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The Cask of Amontillado
It is difficult to know if Montresor's revenge was justified because the reader doesn't exactly know what he's avenging. All we know, and this from a rather unreliable narrator, is that at some...
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The Cask of Amontillado
The setting significantly contributes to Montresor's success and allows him to manipulate the unsuspecting Fortunato, who is distracted by the "supreme madness of the carnival season." By choosing...
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The Cask of Amontillado
In a story, the climax is that moment of greatest emotional intensity. In "The Cask of Amontillado" it comes when Montresor walls Fortunato up in a niche in the wall of the catacombs and Fortunato...
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The Cask of Amontillado
At the beginning of Poe's classic short story "The Cask of Amontillado," Montresor mentions that he vowed to get revenge on Fortunato for causing him a "thousand injuries." Montresor then proceeds...
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The Cask of Amontillado
VERBAL IRONY. My favorite example of verbal irony in "The Cask of Amontillado" comes when Fortunato has a coughing fit during their descent into the catacombs. "Enough," he said; "the...
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The Cask of Amontillado
To me, the major difference between the two is the nature of the two villains. In one story, we have Montresor who has an actual reason (although we are not told what it is) to hate his quarry....
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The Cask of Amontillado
We know that Montresor is insane because he kills a man for no reason. To be insane is to not have full use of your mental faculties. In other words, a person thinks things that a sane person...
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The Cask of Amontillado
Use Montresor's cues to do this. In the beginning of the story, he relates that Fortunato has injured him thousands of times, but he doesn't describe a single one of them. He also says that he has...
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The Cask of Amontillado
One can infer that Montresor is a wealthy man, judging by his many servants and large palazzo. He also seems well educated, speaking eloquently and using Latin and French phrases in his speech....
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The Cask of Amontillado
The Montresor coat of arms has a golden human foot on a sky blue background; the foot is stepping on a serpent rampant which is turning and biting into the heel of the foot even while the snake is...
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The Cask of Amontillado
Montresor makes a really effective enemy for Fortunato because he is proud, diabolical, and very intelligent. He understands people very well, and he is able to exploit this highly developed...
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The Cask of Amontillado
The point of view in "The Cask of Amontillado" is first-person, also called first-person narrative; this style uses "I" or "We." In first person point of view, the text is narrated by a character...
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The Cask of Amontillado
"The Cask of Amontillado" is a classic Gothic horror tale. Poe uses many tropes of Gothic stories, including dark imagery, underground chambers, and violent revenge. The most important element in...
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The Cask of Amontillado
In trying to lure Fortunato to his tomb, the narrator uses a bit of reverse psychology on the man: You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be...
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The Cask of Amontillado
In "The Cask of Amontillado," a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe, the setting of the story plays a critical role in such elements as the mood of the story. The mood of Poe's story is eerie...
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The Cask of Amontillado
Throughout Poe's classic short story "The Cask of Amontillado," the protagonist and narrator, Montresor, explains how he formulated and executed revenge on his unsuspecting enemy, Fortunato....
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The Cask of Amontillado
This phrase is best understood within the context of the paragraph in which it appears; Montresor is talking about the need not only for vengeance against Fortunato, but vengeance that is conducted...
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The Cask of Amontillado
The classic horror short story "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe tells of a man named Montresor who vows revenge after Fortunato insults him. However, he does not take his vengeance...
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The Cask of Amontillado
From the opening hyperbole, Edgar Allan Poe employs several literary elements in his macabre short story, "The Cask of Amontillado." Hyperbole The unreliable narrator, Montesor, opens the narrative...
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The Cask of Amontillado
The essence of dramatic irony is that something is not understood by a character in the play or story which is understood by the audience or the reader. There is nothing that Montresor does not...
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The Cask of Amontillado
It isn't actually true that there's only one instance of dialogue (if we mean spoken words within quotation marks) in this text. If you look towards the middle of the story, the narrator describes...
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The Cask of Amontillado
Edgar Allan Poe's classic short story "The Cask of Amontillado" is loaded with irony, and there are several excellent examples of verbal irony to be found. My favorite comes when Fortunato, who is...
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The Cask of Amontillado
Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado" contains both of those literary devices. Repetition occurs when the same words or phrases are repeated in order to make an idea more...
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The Cask of Amontillado
Montresor is an insecure, vindictive man who carefully plans and executes Fortunato's murder. Montresor is also portrayed as an intelligent, cunning individual, duplicitous and manipulative....
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The Cask of Amontillado
There are many symbols to be found within the story of "The Cask of Amontillado." Much of the symbolism is ironic, such as the name of the character Fortunato, meaning "fortunate" in Italian, who...
