Although "The Cask of Amontillado" avoids one of the stamps of the Gothic, a ghostlike occurrence or agent in the story, Poe includes enough Gothic elements to put this story squarely in that tradition.
A staple Gothic element is the setting, which is usually a run-down, mysterious castle, monastery or chateau. In this case, the setting is underground in the Montresor catacombs underneath Montresor's chateau--a damp, claustrophobic passageway, dripping with nitre from its proximity to a water source, leading always downward. Fortunato doesn't know this, but he is descending a stairway to Hell rather than to sample a rare wine. This is the perfect Gothic setting for a tale in which nothing good is going to occur. As Montresor describes their
A staple Gothic element is the setting, which is usually a run-down, mysterious castle, monastery or chateau. In this case, the setting is underground in the Montresor catacombs underneath Montresor's chateau--a damp, claustrophobic passageway, dripping with nitre from its proximity to a water source, leading always downward. Fortunato doesn't know this, but he is descending a stairway to Hell rather than to sample a rare wine. This is the perfect Gothic setting for a tale in which nothing good is going to occur. As Montresor describes their