Literary Analysis of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado"

Edgar Allen Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" is a classic tale of revenge that incorporates Poe's proclivity for Gothic horror.  Many scholars speculate that Poe was inspired by events he heard about when he was stationed as a private at Fort Independence of a man who was buried alive by being walled up in an underground prison.  Others speculate that the victim in the story was modeled after Poe's rival, Thomas Dunn English, who had just mocked Poe's now famous poem, "The Raven".  Whether or not these are true, Poe's tale is a classic that will continue to make our blood run cold.  This analysis will examine the theme, setting, plot, characterization, point of view, irony, and symbolism in Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado".

Theme

A theme of "The Cask of Amontillado" is "Revenge is a dish best served cold". This classic line espoused by the cinematic Sicilian mafiosi to indicate that it is best to bide your time, plot your revenge, and enact it when your victim does not see it coming actually originated in Afghanistan. I selected this theme because the whole tale is centered around Montresor enacting his revenge on the unexpecting Fortunato.

The story begins with Montresor explaining that Fortunato has deeply wronged him, and then the story shows how Montresor tricks and then entraps Fortunato into a horrific and terrifying death.  Fortunato is so unsuspecting that even after he is chained the stone dungeon wall and Montresor is walling him in, he still is asking about the Amontillado, not believing that Fortunado really means him any harm.

As I alluded to in the introduction, I believe that Poe wrote this story as a warning to Thomas Dunn English, letting him know that he should watch his back.  I do not know if Poe was actually a threat to English, but I am sure that English would likely be careful to never be alone with Poe.  It is also a warning to the reader to be aware that everyone who flatters you and smiles in your face is not your friend.

Setting

The setting of this tale is in a city in Italy during the Carnival season.  This provides a logical explanation for a prestigious man of the city, like Fortunato, to be walking around drunk.  The story was published in 1846, so the story would have been set, at the very latest, fifty years previous to that year, so around the turn of the century from the 18th to the 19th century.

The Paris Catacombs

While the story begins late at night in the streets of the city, most of the events transpire in the catacombs underneath Montresor's palazzo, which is a beautiful and historic palace that had been in his family for many generations.  The catacombs were an underground maze of corridors in which dead bodies were left to decay.  From the description of them, Poe likely had in mind the catacombs in Paris in which the bones have been stacked in an orderly fashion against the walls.  The darkness, the bones, the niter, the cold, and the trickling water all create a mood of horror and suspense.  In this spooky setting, deep underground, nothing good can happen.

Fortunato is being walled up in his underground tomb at midnight, which is also an appropriate time for murder.  The cultural context in which Montresor and Fortunato interact is much more formal than modern times, but the principles of psychology are revenge are timeless.  Montresor is kind, solicitous, and flatters Fortunato, but this is likely more to psychologically entrap him than out of the gracious, good manners people of wealth and prestige would use back then.

Plot

The plot of the story is fairly simple, with simple, innocuous events that slowly increase in horror and the macabre.  The rising action begins with Montresor telling Fortunato that he has a pipe, or cask, of the rare and coveted Spanish wine: Amontillado.  The first minor conflict occurs when Montresor claims that he wants someone else, another wine connoisseur named Luchesi, to tell him if he made a good choice when he purchased the supposed Amontillado, and Fortunato insists that he should be the one to sample the wine.  He does not realize that he is falling into a trap.

The second minor conflict occurs when Fortunato has a coughing fit as Montresor is leading him down the damp dark stairs to the catacombs.  Montresor suggests that they should turn around, but Fortunato is captivated at the thought of sampling the Amontillado.  The third minor conflict occurs when Fortunato makes a gesture that Montresor does not understand, and Fortunato says that he is not of the brotherhood--not a Mason.  Montresor says that he is, and he pulls out the trowel he has in his pocket that he is going to use to build the wall to entomb Fortunato to prove that he is a Mason.  Had Fortunato not been drunk, he might have been suspicious, but he waves the trowel off as a joke and resumes his focus on the Amontillado.

The major conflict in this story is the rivalry between Montresor and Fortunato.  The rivalry is so old that Fortunato has forgotten it, but Montresor has not forgotten everything that Fortunato did to him.  He remembers and he has plotted an elaborate scheme to entrap Fortunato and kill him--and get away with it.  The story details the steps Montresor took to entrap Fortunato and lure him to his death.  The plan required cunning, understanding of psychology, and a deep understanding of Fortunato.  Montresor did his homework, and Fortunato easily fell into his trap.

The climax of the story occurs when Montresor chains Fortunato to the wall at the farthest end of the catacombs and then row by row, builds a brick wall to entomb Fortunato alive. At this point, Fortunato is less intoxicated, and he screams as he realizes his fate, and begs for his freedom and his life.

The falling action of the story is rather short: Montresor throws the torch in to Fortunato, but he is silent, perhaps realizing that screaming is useless. Montresor inserts the final brick, restacks the bones of his ancestors, and leaves Forunato to die.  The resolution of the story confirms that Fortunado is dead, undisturbed and entombed behind the wall Montresor built fifty years ago with Montresor saying "In Pace Requiescat!" or "Rest in Peace!".

Characterization

Poe's development of character is well done; his antagonist, Fortunato, is of particular interest.  Fortunato is developed as a round character.  His ridiculous costume, his drunken state, and his eagerness to sample a rare wine all make him human, vulnerable, and relateable.  His pompous nature is revealed when he mocks Montresor for not being in the Brotherhood, a Mason, but his vulnerability is again revealed when he leans on Montresor for support on the journey through the catacombs, and when he begs to be released as he is slowly being entombed.

