Literary Devices in The Cask of Amontillado
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Everything takes on symbolic meaning in “The Cask.” Every detail seems to stand for something else, or to be flashing an encoded, and no doubt gruesome, message that we are compelled to deciphe...
Setting
The setting in “The Cask,” and in most Horror or Gothic Fiction, has a special purpose: to suggest freedom or confinement, in harmony or opposition to the freedom or confinement of the...
Narrator Point of View
Montresor is our vile narrator. He is dedicated to his own point of view, which is cold, merciless, brutal, conniving, and vengeful. He doesn’t mind telling us about his torture and murder of...
Genre
You don’t need us to tell you “The Cask” is Horror or Gothic – the whole story is about two guys walking through a vast underground graveyard, in the middle of the night, ge...
Tone
Montresor describes the mounds of bones and stench of human remains so elegantly, it almost sounds beautiful. The following passage is a good example:We passed through a range of low arches, descen...
Writing Style
Irony probably doesn’t sound very terrifying, but irony contributes hugely to the spine-tingling power of “The Cask.” You can find irony in every line of the story.Critic and teac...
What’s Up With the Title?
The title of this grim tale has an unusual ring to it. It doesn’t sound like anything we’ve ever heard before. It’s a mystery. But nothing to be scared of.We’ll start with &...
What’s Up With the Ending?
Edgar Allan Poe claimed that a writer shouldn’t put pen to paper until he knows the ending (source). “The Cask” is a shocking example of this idea in action. There are tons of sig...
Plot Analysis
An insult, and a vow of revengeFortunato and Montresor have a history, and a painful one at that. Fortunato has wounded Montresor a “thousand” times. Montresor never complains. But one day, Fo...
Booker's Seven Basic Plots Analysis
Amontillado!Fortunato is reveling in the carnival spirit, but it’s not enough. When he hears that Montresor has “a pipe of what passes for Amontillado,” his “energies,” as Booker would...
Three Act Plot Analysis
Montresor thinks Fortunato insulted him, and he vows to wreak a terrible vengeance on the man.He lures Fortunato down underground, into the foul catacombs of the Montresor family, with the promise...
Trivia
Sylvester Stallone is rumored to be writing and directing a film about Poe. (Source)
Steaminess Rating
There's no sex in "The Cask." What can we say?