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The Cask of Amontillado
In any setting, the five senses are taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing. In terms of literature, imagery is descriptions of something in terms of the five senses. Imagery forms mental pictures...
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The Cask of Amontillado
In "The Cask of Amontillado," much dramatic irony is at play as Montresor reveals his thoughts and biases to the reader. Fortunato, however, is not privy to Montresor's thoughts, so he follows him...
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The Cask of Amontillado
Poe builds suspense starting with the first paragraph, in which he has his narrator tell us he will get revenge on Fortunato but doesn't tell us how or why. How has Fortunato wronged him? What will...
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The Cask of Amontillado
First it is important to determine what the prime conflict is in "The Cask of Amontillado". Montresor believes that Fortunato has caused him a "thousand injuries," and he has suffered as long as...
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The Cask of Amontillado
Montresor, the narrator, is in the act of manipulating his rival, and apparent nemesis Fortunato; playing to the other man’s weakness (Italian wines) and his acute gullibility. He—Montresor,...
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The Cask of Amontillado
Fortunato follows Montresor down a long, winding staircase to the Montresor family catacombs. Fortunato then hesitates for a few minutes before entering into the vaults because the niter on the...
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The Cask of Amontillado
The most obvious detail in this regard would be the human bones stored in the crypt where Montresor carries out his terrible revenge on Fortunato. There's a large pile of them on the ground, and...
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The Cask of Amontillado
Irony comes in several varieties--verbal, structural/situational, dramatic--and generally heightens the our engagement with the text because we generally enjoy knowing more about a particular...
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The Cask of Amontillado
The name, Montresor, in French, means "my treasure." This is ironic because it is his treasure, namely "a pipe of ... Amontillado" which he supposedly keeps in his vaults, that he uses to lure...
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The Cask of Amontillado
The short answer is no. On the contrary, Montresor believes that the punishment he metes out to Fortunato is entirely appropriate for the thousand unspecified injuries he did him all those years...
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The Cask of Amontillado
The name Fortunato comes from the Latin "fortunatus," meaning "lucky" or "prosperous." It is also very close to the English word "fortunate" from the same root. Fortunato, a wealthy, powerful...
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The Cask of Amontillado
In Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor’s coat of arms and family motto accurately reflect his violent character and foreshadow his cruel actions. The coat of...
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The Cask of Amontillado
The is actually a ploy designed to appeal to Fortunato's pride. Whenever Montresor urges Fortunato to turn back, he also adds, "Besides, there is always Luchesi". Since Fortunato is so proud of his...
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The Cask of Amontillado
The last two sentences of paragraph one read as follows: A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as...
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The Cask of Amontillado
On the surface, Montresor is an unsympathetic character, who readers struggle to identify with because they would never plan or execute the murder of their most hated enemy. However, readers...
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The Cask of Amontillado
Montresor says that he encountered Fortunato "during the supreme madness of the carnival season" and that Fortunato was dressed in "motley," which is to say the traditional garb of a...
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The Cask of Amontillado
The direct characters in the story are the unreliable narrator Montresor and his arch nemesis, though he doesn't know it, Fortunato. We know the actions, thoughts and feelings, although somewhat...
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The Cask of Amontillado
Fortunato prides himself on being a connoisseur of wines. He also believes that he is still good friends with Montresor. Montresor lets readers know from the beginning of the story that their...
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The Cask of Amontillado
The principal character traits of Montresor, as revealed in "The Cask of Amontillado," are pride, cruelty, sensitivity to insult, obsession with revenge, a talent for dissimulation, and perhaps...
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The Cask of Amontillado
Montresor is an especially effective enemy of Fortunato because he has made Fortunato and everyone who knows these two men believe that they are the best of friends. Montresor is cunning, and it is...
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The Cask of Amontillado
By writing in the first person, Poe allows the reader to be inside Montressor's thoughts and witness firsthand the inner mind of a murderer. Probably the most significant element is the reason...
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The Cask of Amontillado
The Cask of Amontillado: Epilogue Prosecution: Ladies and gentlemen of the Jury, really, what more could you require? The defendant has confessed to this heinous crime, confessed, moreover, without...
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The Cask of Amontillado
A good thesis statement would be "Man will go to extremes to get revenge." The whole short story is about revenge, and the easiest thing to write about, therefore, is revenge and how Montresor...
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The Cask of Amontillado
Fortunato's death in Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado" is almost certainly not any kind of justice, poetic or otherwise. Montresor mentions at the beginning of the story the...
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The Cask of Amontillado
While most studies of irony focus on the ironic meaning of Fortunato's name in "The Cask of Amontillado," the symbolism in Montresor's name is often overlooked. In the Romance languages,...
