Edgar Allen Poe lived a life marked by poverty, grief, and loss. While he never wrote a memoir describing his wretched life, his life’s circumstances that lead to his morbid thoughts, imagination, and ideas can be shown through his literary works. One such work that vividly conveys these aspects is “The Cask of Amontillado,” which follows a man named Montresor in his revenge against his nemesis Fortunato by using Fortunato’s love of wine against himself. Montresor chains and closes Fortunato in a crypt and leaves him to die, but not before psychologically torturing him. There are many specific literary aspects, such as tone, symbols, and setting, that can give readers important insights toward understanding this dark and gothic tale by understanding Poe’s life and mentality.
The tone in this short story is very ominous and dark. The narrator creates this sense of evil because he is filled with hate and anger, which in turn may possibly convey Poe’s own anger and hate at the hand life has dealt him, like losing his wife, birthmother, and …show more content…
One of the biggest symbols is Fortunato’s own name. Fortunato is the Italian word for fortunate or blessed; this is quite ironic because his character is not fortunate at all (Collins). In fact, Fortunato is drunk the whole time and has no idea what is going on. This mimics Poe’s supposed thought that he was not fortunate and blessed in life and Fortunato’s love of wine as his medicine also mimics Poe’s alcoholism. Another symbol in this story is Fortunato’s outfit at the carnival, “The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells." (Poe, 3-4). Fortunato was not only dressed as a fool but he was also a fool for falling in Montresor’s trap as well. This plays on the idea that Poe may have thought of himself as a fool for all his
The tone in this short story is very ominous and dark. The narrator creates this sense of evil because he is filled with hate and anger, which in turn may possibly convey Poe’s own anger and hate at the hand life has dealt him, like losing his wife, birthmother, and …show more content…
One of the biggest symbols is Fortunato’s own name. Fortunato is the Italian word for fortunate or blessed; this is quite ironic because his character is not fortunate at all (Collins). In fact, Fortunato is drunk the whole time and has no idea what is going on. This mimics Poe’s supposed thought that he was not fortunate and blessed in life and Fortunato’s love of wine as his medicine also mimics Poe’s alcoholism. Another symbol in this story is Fortunato’s outfit at the carnival, “The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells." (Poe, 3-4). Fortunato was not only dressed as a fool but he was also a fool for falling in Montresor’s trap as well. This plays on the idea that Poe may have thought of himself as a fool for all his