Question

How does Poe create a sense of fear in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

Accepted Answer

Poe's own fear of being buried alive is one of the most important themes in "The Cask of Amontillado." To project this fear on others, he stresses the dark and hostile environment of the catacomb, making what should be a simple, nonthreatening wine-cellar into a frightening tomb:

We had passed through long walls of piled skeletons, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs.[...]We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux (torch) rather to glow than flame.(Poe, "The Cask of Amontillado," eNotes eText)

The fear of being confined is called claustrophobia, and is a common fear. The damp walls, with their piled skeletons and sheen of nitre, are meant for confining the dead, not housing the living. The air itself is so thick with humidity and dust that it almost puts the torch out. As the air weighs heavy on their lungs, and the walls seem to press in, Montresor's plan becomes evident, and Poe uses Fortunato's mental deterioration to show his terrible fear, first screaming, and then laughing madly in disbelief.

Answer

Poe creates a sense of fear in "The Cask of Amontillado" through the use of dramatic irony and imagery. These literary devices build foreboding and a gradually rising horror in his readers.
Montresor opens the story with comments about the perfect revenge and makes it clear he has planned revenge against the unsuspecting Fortunato. This is an example of dramatic irony, which is when the audience knows what the characters in a work of literature don't. The reader therefore experiences dread and fear as Fortunato, not for a moment thinking Montresor harbors malice toward him, follows him drunkenly into a dark, isolated catacomb.
At this point, imagery builds our fear. Imagery is description using the five senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. Poe provides vivid sensory description of the creepy, isolated, narrow catacombs with damp nitre on the walls. It is utterly dark except for the torch Montresor holds, and the twosome passes piles of bones. Images of darkness, death, and imprisonment touch on primal, atavistic fears in human beings and build to a crescendo in the final walling up of Fortunato.

The Cask of Amontillado

How does Poe create a sense of fear in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

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