Theme Of Suspense In The Cask Of Amontillado

Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” and Browning’s “My Last Duchess” both revolve around revenge. We are introduced to men who swear vengeance on other characters. Yet, the mindsets of these men are, in some aspects, very different. To truly comprehend a story, we have to understand why authors make their characters behave the way they do in addition to the message being presented. In the case of “The Cask of Amontillado” and “My Last Duchess,” why do both narrators believe murder is totally necessary? To fully recognize underlying meanings, we need to analyze characters from a narrative and scientific perspective. For example, there is actually scientific reasoning to classify narrators of these stories as “psychopaths.” It is very likely that the narrators of these two stories suffer from several mental disorders, which fully give reason to the events of the stories. To see the true perspective of how both stories handle murder, revenge, and the mental health of the narrators, we need to look at why the narrator of “My Last Duchess” feels offended, why the narrators choose murder, and how the narrator of “The Cask of Amontillado” carries out the murder.

The lack of mental stability, homicidal tendencies, and the large gap in time, it is safely said that Montresor is not a reliable narrator. It is apparent to the reader that he does not have all his marbles. In what society would someone who is not all mentally there be seen as a reliable source? The fact that he is able to pick up on Fortunato’s weakness and exploits them proves how unreliable he is. “He had a weak point… He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine…” (Poe, 360). Montresor use of verbal irony demonstrates that the murder is premeditated. “... the cough… it will not kill me…” states Fortunato who receives “True-true…” as a response from Montresor (Poe, 362). He exploits this and deceives the man to go down into the caverns that housed the supposed Amontillado. Furthermore, Montresor never tells the reader what Fortunato actually did. He only states, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (Poe, 360). Insults do not call for homicide. Additionally, it seems to be a retelling from an event fifty years ago. “For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them.

Man has been known to be the cruellest animal on our planet and since we are at the top of the food chain we can do anything we want to our planet and also other people. Our kind is so cruel that we destroy our world for the need of resources and we can even be cruel to each other. Humans throughout history have always been at war with each other over land, greed, culture and revenge. Revenge and greed are both prominent in the short stories Stone Mattress and The Cask of Amontillado. Both of these short stories have great examples of greed and revenge in them and that they are similar but both are set differently.

In The Cask of Amontillado, the narrator, Montresor, lures Fortunato into his wine vaults in order to murder him. The reason behind it is never clearly stated in the text. Montresor merely says, “A thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” (Poe 1108) Montresor never reveals the exact nature of the insult, nor the multitude of injuries that he had supposedly borne. The audience cannot even be certain that the insult ever occurred. Perhaps the slight is only in Montresor 's mind. Fortunato seems blind to Montresor 's true intentions, meaning he is either completely oblivious and insensitive to those around him, or, what Montresor has deemed a horrible crime punishable by

we will go back your health is precious.. You will be ill and I cannot be responsible” that’s an example of verbal irony because Montresor doesn’t really feel that Fortunato’s health is precious and plans to harm him, he knew that Fortunato would do anything for amontillado and wouldn’t go back no matter what. Fortunato says “I drink to the buried that repose around us” (86) and he ends up being one of the bodies buried in the vault, right after Montresor drinks to Fortunato’s long life which is ironic because he intends on killing him in the

Poe wanted the reader to understand what was going on in the “Cask of Amontillado”, so he wrote a detailed story choosing words that connected with his readers. This connection between words and the readers created a different mood as the story progressed from one event to another. Poe described the events with much detail it helped readers envision the events. Montresor’s revenge had readers entertained and feeling different moods as they discovered what was Montresor’s

An example of situational irony Poe uses in the story is simply the name Fortunato. Fortunato is an Italian name that means good fortune or luck. This is an example of situational irony because his name means the complete opposite of what he actually was. His name means lucky and fortunate. Despite that, Fortunato was the complete opposite from lucky. First of all, he wasn’t lucky because he became friends with the wrong person. He was deceived and ended up being punished for his foolishness. It shows us how if we are friends with the wrong people, we can get into trouble and may suffer immensely because of it. Edgar Allen Poe probably knew what the name Fortunato meant but purposely used it to display situational irony. Even though it meant lucky, Fortunato wasn’t lucky at all in this story. For example, he was chained up and buried alive, as well as having a gruesome cough, and got in all sorts of trouble.

