The Cask Of Amontillado Answers

The Cask of Amontillado | Discussion Questions 21 - xxx

How does Edgar Allan Poe use sound in the closing paragraphs of "The Cask of Amontillado"?

Edgar Allan Poe is a writer who gives a keen bargain of attention to the audio of linguistic communication. In his essay "Philosophy of Composition," Poe identified "the long o equally the well-nigh sonorous vowel," significant that the sound of the long o could best produce a deep, emotional resonance inside the reader. In "The Raven," he achieves this with the repetition of the words "Lenore" and "nevermore" in the refrain. In "The Cask of Amontillado," Poe uses the long o sound less liberally but very purposefully in the closing paragraphs. Montresor explains that he noticed that Fortunato's intoxication had subsided first when he heard a "low moaning weep" from the man. Though the weep itself is not written into the story, the description of it features two long o sounds, giving the impression of the moan. Finally, when Montresor calls out "Fortunato!" two times at the very cease of the story, the long o sound is repeated over again, and the reader tin almost hear the long o audio echoing in the chambers of the catacomb.

Which elements of Edgar Allan Poe'due south personal human relationship with his adoptive male parent surface in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

One theory most "The Cask of Amontillado" is that the character of Fortunato is modeled after Edgar Allan Poe'southward adoptive father, John Allan. Allan was a respected businessman, just similar Fortunato. Likewise, Poe wrote in a letter once that "Mr. Allan is non oft sober," a trait of Fortunato's that Montresor despises and abuses. Additionally, the relationship between Montresor and Fortunato is alike to the human relationship betwixt Poe and Allan in that it is characterized by strife. The 2 became estranged, and when Poe attempted to visit John Allan on his decease bed, John Allan reportedly banished Poe. A biographical critic might conclude that Fortunato's death at Montresor'due south hands is a symbolic act of revenge against Allan.

What is the narrative function of the breaks that Montresor takes as he lays the bricks that block in Fortunato in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

One time Montresor has shackled Fortunato, he sets to the work of laying bricks and mortar with his trowel; however, he does not work equally speedily as possible to finish the chore. Rather, he takes a number of breaks earlier he lays the final brick in. The kickoff break comes subsequently he lays the quaternary tier of the bricks. Montresor hears Fortunato's bondage vibrating and reports, "for several minutes ... I ceased my labors and sat down upon the bones." This pause allows room in the narrative for the reader to hope that Fortunato'south life will be spared. Montresor could have reconsidered his commitment to killing Fortunato during this break. Several minutes might exist long enough for guilt and meliorate judgment to set in, but not for Montresor. Instead, he patiently waits until the bondage stop vibrating so that he can resume his work in peace, laying the next three tiers "without break." Montresor takes some other suspension sometime between laying the seventh tier and the 10th tier. This time, Fortunato is letting out "a succession of loud and shrill screams." In response, Montresor stops his work and sticks his sword into the opening of the wall, then decides to permit the man die of suffocation rather than a sword wound. This break confirms for the reader that Montresor is going to complete his murder plot despite Fortunato'due south extreme suffering. Montresor continues his work, all the while matching the screams of Fortunato and taking pride in the fact that he "surpassed them in volume and in strength."

What does the method of killing Fortunato in "The Cask of Amontillado" reveal well-nigh the narrator Montresor?

Though Montresor declares from the starting time that he must seek revenge against Fortunato on account of his multiple injuries and insults, the item murder plot that Montresor dreams upward suggests there might be some other (or an boosted) motive. While in the catacombs, Fortunato makes the known hand gesture of the Masons, simply Montresor does not recognize it. His ignorance reveals to Fortunato that Montresor is "non of the brotherhood." Of grade Montresor replies, "Aye, yes" and raises his trowel to betoken to Fortunato that he is some kind of mason. The Masonic alliance is an extremely secretive and sectional society, one from which Montresor was evidently excluded. His choice to bring expiry to Fortunato through masonry suggests that he was jealous and wounded not by Fortunato'south individual actions but rather past his exclusion from a role of gild that Fortunato represents.

What is the function of vino in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

The proliferation of Gothic literature spanned across 2 other literary periods: the Romantic and the Victorian. The Romantic and the Victorian periods had between them a tension related to temperance in gimmicky society. While the Romantics frequently indulged personal whims and passions, the Victorians cautioned against indulgence and abundance of passion. Writing in the 1840s meant that Edgar Allan Poe was caught upward in this tension, and his work reflects that. In "The Cask of Amontillado," vino represents indulgence. While Fortunato does go a sympathetic character, it is on business relationship not only of his pride only also his drunkenness that he is able to exist lured to his expiry. Montresor is certain to keep him drunk, cracking open a new bottle at Fortunato's showtime sign of sobering. Additionally, the pursuit of a fine wine—an intemperate indulgence—is what appeals to Fortunato and then much that he will put his wellness at run a risk to gustation it. Though Poe is not a didactic writer, he makes his characters all the more existent by reflecting in them a feature tension of his fourth dimension.

