The Cask of Amontillado - 1774 Words

In Edgar Allan Poe’s â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado,† the main character, Montresor, leads his enemy, Fortunato, into his catacombs, and there buries him alive by bricking him up in a niche in the wall; Poe gives no actual reason for this except to say that Montresor has been â€Å"insulted† in some way. In his Science Fiction work â€Å"Usher II,† Ray Bradbury adopts many of Poe’s works in creating his story—including pieces from â€Å"TCoA.† What separates Bradbury’s work from other authors who borrow works and re-imagine them (Gregory Maguire’s Wicked, Geraldine Brooks’s March, and Peter Carrey’s Jack Maggs, for instance), is that â€Å"Usher II,† in its imaginative way, is trying to be one with its predecessor. Bradbury seeks to retain Poe’s love of the double†¦show more content†¦The author tells us that Fortunato is â€Å"a man to be respected and even feared† (Poe 1612)â⠂¬â€which could mean some sort of public embarrassment for Montresor, but the reader can only make vague assumptions—but nothing else; the reader knows even less about Montresor—only that he is on this quest for vengeance. In â€Å"TCoA,† there are no developed characters, no real plot structure; there is only, as was stated above, Poe’s ideal tale: effect and climax. He sets the tone with the theme of vengeance, he sets the scene with the walk through the catacombs, all building to what he deemed to be the essence of stories—the climax, in which Montresor walls up his â€Å"friend.† And then Poe leaves. It is an almost perfect Poe story; a story which Bradbury will take and make his own—but not in the way that most authors do. Bradbury’s tone throughout â€Å"Usher II† is a mixture of dark and comedic. The author is trying to capture that sadistic Poe mentality (the main character, Stendahl, has all the people from the Society for the Prevention of Fantasy murdered in horribly demented, Poe-like ways (Bradbury 113-115)), while at the same time tossing a wink-wink at the reader familiar with Poe’s work: â€Å"‘During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Mr. Whendal paused in his quotation† (Bradbury 103), from â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher.† Bradbury does make the story his own by setting it in a super-advanced future (though it’s set in 2005, it had been futuristic for himShow MoreRelatedThe Cask of Amontillado663 Words   |  3 PagesThe irony is detected by the use of his exaggeration. The symbolism by the objects it uses and how they are used. â€Å"’The cask of Amontillado’ is a creepy short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. The story is rife with examples of symbolism and irony. â€Å" â€Å"Poe tells a tale of revenge and humiliation, the way the story symbolizes Poe’s work that has a mind-boggling en ding. â€Å" The story is full of examples of irony and symbolism to try to answer questions thrown at the reader in the short story. The narratorRead MoreThe Cask of Amontillado514 Words   |  2 PagesThe amontillado was a significant symbol because it is what is used to lure fortunate and represents a rare, â€Å"fortunate would clearly imply that is man of good fortunate, when the actual cause is that he is about to scuffs a mostly untimely demise† which is ironic because fortunato is not very fortunito. â€Å"montresor plans to take revenge on fortunate for insulting him in a big manner, that montresor wants to kill him. â€Å" montresor lures fortunateRead MoreCask of Amontillado1545 Words   |  7 PagesForeshadowing the Fate in â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† In â€Å"Cask of Amontillado,† Edgar Allan Poe presents a murderous tale of revenge revealed as the confession of a man who murdered another man over fifty years ago because of an â€Å"insult.† During a carnival festival, the murderer led his companion to the catacombs where he buried the man alive. The charter of Montresor lures his victim, Fortunato with the promise of a fine sherry, amontillado. As Poe’s character of Montresor guides the wine connoisseurRead MoreThe Cask Of Amontillado :825 Words   |  4 PagesChiara Cappelletti Professor Vega English 201-1112 February 8th THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO 5) Are individuals ever justified in taking justice into their own hands? Being raised based with Catholic principles implies that certain values, such as the respect for a persons life, became part of my own identity. Therefore, I personally believe that no one has the right to decide whether or not someone deserves to die. However, I believe that values and principles are the product of the societyRead MoreThe Cask Of Amontillado Essay1041 Words   |  5 PagesWriter Kurt Vonnegut created eight tips that should be applied for any great story. In the short story, â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†, by Edgar Allen Poe three of these tips are applied. Included in this story are: do not waste the reader’s time, each character must want something, and to be a sadist. Using these three tips makes Poe’s work a gripping short story that reveals how powerful words can be and that they can come with severe consequences. Also, that there can always be a lesson to be learnedRead MoreThemes Of The Cask Of The Amontillado 1104 Words   |  5 PagesEyad Daoud Alyson Dickerman ENG-102-18 February 25, 2015 Themes of A.S. Byatt and Poe In the stories â€Å"The Cask of The Amontillado† and â€Å"The Thing in The Forest†, the themes loss, madness, and fear were used. They both seem to start with some type of loss and end with a type of madness. In both stories Montresor and Penny from â€Å"The Thing in The Forest† have lost something affecting their lives greatly. These losses put these characters in some type of state of madness. Their loss make these storiesRead MoreRevenge In The Cask Of Amontillado1293 Words   |  6 PagesEdgar Allan Poe is an American author famously known for short stories of mystery and horror. One of the many short stories that Edgar Allan Poe is known for is The Cask of Amontillado. This short story is about Montressor’s seek of revenge to Fortunato who had hurt him a â€Å"thousand times† and learned that Fortunato laughed at his â€Å"proud name, Montressor, the name of an old and honored family† (Poe). Montressor devises a plan of revenge by us ing Fortunato’s â€Å"great weakness; he liked to drink goodRead Moreâ€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† Essay1543 Words   |  7 PagesI cannot begin talking about â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† without first mentioning its author, Mr. Edgar Allen Poe and his unique style of writing. Poe’s style of writing is described as â€Å"Dark Gothic.† Poe uses irony to create a comedic effect which only foreshadows the horror ahead; his short story writing still giving readers the full effect of the story; Poe felt a story should be read in one sitting, with each event occurring in order keeping with the storyline as he states in his essay â€Å"TheRead MoreAnalysis Of The Cask Of Amontillado 1140 Words   |  5 PagesKawanda Garner Ms. Roesch ENC 1102 29 April 2016 Main Character Narration and Its Effects The first –person narration style of â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† is vital in creating the quality of the story. The story allows one of the main characters in the story Montresor, to tell the story from his point of view which gives the reader intimate yet disturbing look into the mind story teller thinks and feels which the reader doesn’t normally get from other narrative styles. The narrative style of thisRead MoreAnalysis Of The Cask Of Amontillado 1109 Words   |  5 PagesThe first –person narration style of â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† is vital in creating the quality of the story. The story allows one of the main characters in the story Montresor, to tell the story from his point of view which gives the reader intimate yet disturbing look into the mind story teller thinks and feels which the reader doesn’t normally get from other narrative styles. The narrative style of this story is important because it sets the tone of the story. The reader become more familiar