James E. Rocks (essay date 1972)
SOURCE: "Conflict and Motive in The Cask of Amontillado'," in Poe Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2, December, 1972, pp. 50-1.
[In the following essay, Rocks provides a cultural context for the Catholic-Masonic conflict that informs the plot.]
Critical commentary on "The Cask of Amontillado" has tended to dismiss the question of Montresor's motive in killing Fortunato, but the tone of the story betrays a narrator confused and troubled by the guilt of a vengeful murder that has deprived him of spiritual peace and sanctifying...
Source: Short Story Criticism, ©2000 Gale Cengage. All Rights Reserved. Full copyright.
(The entire page is 980 words.)
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