How does Edgar Allan Poe engender sympathy for Fortunato in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

Edgar Allan Poe manages to engender sympathy for Fortunato even though the story is relayed through a narrator who has no such sympathy. One of the ways in which he does this is by painting Fortunato as the fool. He is wearing motley and behaving drunkenly. This impression of Fortunato contrasts with the ane that Montresor paints in the opening paragraphs. Montresor'due south treatment of Fortunato is read equally unfair past the reader, thus engendering sympathy for the human being against whom Montresor has ridiculed. Every bit the circumstances of the story grow more than dire and the dramatic irony increases, the reader might experience sympathetic to Fortunato because he or she tin see that the grapheme is walking into a trap but the character cannot. Finally, Fortunato's pitiful demise elicits sympathy from the reader—from his desperate "Ha! ha! Ha!—he! he!—a very good joke indeed," to his concluding plea, "For the beloved of God, Montresor!" The man is clearly deserving of sympathy, despite the narrator's claims confronting him and his folly of pride.

How are Edgar Allan Poe's characters of Fortunato of "The Cask of Amontillado" and the old man of "The Tell-Tale Heart" similar?

Most evidently, both Fortunato of "The Cask of Amontillado" and the quondam man of "The Tell-Tale Center" are murdered by a mentally unstable person to whom they are close. Both are victims of a premeditated murder and are in vulnerable positions when their murderer makes his move. While the old man of "The Tell-Tale Centre" is extremely (and likely, permanently) frail, presumably to the point of needing live-in help, Fortunato of "The Cask of Amontillado" is experiencing temporary vulnerability on business relationship of his drunkenness and cough. Both men also exhibit some degree of trust in their murderers; the quondam man trusts the narrator of "The Tell-Tale Middle" enough to let him alive with him, and Fortunato, though in office driven past pride, follows Montresor trustingly into the vault.

What is the significance of Montresor's interruption in grapheme at the very end of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado"?

In the last paragraph of Edgar Allan Poe'southward "The Cask of Amontillado," Montresor breaks graphic symbol with simply four words: "My heart grew sick." He discloses this to the auditor and reader when Fortunato fails to respond to his calls and only the jingling of the bells on Fortunato's chapeau can be heard. In the words "my heart grew sick," the reader tin can experience a sense of loss in the narrator Montresor, ane that he immediately covers upwardly every bit he continues the sentence: "on account of the dampness of the catacombs." Despite this explanation, readers might suspect there is something other than the dampness of the catacombs that makes Montresor sick—something he does not want his auditor to be enlightened of, or perhaps even something he himself cannot admit to. Fortunato was, after all, a friend earlier he was an adversary.

How does "The Cask of Amontillado" demonstrate the element of intense emotion in characters mutual to the American Gothic genre?

The kickoff paragraph of "The Cask of Amontillado" features a number of very emotionally charged words, such as insult, revenge, threat, retribution, and punish. From the outset, the reader knows that at that place are potent emotional currents running through the narrator. This attention to heightened emotion is typical of the Romantic catamenia and often explored in Gothic literature. Edgar Allan Poe's exploration of the backlog of emotion and passion is unique in that he often paints a character who appears extremely disciplined and shows how the graphic symbol indulges his emotions through that very discipline. In "The Cask of Amontillado," Montresor reveals through the execution of an extremely well-laid plan but how controlled he is past the feeling of beingness insulted and desiring revenge.

What is the significance of the serpent on the Montresor coat of arms in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado"?

When taken with the Montresor family unit motto, the coat of artillery helps to characterize Montresor and to explain his actions. The heel on the coat of arms crushes the snake that is bitter information technology. This is a visual representation of the family motto Nemo me impune lacessit. Montresor embodies this motto, exacting revenge on those who hurt him. The symbol of the serpent can also exist read equally an allusion to the Book of Genesis. The snake in the story of Adam and Eve represents evil. When read through this symbolism, the snake on the coat of arms becomes evil crushed nether the heel of the righteous. This symbolism creates a paradox: although Montresor believes himself to be the righteous one, he is, in fact, the injurious evil 1 he seeks to crush.

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