Edgar Allan Poe, an American short-story writer, essayist, and poet, published “The Cask of Amontillado” in 1846. It was his last, and some say greatest, short story. It’s a tale of revenge, murder, torture, and addiction set in a vast underground Italian catacomb (underground cemetery). It’s also a journey into the dark and mysterious recesses of the human psyche.Poe was born on January 19, 1809 to actors David and Eliza Poe. He and his brother and sister were orphaned shortly before Poe’s second birthday, and were each taken in by different families. Maybe this helps explain why he was attracted to the dark themes. Show
His biography is fascinating, and the subject of much debate, gossip, and speculation. For example, he’s rumored to have died from the bite of a rabid dog, but he probably passed away as a result of drug- and alcohol-related complications. He was a heavy drinker, and also addicted to the drug laudanum. This information helps us decipher a difficult symbol in the story, which you can read about in “Symbols, Imagery, Allegory.” If you are interested in getting to know Poe better, we’ve provided you with lots of handy links in “Did You Know?” The most important thing you need to know about Poe is that he was a truly brilliant, visionary, and influential writer. He basically invented the genre of mystery or detective fiction as well as science fiction, and he had very precise ideas about what stories are supposed to do and be, as is reflected in his essays.  Why is horror so popular? Our culture is awash with it. Although some may avoid scary movies and books, most of us crave that occasional tingle running down our spines. But that doesn’t answer our question: Why? Why do we want to be scared, and why do all these people want to scare us? There are several answers, not limited to what we talk about here. Horror writers such as Edgar Allan Poe, author of the dismal tale at hand, will tell you that scary stories are a great way to express social and personal anxieties over sex, drugs, parents, children, bullies, and war, to name a few. We want to talk about them because we want to understand them, but we can’t always find the right time or place. For the person reading or watching horror, it’s also a kind of freedom. The horror story is an argument, usually a dark and mysterious one, about human nature. By reading or watching, we participate in this argument. Horror-master Steven King says, “We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones” (source). In some ways, we read and watch horror for the same reason: our own lives often seem nice and calm after a few hours of fear. Plus, Edgar Allan Poe's stories are fun because they're complicated puzzles. You have to exercise your brain muscles to figure them out. And because “The Cask of Amontillado” is so very short, we can really focus on its details, and we can read it as many times as we want.
The Cask of Amontillado A Short Film ImagesA Poe Poster Poe A Creepy Crypt Visiting Catacombs DocumentsLetters from Poe OtherA Timeline The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore Carnival The Poe Museum American Masters Poe’s Grave The Edgar Awards A Quiz Perspectives in "Cask" Motive for Murder
“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, is a very interesting short story about getting revenge for Fortunato’s insults towards Montresor. Montresor plots to kill Fortunato by his knowledge for wine to lure him to his death. When Montresor brings him into the catacombs underneath the carnival, he finally kills Fortunato by trapping him and entombing him alive. The story reflects on his life in some ways and the reasons for Poe writing this short story is intriguing to know. This story is filled with irony and Montresor acts off of impulse and does not feel any remorse or regret from his actions. As Fortunato portrays the victim, he has an addiction to alcohol which impairs people’s judgment, causing him to be gullible which then leads to his death. In the story, Poe represents two different aspects of himself, one side of him is Montresor which represents evil and the other side which represents the victim, Fortunato. “Poe’s psychology is clearly known within both the narrator of the story as well as the victim in the story. For instance, Poe’s darker desires can easily be portrayed through the eyes of Montresor while Fortunato’s character reveals a sense of hopelessness and helplessness”. This being said, Poe’s life and experiences have a serious effect on both Montesor and Fortunato’s character psychologies. While Edgar Allen Poe is not exactly like Montresor, it shows in the story that they are almost equal. While Poe was young, his mother died from tuberculosis and his father died from too much alcohol consumption. Poe was then adopted into a new family of John Allen’s. Him and his adoptive father would always argue over his gambling and alcohol addictions, which could have been the explanation for his problems with his father. Moreover, when he was attending school in Richmond, Poe happened to always be excluded from the activities his peers were in because of his mother who had little money from being an actress, could not provide enough for him. This