Fortunato is a static character.  He is a rich drunk who is focused on tasting more and more wine throughout the story.  His focus on wine does not waver; even at the end of the story, when he is being entombed alive, he still asks about the Amontillado.  He has no growth, no epiphany that he is being punished for harming Montresor, no desire for repentance.

Poe's use of indirect characterization is excellent.  While Montresor tells us that he was a man to be "respected and feared", Poe shows us that Fortunato is a foolish man who loves to party by having him dressed in Motley clothes--such as a clown would wear today with a conical hat.  While this might have been a common thing to do back then during carnival season, it sets Fortunato up in direct contrasts to Montresor's black attire.  Poe reveals more of Fortunato by describing his eyes as "two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication".  This vivid image shows the reader how drunk he was: it is one thing to have the smell of alcohol on one's breath, but quite another to have the odor emanating from one's eyes.

We are also shown through his speech that, even while he is drunk, Fortunato is a gentleman.  His grammar is perfect and his speech is always polite.  Even as he is being entombed alive, the strongest thing he says is, "For the love of God, Montresor!".  He does refer to his wine tasting rival, Luchesi, as an "ignoramus," but that insult is still a proper and formal term to describe Fortunato's opinion of Luchesi's supposed lack of knowledge of fine wines.

Poe also reveals Fortunato's character through his actions.  He describes Fortunato as walking unsteadily, leaning heavily on Montresor's arm, and coughing uncontrollably. All of these descriptions show him to be weak and vulnerable.  Because the story is told from Montresor's perspective, the reader is not privy to Fortunato's private thoughts and feelings.  That said, in his drunkenness, Fortunato is transparent in his desire to get his hands on the Amontillado, ignoring all of the signs that a sober man would not be able to ignore.

The last strategy of indirect characterization is when the author shows the reader how other people treat the character.  As there are only two characters in the story, the reader is shown how Montresor treats Fortunato by plotting a horrifying death for him, and Fortunato stepping eagerly into his trap.  In this characterization, then, Fortunato is shown to be a weak and greedy drunkard, and the reader does not feel his loss deeply at the end of the story.

Point of View

The point of view, or narrative perspective, of this story is first person.  The story is clearly told from Montresor's point of view.  The first line of the story reads, "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could." Hereafter, we are privy to his insane and diabolical thoughts, feelings, and motivations.  Poe likely selected this perspective so that the reader would experience the suspense of wondering what demise Montresor had concocted for Fortunato while experiencing a growing horror and Montresor's insanity and Fortunato's gullibility.  It is an extremely effective narrative perspective for a horror story--to be inside the brain of a mad man.

Irony

This story contains examples of verbal irony, dramatic irony and situational irony.  Verbal irony is used at the beginning of the story when Montresor meets Fortunato in the street and says so him, "My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met."  In truth, Montresor hated Fortunato, and it was the unluckiest day of his life because he would entrapped to die that day.  Later in the story, Montresor tells Fortunato, "Your health is precious" when in reality his plan was to destroy Montresor's health by killing him.

The dramatic irony is that the reader knows that Montresor is going to kill Fortunato, but he obtusely remains clueless until the end.  Dramatic irony is also evident in Fortunato's clothing. He is dressed in motley, as a clown or a court jester would dress.  Fortunato dressed for an evening of revelry, but the reader knows that the joke would be on him as his motley clothes would be his burial clothes.

There are several examples of situational irony.  First, Fortunato's name means "fortunate", but his terrible fate of being buried alive, chained to a wall in a dungeon and being left to slowly die, is the opposite of good fortune.  There is also irony in the fact that Montresor shows Fortunato the trowel he is going to use to build the wall to entomb him, and Fortunato laughs it away as a joke, not knowing that the horrific joke is on him.  Lastly, there is irony in the quest for the wonderful and rare Amontillado which Fortunato lusted after all evening, and did not even exist.

Symbolism

The symbol in this story is the Cask of Amontillado.  It represents Montresor's desire for revenge as well as Fortunato's greed.  It is the central focus of the story: it is the title of the story; it is the bait that Montresor uses to lure Fortunato to his death, and it is the object of Fortunato's desire on which he was so focused he ignored all warning signs of his impending doom. It is repeated throughout the story, even at the end, when the wall entombing him is almost complete, Fortunato is still asking for the Amontillado.

Poe selected the Cask of Amontillado because it is rare and expensive.  It is a wine that any wine lover would go out of his way to task.  It was the perfect bait to lure a wine lover to his death.  Montresor was focused on getting revenge--and getting revenge in a way that Fortunato would not expect.  Revenge is a dish best served cold, and this revenge was so cold that Fortunato thought it was his lucky day until he was entombed behind a wall and left to rot.

Overall, Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado is a great story.  It contains a little ambiguity--What did Fortunato do to deserve such a horrible death?  Why did Montresor feel a little sick once he has finished building the wall around Fortunato after he had worked so hard to exact his revenge?--but this adds to the mystery and complexity of the story and keeps the reader guessing.

There will be some people who do not like the story.  The vocabulary is difficult; the names are foreign, and the location is unfamiliar.  Most people do not know what catacombs are, let alone know what Amontillado is.  That said, the story is worth solving the puzzle of the confusing names, unfamiliar location and difficult vocabulary.  It is a classic that will not go away, but will keep returning to horrify and chill the reader.