died in 7th
October 1849. Poe and his works influenced literature in the United States and
around the world, as well as in specialized fields, such as cosmology and
cryptography. Poe and his works appear throughout popular culture in
literature, music, films and television. Poe was also known as a writer of fiction
and became one of the first American authors of 19th century to
become more popular in Europe than in the United States. These are the some
Tales written by Edgar Alan Poe:
v “The
Black Cat”
v “The
Cask of Amontillado”
v The
Fall of the House of Usher”
v “The
Gold Bug”
v “The
Tell Tale Heart”
v “The
Masque of the Red Death”
v “The
Oval Portrait”
“The Cask Of
Amontillado” Written by Edgar Allan Poe. This story has been almost universally
referred to as Poe’s most perfect short story. In has often been considered to
be one of the world’s most perfect short stories. Furthermore, it conforms to
and illustrates perfectly many of Poe’s literary theories about the nature of
the short story: That is, it is short and can be read at one sitting, it is a
mood piece with every sentence contributing to the total effect, it is a
completely unified work and while it is seemingly simple, it abounds in ironies
of many kinds. Finally, every line and comment contributes to the totality or
unity of effect that Poe sought to achieve.
“The Cask of
Amontillado” is the Story about Two friends and trust between them and how one
friend kill his other friend for his Property. Main character of the Story is
Fortunato. This story starts with these lines. These lines spoken by Fortunato’s
friend Montresor:
“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 known 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. 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”.
With the help of
these lines we can understand the deep desire of that friend that how he was feels
in security from his friend Fortnato and his properties. This story’s plot is
quite simple. The first - person narrator,whom we later discover to be named
montresor. Announces immediately that someone named Fortunato has injured him
repeatedly and has recently insulted him.Montresor can stand no more; he vows
revenge upon Fortunato. The reminder of the story deals with Montresor’s
methods of entrapping Fortunato and effecting his revenge upon the fortunate
Fortunato know of his hatred. Accordingly, one evening during carnival time, a
time when much frivolity and celebration that he would be taking place,
Montresor set his fiendish, mad plan into motion with full confidence that he
would never be discovered. In fact, at the end of the story, we are certain
that his atrocity will never be discovered in the story.
Poe is Master I create the fear in
reader and in audience’s mind. In this story he explains it very well. Upon a
first reading of The Cask of Amontillado we might be tempted to view Montresor
simply as an Unreasonable, cold blooded murdere. He presents us with only a
vague understanding of his motivations and his pretense of good will and
careful manipulation of Fortunato indicates the care with which he has planned
Fortunato’s death. We again have a classic case of poe’s unreliable narrator,
whose guilt and occasional irrationality prevents him from presenting himself
truthfully to the reader. However, closer inspection shows that Montresor
displays a particularly black sense of humor, with which he amuses both himself
and the horrified reader as he leads Fortunato into his trap. He informs the
audience of his intentions before he begins the story of his last encounter
with Fortunato and Poe employs both verbal and dramatic irony to convey the
darkness of the story.
In The Cask of Amontillado Verbal
irony occurs between Fortunato and Monstresor. When the literal meaning of what
the speaker says contrasts heavily with the speaker’s actual message. For
example, Poe gives the victim the name of Fortunato. This may mean “Fortunate”
in Italian, but adds an extra element of cynical humor to Fortunate’s jovial
and unsuspecting character. Montrsor’s dialogue makes particular use of verbal irony,
since he is aware that Fortunato has no idea what awaits him and thus will
totally misinterpret Montresor tells his victim, “My Dear Fortunato, You are
luckily met”. That time Fortunato
interprets these words to mean that Montresor is fond of him and is only
happy to see him because Montresor can
now carry out his murderous plans. Furthermore, the Fortunato’s fate.
Other examples of verbal irony include Montresor’s showing of the trowel to
Fortunato to prove he is a Mason Montresor is about to become a mason by
inspiring Fortunato, but he is not a Freemason.
“My Dear Fortunato, you
areluckily met. How remarkably well you are looking today. But I have received
a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts.” “How?” said he
“Amontillado, A pipe? Impossible! And in the middle of the carnival!” “I have
my doubts,” I replied; “and I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado
price without consulting you in the matter. You were not to foun, and I was
fearful of losing a bargain.” “Amontillado!” “As you are engaged, I am on my
way to Luchresi. If any one has a critical turn it ishe. He will tell me”
“Luchresi cannot tell Amontillado
from Sherry.|”
“And yet some fools will have it
that his taste is a match your own.”