made Poe feel very isolated which relates very well to “The Cask of Amontillado”. With Montresor killing Fortunato, this shows that Montresor was looking for some sort of closure, just as Poe is looking for it as well. Poe’s relation with Fortunato forms with the many deaths in his life that he has to deal with. With the deaths of his birth mother, adoptive mother and his numerous wives, it forces him to develop a form of paranoia of being alone. The quote “Fortunato in a sense, acts a shadow projection as he projects Poe’s innermost feelings of hopelessness and abandonment”, explains that Fortunato shows the same emotions as Poe does, showing a huge relation in character. Another representation of his life would be from the quote “A. N. Stevens suggests that Poe first heard the anecdote on which he might have based this story when he was a private in the army in 1827”, this represents a story when Poe saw a gravestone of Lieutenant Massie who had been unfairly killed in a duel by Captain Green. His fellow officers decided to take revenge on him for killing Massie. They acted as if they were friendly towards Green as they kept giving him wine until he was extremely intoxicated. Then they carried the captain into a small opening that led into the dungeons. The people who captured him shackled him to the floor, then, using bricks and mortar, sealed him up alive inside. Captain Green had died an inhumane death in just a few days. This could have been an inspiration for the short story as well. As a result of much writing about pain and misery, there’s no doubt about why this is one of his best works of literature to date. Each of the characters are filled with psychological concepts and hints of irony. Montresor is way more vulnerable than the average human being to give in to his own desires and temptations despite how wrong they might be. By utilizing psychoanalysis and biographical analysis, Poe’s audience is able to understand the connection between his life and “The Cask of Amontillado”. Furthermore, by reading this short story, readers are able to get a better understanding of Poe’s mindset along with the environment and time period that helped him write it.
In order to continue enjoying our site, we ask that you confirm your identity as a human. Thank you very much for your cooperation. As you prepare for the AP Literature exam, one of the things you’ll have to do is become an expert in a few literary works that you can use on the composition portion of the exam. We recommend that you choose four to five notable works with different genres and themes to make sure you can write an amazing student choice essay. (Actually...practicing analyzing literature will help you on the whole exam, not just the written portion, so it’s a win-win situation!) But just because these works have to be “notable” with “literary merit” doesn’t mean they need to be boring, too! That’s why we’re talking about Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Cask of Amontillado,” as a good choice for your AP exam. Not only is it widely recognized as an excellent piece of literature, it’s got a little of everything: horror! Suspense! A surprise twist! And as an added bonus...it’s short. To bring you up to speed, we’ll start with “The Cask of Amontillado” summary, then we’ll jump into character and thematic analyses. By the time you finish this article, you’ll be able to write fearlessly about “The Cask of Amontillado” on your AP exam.
A photograph of Edgar Allan Poe. Historical Background: Who Was Edgar Allen Poe?Critics consider Edgar Allan Poe to be the father of the detective story (thanks to “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” which predates the Sherlock Holmes stories by more than 50 years!) and a pioneer of the American short story. But despite his literary success, Edgar Allan Poe’s life was marked by tragedy. Orphaned just a year after his birth in 1809, Poe was taken in by John and Frances Allan (who weren’t blood relatives). Frances Allan and Poe fought often, usually over money, and Poe would flirt with poverty throughout his life...especially after he was cut out of John Allan’s will. Poe tried to go to college but couldn’t pay for it, so he dropped out. This was a blessing in disguise, since it kicked off Poe’s writing career. Fueled by both his passion and the death of his older brother, Poe moved back to Baltimore to become a full-time writer. There, he married his cousin—Virginia Clemm—who was just 13 at the time of the marriage. (Poe was 26!) By all accounts, the couple was happy until Virginia’s death thirteen years later. Poe would never recover from her death and would pass away two years later, shortly after turning 40 years old. Poe’s life might have been short, but his writing has lived on. Although Poe was a poet, literary critic, essayist, short story writer, and novelist, he is most well-known today for his grisly stories of terror and the macabre. Most of Poe’s works fall into the Gothic genre, which is characterized by a sense of terror, doubt, and the uncanny. The genre was incredibly popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Poe’s writing would make him one of the best-known writers of Gothic horror.