In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” irony is applied throughout to help foreshadow future and give more of an insight to the readers, all while adding some humor. Irony is divided into three main types: dramatic, situational, and verbal.

Revenge, a thought that has crept into the minds of almost everyone yet, most would not kill to attain it. Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” depicts the murder of a man named Fortunato at the hands of Montresor. “Revenge” being the justification for this cruel act makes the morals of Montresor questionable and gradually builds to form a terrifying story. The dialogue between the two characters and the imagery used to create the catacombs and the twisted carnival atmosphere ultimately makes up this dark story.

In Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor has an evil plan to get revenge on his “friend,” Fortunato. Montresor's plan involves drinking the wine, Amontillado. Fortunato loves wine, and he will do anything for it, or with it. Wine plays a huge role in Montresor's plan. Montresor gets Fortunato to really think that they are “friends.” Montresor told Fortunato that he is a “rich, respected, admired, beloved” (86) man. He does not actually think that. When he says he “must not only punish” (83) Fortunato, but he must “punish [him] with impunity” (83), which he does. The first step in Montresor's plan is to get Fortunato to go in the catacombs. He says to Fortunato, “Come, we will go back, your health is precious” (86). Montresor is doing reverse psychology.

In conclusion to Poe’s writing of “The Cask of Amontillado” there were many ways that irony was used throughout. This phenomenal writer uses all three points of irony in his story. Those points were: verbal irony, situational irony and

His total obliviousness to the situation allows Montresor to take his revenge by easily manipulating Fortunato, starting when they meet at the carnival and lasting until Montresor chains Fortunato to the enclave’s wall (432). Poe introduces verbal irony through Montresor’s manipulative words, as the entire time Montresor is leading Fortunato down into the catacombs, he continuously badgers his drunken companion about the environment being bad for Fortunato’s health, even saying, “Your health is precious” (429). The voiced “concerns” qualify as verbal irony because the audience is already well aware that Montresor does not give a damn about Fortunato’s health and is only luring him into the catacombs to exact revenge. The third type of irony, situational, is not used by Poe until the end of the story when Montresor has almost completely sealed away Fortunato in the Montresor family tomb. When Fortunato stops yelling and making noise, Montresor immediately wants to know if he is still alive, so he drops “a torch through the remaining aperture….There came forth only in return a jingling of the bells” (432). This last jingling of Fortunato’s

NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) is one of the most watched programs on television where people are ripping at each other to compete for money. People around the world seem to enjoy violence. Writer’s use violence in their pieces to draw outsiders in because there is a common interest, which is violence in this case. The principal characters in the short story’s “Thank you, M’am”, “Harrison Bergeron”, and “The Cask of Amontillado” show a universal flaw. Violence is common in the personalities of the leading characters in these short stories. Through the actions of these characters, violence is an exploited flaw that has been the last resort for Luella Jones, Harrison Bergeron, and Montresor.

Suspense is an integral part of storytelling. Without suspense, certain stories would not create their intended effect. Edgar Allen Poe wrote many books and poems, which were all under a gothic theme. His writings were very dark and mysterious, and they all contained suspense. Poe’s novel “The Tell-Tale Heart” and his poem “The Raven” contain suspense, which is created through point-of-view, irony, and diction.

Suspense was profound in “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe. Throughout the entirety of the book, he left the reader with multiple questions. It is a story completely based off of not knowing exactly what will happen next. but knowing something will happen. Whether it had been in the beginning when one could have been asking themselves what makes him so crazy, or at the end when one could have been asking themselves what happened after the cops were made aware of the situation, suspense was always there. To conclude, in “The Tell Tale Heart”, Poe uses the technique of suspense