Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's Works - Essay Example

A Crime of Honor and The Coat Of Arms Is a crime ever justifiable? Under ordinary circumstances, probably not. But somehow and strangely enough, it is in the case of “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1802 in Boston to travelling actors. His mother died two years after while his father disappeared. John Allen, a Richmond merchant, took him under his wing but did not adopt him. When Allen refused to pay the gambling debts of the young Edgar, the already strained relationship worsened. This compelled Edgar to drop out of the University of Virginia in 1826, only a year after he enrolled. He then enlisted in the Army and entered West Point in 1830; however, a year later he was dishonorably discharged. He worked as a newspaper and magazine editor in Richmond, Philadelphia and New York. He married Virginia Clemm, his teenage cousin in 1836. She succumbed to Tuberculosis in 1847. In 1849 Poe published “Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque” which generated favorable reviews. He earned fame, first as a literary critic and later as a writer after the publication of “The Raven and Other Poems”. He died in Baltimore in 1849. “The Cask of Amontillado” was first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey’s Magazine and Lady’s Book. In the literary world of the times, people interpreted it as Poe’s response to attacks made upon his one-time friend, Thomas Dunn English in the New York “Evening Mirror”, which contained a charge that Poe was a heavy drinker. If we read the story biographically, it is worth noting that the Montresor family motto is also the national motto of Scotland that the ‘Scotch’ John Allan, like Fortunato was an oenophilex (a connoisseur of perfumes) and a member of the Masons, and that the word ‘Amontillado’ comprises the name ‘Allan’. Thus, the story may be read as an attack upon Poe’s stepfather who, like Fortunato, was rich, respected and beloved by all save his stepson. “The Cask of Amontillado”, a popular and often anthologized short story, occurs in Italy and is related fifty years after the events depicted have occurred. It starts with a dramatic declaration: “The thousand injuries of Fortunato, I had borne as best I could but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” Thus the reader is suddenly thrust into the action and into the cunning mind of the narrator, Montresor. The reader, then, assumes the position of Montresor’s friend and confidante, making the former feel like an accessory to the crime. This is especially when Montresor tells this confidante: “You, who know so well the nature of my soul…” In the opening sentences of the story, we learn much about the character of Montresor. He is proud, methodical and vengeful. He is proud of his family, his forebears and the family’s heraldic emblem which happens to be “a huge human foot d’or, in a field of azure; the foot crushes a serpent whose fangs are embedded in the heel.” “And the motto?” “Nemo men impune lacessit.” (Poe: 276). The motto means: “No one provokes me with impunity.” Whatever Fortunato’s transgression, Montresor seeks revenge. He finally obtains it I n a most terrible and bizarre manner, as the plot of the story unfolds together with his strategy. Montresor explains his strategy for vengeance thus: He must not only punish but punish with impunity. He must reveal himself as an avenger and he must use duplicity to achieve his goal. “It must be understood that neither by word nor deed have I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued as was my wont to smile in his face and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation.” (311) More perceptive than his adversary, Montresor has discerned Fortunato’s “weak point” which is his enormous pride in being a connoisseur of wine. Since Montresor possesses the same ability, he is in a position to exploit his victim’s vulnerability. Montresor establishes this setting of his story as “about dusk one evening, during the supreme madness of the carnival season”. This was when he encountered his “friend”. His use of the word “friend” indicates his taste for irony which he uses throughout the rest of his story. He is dressed in motley clothes, topping his costume with a jester’s cap and bells. He tells Fortunato that he is on his way to Luchressi. He has paid the full amount for what passes as Amontillado. He was now going to ask Luchressi whether he did the right thing. Fortunato dissuaded him from going since Luchressi cannot differentiate between an Amontillado and plain Sherry. He now offers to accompany Montresor home to do the job himself, since he was far more knowledgeable. Montresor is quick to exploit Fortunato’s vulnerability. Despite his warnings that the vaults are extremely damp and will worsen the latter’s cold, Fortunato insists and the two proceed to their destination. Another ironic twist to the tale consists in Montresor’s having given explicit instructions to the servants not to stir from the house during the carnival, thus ensuring “their immediate disappearance and all and eliminating any witnesses to the crime. As the tale goes, this worked as some kind of reverse psychology. Montresor also plied Fortunato with more wine, ostensibly to ease him, but in reality to further his inebriation. The couple then proceed deeper and deeper into the catacombs lined with skeletons and where purportedly the Amontillado were stored and where Fortunato finally met his doom. Religion (Roman Catholic), specifically that of Fortunato and Montresor may be involved in the story’s narrative structure. The question arises: to whom is Montresor telling the story and why? Could it be an old friend to whom he boasts of how he pulled off such a heinous crime and kept it secret for half a century? Most likely it could be a priest since Montresor was approaching the end of his own life and would be desirous of making his peace with the Lord. How does Montresor justify his crime? Most of Poe’s readers see him as “a very special case of the human potential for evil.” But is Montresor such a special case? Perhaps not. He is neither demented nor satanic. He has his reasons for his actions – reasons that we should be able to understand. “What is important to Montresor is not that he is French or Italian but that he is a Montresor. His allegiance is to his family in a way that we can understand only be reflecting on our national allegiance. Poe’s story seems to take place at a time in the past when an aristocratic family like the Montresors could feel something akin to sovereignty and even assert it openly.” (Pollin: 35) The reader needs to make an added effort to understand Montresor’s attitude toward his rights and responsibilities as a member of a royal family. From his point of view, he is acting patriotically in seeking vengeance on his family. Montresor feels justified in killing on behalf of his “fatherland”, his family, in the same way that a soldier can feel justified in killing on behalf of his country. As an author, Edgar Allan Poe achieved brilliant success in three distinct fields in criticism, in poetry and in the short story. Today, readers read less of his critical writings than his poems or short stories. But during his lifetime, he was chiefly known and talked about for his slashing reviews and sarcastic comments on books and writers of his day. It is said that Poe’s art lacked many things – no humor, no human sympathy, no moral consciousness, no practical wisdom. Yet within the narrow confines of his own individual methods, he is supreme. His foreign reputation, particularly in France, is greater than any other American writer, especially in the field of poetry. Poe’s short stories seem to many readers more important than his poems. He showed the world how to write both the modern short story in general and the detective story in particular. “In both short story and poetry, Poe aimed at creating in the reader a definite emotional effect or mood, in prose, it was one of unearthly fear and horror. A singleness of purpose is what makes Poe’s stories so terribly effective – this and Poe’s fondness for the weird, the fantastic, the dismal and the horrible – as we have experienced in “The Cask of Amontillado” (Cross, Smith and Stauffer: 149-150). Works Cited Cross, T.P., Smith, R. & Stauffer, E.C., English and American Writers. 1932 Poe, E.A., The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, Modern Library Edition. New York: Random House, 1938 Pollin, B. H., Discoveries in the Notre Dame. University of Notre Dame Press, 1970 Read More