The Cask of Amontillado Background“The Cask of Amontillado” is one of Poe’s most famous short stories, and it was originally published in 1846 in Godey’s Lady Book, the most popular periodical in the United States at that time. Though scholars aren’t 100 percent sure what inspired Poe’s short story, many believe it’s based on a story he heard while stationed at Fort Independence in Massachusetts in 1827. At that time, Fort Independence had a statue of Lieutenant Robert Massie, who had been killed in a sword duel following a card game, on the premises. As legend has it, after Massie’s death, other soldiers took revenge on his murderer by getting him drunk and permanently sealing him in a vault...alive. A more popular theory is that Poe wrote “The Cask of Amontillado” in response to his personal rival, Thomas Dunn English, who had written a scathing critique of one of Poe’s novels. “The Cask of Amontillado” skewers elements from English’s novel, 1844, including making references to the same secret societies and subterranean vaults featured in English’s work. Others believe that “The Cask of Amontillado” was inspired not by a person, but by a widespread fear of being buried alive. Because medicine was in its infancy, sometimes coma victims were assumed to be dead and were buried accordingly, only to awake in their coffins days later. People started inventing easy-open coffins, burial vaults with windows, and even coffins with breathing tubes attached to save people who were prematurely buried. And of course, the fear of being buried alive—only to die in your own coffin—is echoed in the plot of “The Cask of Amontillado.” Regardless of what inspired Poe to write “The Cask of Amontillado,” the fact remains that this short story remains one of his most famous and enduring works of Gothic terror. The Cask of Amontillado SummaryNow that you know a little bit about the background of Poe’s short story, let’s take a look at the plot of the text. (You can find a free, legal copy of “The Cask of Amontillado” online by clicking here.) The Story BeginsPoe’s short story actually takes place in two time periods. The bulk of the events occur on the night of Carnaval, which is a Western Christian celebration that takes place before Lent. Carnival is a celebration of excess—of food, drink, and fun—before the restriction of the Lenten season sets in before Easter. (In the United States, the Carnival season is better known as Mardi Gras.) But the story is told in retrospect by the narrator, Montresor, fifty years after the event to an unknown listener (only referred to as “you” in the story). That means that there are actually two different time frames happening in “The Cask of Amontillado.” Setting the TrapReaders learn that Montresor is planning to take revenge on his one-time friend, Fortunato. Readers never learn exactly what Fortunato has done to Montresor to push him over the edge, only that Montresor feels he is the victim of a “thousand injuries” and one unnamed “insult” he must avenge. Readers also learn that Montresor has hidden his rage in order to convince Fortunato that they are still friends—which is all part of his plan. On the night of Carnival, Montresor puts his plan into action. He knows that Fortunato considers himself a wine connoisseur, so Montresor isn’t surprised that Fortunato is already drunk when he finds him in the middle of the Carnival celebration. Montresor tells him about a pipe, or about 130 gallons, of Amontillado he bought. (Amontillado is a fine sherry wine.) But now that he has the wine, Montresor is afraid that he was duped. He tells Fortunato that he was on his way to find Luchresi—another wine connoisseur—to help him determine the wine’s authenticity. Entering the VaultsMontresor’s ploy works. Montresor knows that Fortunato is full of himself, and the idea that someone could judge the Amontillado pricks his ego. As a result, Fortunato insists on checking the Amontillado himself. Montresor half-heartedly tries to dissuade Fortunato, telling him that going into the catacombs, or underground vaults where generations of the Montresor family are buried, will worsen Fortunato’s head cold. Fortunato waves off Montresor’s concerns, saying that he “shall not die of a cough,” and he follows him into the vaults to taste the Amontillado anyway. As the men venture further into the dark, underground passageways, Montresor makes sure that Fortunato keeps drinking. Fortunato asks about the Montresor family’s coat of arms, and Montresor tells him that their family motto is “Nemo me impune lacessit,” or “no one attacks me with impunity.” Fortunato is so drunk that he misses the warning in Montresor’s words, and instead asks whether Montresor is a member of the masons, a fraternity with an elite membership. Montresor says yes and holds up a mason’s trowel, implying that he’s a literal mason instead. Fortunato thinks Montresor is joking, and by the time they arrive at the niche where Montresor says he’s stored the Amontillado, he’s too drunk to notice that there’s no wine inside. He doesn’t even resist as Montresor chains him to the wall. The End of FortunatoMontresor then reveals the bricks and mortar he has stored in the vault, and he begins to wall up the opening to the niche...with Fortunato chained inside. The process is a long one, and Montresor describes Fortunato’s fearful cries and attempts to pull free from the chains. But Montresor is determined, and he throws a lit torch into the niche with Fortunato before he finishes walling him in alive. By this point, Fortunato is panicked. He’s screaming for help, but the pair are so far underground that there’s no one to hear him. He tries to appeal to Montresor’s logic, saying that he’ll be missed by “Lady Fortunato and the rest.” Montresor is unmoved, finishes sealing up the vault, and leaves Fortunato there to die. Montresor finishes his story by telling the listener that there Fortunato’s bones remain, fifty years later.