Because both the
audience and Montresor are aware of the unfortunate Fortunato’s impending
death, dramatic Irony also plays a role in the comedy of horrors of “The Cask
of Amontillado.” Dramatic irony is the result of the disconnect that occurs
when a character namely, Fortunato is not aware of the true meaning of his own
actions. The very setting of the ironic, in that Montresor has chosen the
jovial carnival season to enact his murder because no one will be at his estate
to witness the crime. Fortunato himself is dressed in a jester’s outfit and the
jingling of his jester’s bells remind us of the atmosphere of happiness and
cheer outside the catacombs. Later, as they drink the Medoc, Fortunato drinks
to the dead and buried, not realizing that he is about to join them and
Montresor drinks to Fortunato’s health.
“Come,” I said, with decision, “we will go back; your health is
precious. You are rich, respected, admired, and beloved; you are happy, as once
I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you
will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchresi” “Enough,”
He said; “the cough’s a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a
cough.” “True – True,” I replied; “and, indeed, I had no intention of alarming
you unnecessarily – but you should use all proper caution. A draught of this
Medoc will defend us from the damps.
“Drink,” I said, presenting him the wine.
In
these lines we can see that how Montresor creates the intrigue against the
Fortunato, and how Fortunato trap in that intrigue and he suffers a lot and at
the end he was died. The key to the humor in the story is that despite
Montresor’s sardonic jabs, Fortunato does not realize the extent of his danger
until he has been chained to the granite and even then he remains too drunk to
completely comprehend what has taken place for some time. After repeatedly
insulting Luchesi for his lack of intellect, Fortunato shows himself to be even
more the dupable fool. Because of Fortunato’s drunken and therefore
unsuspicious condition, we do not know if Fortunato would have been any cleverer
in his normal state. Neverthless, by the end of the story Montresor shows
himself to be both the more villainous and the more intelligent being. As he
tells Fortunato he comes from a family with a motto and a coat of arms that
indicates a long tradition of revenge and he ignores any pangs of great
sickness by blaming the damp and shutting Fortunato into the burial ground of
his avenging family.
“Proceed,” I said; “Herein is the Amontillado. As for Luchresi”
“He is an ignoramus,” interprutted my friend, as he stepped
unsteadily Forward, while I followed immediately at his heels. In niche, and
finding an instant he had reached the extremity of the niche, and finding his
progress arrested by the rock, stood stupidly bewildered. A moment more and I
had fettered him to the granite. In its surface were two iron staples, distant
from each other about two feet, horizontally. From one of his waist, it was but
the work of a new second to secure it. He was too much astounded to resist.
With drawing the key I stepped back from the recess.
“Pass your hand,” I said, “Over the
wall; you cannot help feeling the nitre. Indeed, it is very damp. Once more let
me implore you toreturn. No? Then I must Positively leave you. But I must first
render you all the little attentions in my power.”
“True,” I replied; “the Amontillado.” As
I said these words I busied myself among the pile of bones of which I have
before spoken. Throwing them aside, I soon uncovered a quantity of building
stone and Mortar. With these Materials and with the aid of my trowel, I began
Vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche.
These lines are the Examples of the
Verbal irony in this story. The clues to the basically ironic nature of
the story can be seen in many separate details which suggest that the truth is
just the opposite of the surface appearance. The central irony lies in
Montresor’s coat of arms--which depicts a large human foot crushing a serpent
whose fangs are embedded in the heel--and his family motto: No one harms me
with impunity. There is irony also in Montresor’s criteria for a successful
revenge: that a wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser
or when the avenger does not make clear that he is acting out of revengeory.
The reader should realize, as
Montresor does not, that despite his cleverness and irony, Montresor is an
inhuman monster and something of a madnam Montresor’s tone throughout is
jocose. Repeatedly, he baits Fortunato by playing on his vanity, suggesting
that Luchesi can judge the wine as well, pretending to be his concerned friend,
giving his enemy chance after chance to escape. The vaults are too damp,
Fortunato has a cough, his health is precious and they should turn back. With
fore knowledge, Montresor observes that Fortunato will not die of a cough and
drinks to his long life. Montresor interprets his family’s coat of arms
signifying, he says that no one injures him with impunity, a warning that
Fortunato has ignored When he will use to wall up his enemy. Thus, Montresor
plays cat and mouse with his victim. After chaining his enemy, He implores him
to return then says he must render him “all the little attention in my power,”
and proceeds to the masonry. Clearly, he savors every moment of his murderous
revenge. When Fortunato begins to scream, Montresor reveals his own madness.
