The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Essay Example

of “The Cask of the Amontillado” and “The Masque of the Red Death” The work of Edgar Allan Poe is notable for the inception of the psychological element of horror in it. This paper shall look at the differences and similarities between two short stories written by Poe. The genre of the short story was what Poe was famous for, apart from his poetry. He was able to explore the intricacies of the human mind through these short pieces of fiction; the structure of the work often mirroring the workings of the mind as Poe envisaged it. Poe’s works were then often in the mold of psychological thrillers rather than supernatural even though it had elements of the supernatural as well. “The Cask of the Amontillado” and “The Masque of the Red Death” explores various emotions that are a part of the human mind such as fear and revenge. They also talk of characters who are unusual in their mental constitution. The “Cask of the Amontillado” talks of a character who becomes obsessed with revenge and takes it in an extremely gruesome manner. The story is set during a carnival and the protagonist takes advantage of this setting to get his adversary Fortunato drunk. The winding mazes that are supposedly the pathways to the cask of amontillado that needs to be tasted can be seen as a metaphor for the inscrutable ways of the working of the mind. The plot of the story that does not give away too much information to the reader is also something that points to the impossibility of understanding the human mind. Apart from this, the absence of the cask at the end of the tunnel also makes clear to the reader the impossibility of a revelation. The revelation is in the motive of the mind of Montresor and in the victimization of Fortunato. What the reader is then faced with is a pathological mind that needs very little motive to murder a man. This is something that Poe consistently touches upon in his fiction. The importance that is given to the analysis of what would be considered to be deviant is present in “The Cask of Amontillado” as well. Montresor’s deviance is seen in his inability to take any slight. This is seen in the way in which he uses language in order to dupe Fortunato. The literary devices that Poe uses too strengthen the notion of this deviance. The style of the story is one that suggests claustrophobia and suffocation. The words that Montresor utters can often be construed differently by the reader but the disturbing aspect of this is the fact that Fortunato is not aware of this for a very long period of time. In this world, god is almost absent and the last words of Fortunato, “For the Love of God, Montresor!” (Poe) are ominous in the reminder that a transcendental power is absent. The dependence on that power for succor would then not be possible anymore in a society like the one that is described in this story. Also, god is not present in a situation where the person concerned, that is, Montresor, is as unpredictable as he is. Unpredictability is a feature also of the short story “The Mask of the Red Death”. The story explores the elaborate preparations that are made by Prince Prospero in order to avoid a disease that afflicts large parts of his kingdom. The story makes clear the decadence of the aristocracy in the nineteenth century when the condition of the peasants was at its worst. The decline of the aristocracy in this story is a result of its inability to see itself as part of the human race itself. The mental decadence of the aristocracy is often pointed out during the scenes that describe the castle where Prince Prospero takes refuge in from the plague. In this sense, Poe explores the complacence that wealth imbued people of a certain class with in this era. He critiques this complacence through the setting of the story and the way in which the characters are described. The richness of the surroundings are described in minute detail so as to make clear the relation between the mental states of the characters and the surroundings that they are placed in. The intricate connections that are thus built between the surroundings of a person and the mental stats of that person is something that is a characteristic feature of Poe’s stories. This is probably an influence of the gothic tradition of writing that looked at the different ways in which the architecture if a society or a country was related to the mindsets that were endorsed by the people of that particular place. Another aspect that is of importance in this story is the fact that the tone is as dark as that of “The Cask of Amontillado”. The importance of this lies in the fact that this is a consistent feature in Poe’s work. His work suggests that any exploration of the human mind would lead to dark secrets that would be unpalatable to what is generally known as civilized society. This is an extremely important insight as it comes much before Sigmund Freud put forth his theories regarding the human mind and the parts of it that are not accessible to man and science. The two stories under consideration are thus, ones that make clear the main thematic concerns of Poe. The structure of the short story that he cultivated too was one that was suited for the exploration of the human mind and the depiction of its complexity. This depiction then makes clear the role that Poe has had in the understanding of the human mind that has deepened in the twentieth and the twenty first century. The two stories use similar tones to express the claustrophobic mindsets that are a part of the characters that people these worlds. Poe’s stories attempt an honest exploration of the mind and its deviances and these two are not exception. Works Cited Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Cask of Amontillado”. Web. 25 April 2013. ---. “The Masque of the Red Death”. Web. 25 April 2013. Read More