mninha/Flickr “The Cask of Amontillado” Character AnalysisRead on for an in-depth analysis of the major characters in “The Cask of Amontillado.” FortunatoFortunato’s name means “the fortunate one” in Italian, which is ironic given that he ends up bricked within the Montresor catacombs and left to die. This is just one example of the dramatic irony that permeates the short story. Dramatic irony is when the reader knows something that one or more of the characters don’t know. In this case, readers know what Montresor plans to do, but Fortunato remains ignorant. This creates tension in the short story. As a reader, you want to yell at Fortunato to run away, but you can’t. The thrill of “The Cask of Amontillado” comes from knowing exactly what will happen and being powerless to stop it. Other than the fact that he seems to have wronged Montresor somehow, readers learn very little about Fortunato directly. Everything we know about his character we have to infer from Montresor’s descriptions of Fortunato and his actions. For example, we know Fortunato thinks he and Montresor are friends, and they likely were at one point. But we also know that Fortunato is “rich, respected, admired, beloved,” and happy, according to Montresor, at least. But he also seems to be egotistical and self-indulgent; he drinks to excess, has no qualms talking badly about other people (like Luchresi), and thinks he’s the best wine connoisseur around. Ultimately, whether or not Fortunato’s character flaws are enough to warrant Fortunato’s fate is up for readers to decide. MontresorMontresor is the main character of “The Cask of Amontillado,” and the story is told in first person from his perspective. Like Fortunato, readers know very little about Montresor’s backstory outside of what they can infer from the text. For example, Poe implies that Montresor seems to come from money—he lives in a palazzo, which is basically an Italian palace, which has its own crypt. But Montresor’s actions tell readers even more about his character. First, he’s driven by revenge. He doesn’t take insults lightly, and he’s able to nurse a grudge to an extreme degree. He’s also witty—he makes double entendres about Fortunato’s death that the latter never catches—and knows how to plan ahead, too. But most importantly, he lacks remorse. At the end of the story, Montresor ends with an exclamation, “In pace requiescat,” which means “rest in peace.” Montresor is proud of what he’s done...and even prouder that he hasn’t been caught. As a result, his final wish for Fortunato comes across as sarcastic rather than sincere. All of this together makes readers question Montresor’s role in the story. At the beginning, he seems like he’s the protagonist: he’s a man who’s been terribly wronged looking for revenge. But by the end of the story, it’s not clear whether Montresor is the story’s hero...or its villain. LuchresiLuchresi never appears in the story, but he plays a vital role in Montresor’s plan. Luchresi is clearly one of Fortunato’s rivals, if not in reality, then at least when it comes to his expertise in wine. Montresor plays this rivalry to his advantage. He keeps mentioning Luchresi’s name to motivate Fortunato and keep him interested in the Amontillado, especially since he’s drunk and his attention keeps wavering. (Keep in mind that Luchresi is an innocent bystander in all of this—Montresor is just borrowing his name and reputation.) Poe uses the mention of Luchresi’s name to remind Fortunato—and the readers—what’s happening. Unnamed ListenerLike we mentioned earlier, “The Cask of Amontillado” is a story told in retrospect. An older Montresor is speaking to an unnamed listener, recounting how he killed Fortunato in revenge. Readers know nothing about the listener, only that he’s Montresor’s audience in telling the story. But from an analysis standpoint, the listener is important. It reminds us that Montresor is telling this story to someone else, and in doing so, trying to communicate his personal perspective. It makes readers question whether Montresor is telling the whole truth, too. Was Fortunato really as bad as Montresor says he was, for example? Because the story is told from Montresor’s perspective—and likely with an agenda in mind—readers are left wondering if Montresor’s account is totally accurate.
