The Cask Of Amontillado Analysis Essay

“The Cask of Amontillado”, both as a title and an item, take the maniac Montresor and ill-fated Fortunato down a dark, suspenseful path of death with the reader as their only witness. Who of which Edgar Allan Poe has assured with tone, setting, and foreshadowing, will exit the tale horrified and disturbed. The tone is set from the beginning: the moment Montresor enlists the reader as an audience to his murder of Fortunato. From here on, Montresor, calm and lacking regret, takes you through his scheme, creating a tone of darkness, hatred, and anger. In the first paragraph, he mentions Fortunato has wronged him for the last time by stating “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.” (Poe, Line 1) The insults and injuries Montresor is fueled by are never brought to light, and immediately doubt is cast upon the motive of murder. The thought of his potential insanity, depending on the intensity of Fortunato’s wrongdoings, casts a disturbing light upon both Montresor and the story. This statement also initiates the suspense over the fate of Fortunato.

He then lures him from this place of life to the dreary catacombs of the Montresors; the soon to be location of the crime. The transition from “the supreme madness of the carnival season” to the “damp ground of the catacombs,” whose cavern walls gleam with the “white web-work” of mold could perhaps symbolize the transition from life to death (as Fortunato experiences), and thus strengthen feelings of fear and anxiety. Additionally, as Montresor and Fortunato traverse deeper into these catacombs, the mold grows worse, bones pile higher, and Fortunato’s ever-present cough intensifies, further bolstering the aforementioned