Analysis Research paper of Edgar allen poe's cask of amontillado - Essay Example

Edgar Allan Poe’s "Cask of Amontillado" The Cask of Amontillado was Poe’s last literary work and his greatest short story, according to many. The story is a gothic tale of addiction, torture, murder, and revenge and is a story about the loss of face. Face was an exceedingly significant aspect in all Southeast Asian cultures. The story is of an intricate design, told by the use of a fanciful language and set in an underground Italian cemetery. Suffice to say, the Cask of Amontillado is a journey into the strange and sinister recesses of the human mind.

Montresor, who holds a grudge against Fortunato for an offence not explained, narrates the story. The story is a tale of revenge, though the reader never knows what offence Fortunato, to deserve this vengeance, committed. As the story unfolds, Montresor’s unreliability, as a narrator, is slowly uncovered, and the reader realizes that, the offence committed by Fortunato may be just but an exaggeration or imagination of Montresor.From the story, it is obvious that Fortunato is not aware of Montresor’s anger and vengeance, and this makes the tale more terrifying and tragic.

Poe, however, adds several comical touches to this grotesque tale. An example of this grotesque humor is the character Fortunato’s name, which in Italian means lucky. This represents an ironic language play since Fortunato was certainly not the lucky one in the tragic tale.The Cask of Amontillado is presented in the first person, and Poe avoids clues as to any interpretation of this action. The character Montresor appears in control, making decisions on what to reveal and what to omit. The story is frightening as it is of a man confessing his terrible crime, without any emotion.

Works CitedEdgar Allan Poe, Gary Kelley. The Cask of Amontillado. Madison: The Creative Company, 2008.Garrity, Nancy Roberts. Classic Middle School Literature: Mystery. Culver City: Good Year Books, 2000.Griffith, Kelley. Writing Essays about Literature. Connecticut: Cengage Learning, 2010.Poe, Edgar Allan. Tales of Mystery and Imagination. Montana: Kessinger Publishing, 2005.—. Tales of Terror. London: Random House Childrens Books, 2005.—. The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Volume 2. Los Angeles: Echo Library, 2007.

Sova, Dawn B. Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2007.Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Parker Willis, James Russell Lowell, Rufus Wilmot Griswold. The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe: With Notices of His Life and Genius, Volumes 1-2. Virginia: J. S. Redfield, 1850.