Unsheathing his rapier, he thrusts about with it and then responds by echoing
and surpassing the cries of his victim. At the end, he returns to his jocose
tone, observing that his heart grew sick on account of “the dampness of the
catacombs,” and concluding, fifty years later, “In pace requiescat”:
Poe’s use of color imagery is
central to his questioning of Montresor’s motives. His face covered in a black
silk mask. Montresor represents not blind justice but rather its gothic
opposite blessed revenge. In contrast, Fortunato
dons the motley-colored costume of the court fool, who gets literally and
tragically fooled by Montresor’s masked motives. The color schemes here
represent the irony of Fortunato’s death sentence. Fortunato, Italian for “the
fortunate one,” faces the realization that even the carnival season can be
murderously serious. Montresor chooses the setting of the carnival for its
abandonment of social order. While the carnival usually indicates joyful social
interaction, Montresor distorts its merry abandon, turning the carnival on its
head. The repeated allusions to the bones of Montresor’s family that line the
vaults foreshadow the story’s descent into the underworld. The two men’s
underground travels are a metaphor for their trip to hell. Because the
carnival, in the land of the living, does not occur as Montresor wants it to,
he takes the carnival below ground, to the realm of the dead and the satanic.
The final
moments of conversation between Montresor and Fortunato heighten the horror and
suggest that Fortunato ultimately—and ironically—achieves some type of upper
hand over Montresor. Fortunato’s plea, “For the love of God, Montresor!” has
provoked much critical controversy. Some critics suggest that Montresor has at
last brought Fortunato to the pit of desperation and despair, indicated by his
invocation of a God that has long left him behind. Other critics, however,
argue that Fortunato ultimately mocks the “love of God,” thereby employing the
same irony that Montresor has effectively used to lure him to the crypts. These
are Fortunato’s final words, and the strange desperation that Montresor
demonstrates in response suggests that he needs Fortunato more than he wants to
admit. Only when he twice screams “Fortunato!” loudly, with no response, does
Montresor claim to have a sick heart. The reasons for Fortunato’s silence are
unclear, but perhaps his willing refusal to answer Montresor is a type of
strange victory in otherwise dire circumstances.
“He! He! He! – he! He! He!- yes, the
Amontillado. But is it not getting late? Will not they be awaiting us at the
palazzo, the lady Fortunato and the rest? Let us be gone.” “yes” I said, “let
us be gone.” “For the love of God, Montresor!” “yes,” “I said, “For the love of
God!”
But to these words I hearkened in vain
for reply. I grew impatient. I called aloud “Fortunato” No answer. Icalled
again “Fortunato!” No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining
aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of
the bells. My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made
it so. I hastened to make an end of my labour. I forced the last stone into its
position; I plastered it up. 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!
As in many of
Poe's short stories, Montresor is the first-person narrator and appears to be
speaking to a specific audience. However, whereas we can suppose that the
narrator of "The Tell-Tale Heart" is speaking to some authority
figure in order to prove his sanity, in "The Cask of Amontillado" we
know very little about Montresor's audience or motivations. The only hint we
have comes in the first paragraph, where he implies that his audience already
knows something of Montresor's thoughts and personality. The account occurs
some fifty years after the event, suggesting that a somewhat older Montresor
was never discovered and has not greatly changed his opinion that the crime was
justified. Montresor has shown himself to be risk averse, so his audience must
be someone that he trusts, perhaps a confessor or a relative. Possibly he is at
the end of his life, and now that he can no longer face any severe
consequences, he has decided to tell his story. The ambiguity of the
circumstances and Montresor's escaping of justice lend a sinister tone to his
story, which is further backed by Poe's extensive use of irony.
Conclusion:
So
we can say that the theme is revenge. It can be looked at as revenge as a
driving force behind a person going so far as to commit a murder or as twisting
the mind of a person who is vengeful to begin with. Such a person might be so
obsessed with vengeance that he imagines reasons to obtain it.RevengeActually,
themes cannot be simply summed up into one word, like "pride" or
"revenge." The theme for Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado"
would sound something more like, "Vengeance conquers even the highest of
men," or "Revenge drives humans to great lengths," etc.The major
theme is one of revenge and what the obsession with revenge can do to a person.
In this story, Montresor's family prides itself on leaving no insult unavenged.
Montresor's obsession with this has perhaps made him imagine that Fortunato has
insulted his family just so that he, Montresor, has something to exercise his
family's pride on.
The theme can also be one of pride being a person's undoing. Fortunato is proud of his ability as a judge of wines and it is his pride that leads him to his doom. Montresor's pride in his family motto may very well have led him into committing a totally unnecessary murder, by reason of his imagining the so-called injuries and insults of Fortunato.
My Profiles:
The theme can also be one of pride being a person's undoing. Fortunato is proud of his ability as a judge of wines and it is his pride that leads him to his doom. Montresor's pride in his family motto may very well have led him into committing a totally unnecessary murder, by reason of his imagining the so-called injuries and insults of Fortunato.
My Profiles:
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