Brandon Heyer/Flickr The 3 Key The Cask of Amontillado Themes“The Cask of Amontillado" is considered one of Poe’s best short stories, and with good reason: it melds tension, horror, and surprise together masterfully. But what are the messages of Poe’s story? Let’s look at three of major themes of “The Cask of Amontillado” below. The Unreliability of PerceptionThink of a time that you did something you knew your parents would punish you for. When you explained the situation to your parents, how did you do it? More than likely, you tried to downplay your actions (without lying!) to make the consequences a little less severe. This is a good example of how perspective matters. For your parents, what you did is a serious offense. But if you could just offer a different perspective on things, maybe you won’t be grounded for quite so long! In “The Cask of Amontillado,” readers are presented with Montresor’s perspective of the story. He tells readers he’s been wronged—for what, he doesn’t say—and paints an unflattering picture of Fortunato. Even though Montresor says he’s rich and well liked, Fortunato’s actions make him seem like a stuck-up, overindulgent idiot. But is that accurate? Because we only get Montresor’s side of the story, it’s hard to know. It’s up to the reader to decide how reliable, or trustworthy, Montresor is as a narrator. Do we believe him and his argument that killing Fortunato was the only way to have his revenge? Or is Montresor just a cold-blooded killer? By making the readers ask these questions, Poe draws attention to the idea that people’s individual perspectives on a situation aren’t necessarily 100 percent accurate. The Danger of PrideAlthough Montresor is responsible for Fortunato’s death, the latter has a hand in sealing his own coffin, too. Even though he’s drunk and sick, the mention of Luchresi’s name triggers Fortunato’s massive ego. The idea that anyone could be better than him—especially Luchresi, who can’t “tell Amontillado from sherry”—drives him to follow Montresor into the catacombs. Despite wanting to kill Fortunato, Montresor gives his victim many chances to turn back. Montresor cites Fortunato’s cough, saying that it might be best to ask for Luchresi’s help instead. But each time, Fortunato says he wants to push forward because he cannot stand Luchresi getting credit for determining whether the Amontillado is authentic. It’s his pride that makes him want to beat Luchresi, but in the end, it’s his pride that makes him lose. The Power of RevengePerhaps the scariest aspect of “The Cask of Amontillado” is how far Montresor goes for revenge. In many ways, what Fortunato has done to warrant Montresor’s wrath is immaterial; Poe is more interested in how revenge drives a man to extremes. In this case, it’s clear that Fortunato’s perceived wrongs have dominated Montresor’s thoughts and actions. His plan to kill Fortunato is highly premeditated: he’s clearly put a lot of thought into how he will do it, right down to making sure he has bricks and mortar handy to entomb Fortunato alive. This is not a spur-of-the-moment, in-the-heat-of-passion action. No, Montresor has thought long and hard about his plan. Given this, Poe shows readers how powerful the need for revenge can be. Not only can it drive people to extremes, it can warp their sense of reason, too. After all, short of murder, what insult could Fortunato have delivered to warrant such a gruesome death? Could it be that Montresor’s desire for vengeance, rather than Fortunato's actions, are what allows Montresor to justify murder? Ultimately, because the whole story is written from Montresor’s perspective, Poe doesn’t give readers any clear answers. But in doing so, Poe also shows how the truth is often obscured by people’s perceptions and motivations. Now What?It’s great that you’re preparing for the composition part of the AP Literature exam, but don’t forget that there’s a multiple choice section, too. Get the skinny on the multiple choice section—and how to ace it!—here. One of the best ways to practice for any exam is to take practice tests. Did you know that there are practice exams for AP tests, too? Here’s a list of practice tests for the AP Literature exam that you can take to help you study smarter. Now that you’re well on your way to taking an AP English exam, why not try your hand at some other AP tests? Here’s a comprehensive list of all the AP classes and tests you can take to help earn credit for college. |
Who is the author of the cask of amontillado?
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