Which details contribute to the single effect in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

The single effect refers to Poe's belief that every element of a short story should contribute to a single emotional effect, which unifies the reader's sensation and feelings in one complete experience that comprehensively draws the story together. Poe also felt that the first sentence of a short story should immediately influence the reader's emotions in order to achieve the single effect and set the stage for the myriad of emotions the reader would experience during one sitting.

Poe successfully achieves the single effect in his classic short story "The Cask of Amontillado" by choosing an unreliable narrator to tell his horrific revenge story while seamlessly interweaving literary elements that contribute to the story's themes, motifs, settings, and plot. Montresor's narration builds suspense and the carnival setting of the story contributes to Montresor's lawless act. Poe's single effect allows the reader to feel consumed by Montressor's desire for revenge and experience Fortunato's frightening situation in the depths of the catacombs.

Each of the story's elements contributes to the single effect as the scenes fluidly unfold and the suspense builds. The reader wonders how Montresor will specifically exact his revenge as the tension continually rises and Fortunato blindly follows his adversary into the catacombs. Poe utilizes specific elements like foreshadowing to peak the reader's interest and lead into the dramatic ending. From the first sentence of the story to Montresor's final words, the reader experiences a roller-coaster of emotions as Montresor narrates his horrific crime.

The single effect in "The Cask of Amontillado" is deception, from the characters name, Fortunato, or good luck, to the drink that Montresor gives his doomed guest, De Grave, to the use of the idea that Montresor is going down into the catacombs to sample an elite wine, everything is based on deception.

Montresor carefully hides his true intention, revenge, beneath a respectful and cordial demeanor.  The fact that Montresor pretends to worry about Fortunato's cough as they descend into the catacombs, even suggesting that they turn back is all deception. 

Cast against the backdrop of the carnival, a deceiving setting, the plot of this short story is absolute horror. 

It is important first to understand what is meant by "the single effect."  This is a phrase that was coined by Poe himself.  He meant that a short story's elements and details should work together so seamlessly that this "unique or single effect" is created.

In a novel, because of length, plot, characters, theme, symbolism, and other literary elements can be revealed through a slower process including commentary and description.  However, a short story should be more economical and therefore elements are revealed in a more straightforward way, through action.  By revealing details about mood, setting, plot, and characters through action and concise narration, the author creates a story with a single effect.

As Poe was the pioneer of the single effect, it is safe to say that all of the details contribute to the single effect, as Poe might argue that for a short story to be successful all details must contribute to the single effect. 

Poe was a master of writing stories of horror and revenge, and as a "Dark Romantic" the focus of so much of his work is the dark side of humanity - the capacity of us all to commit heinous acts. What is key to note about his work is how he uses masterfully the first person narrator to reveal deeply disturbed psyches and characters who often are unreliable narrators - in that we as readers can see that often there is more going on in their account than their words at first indicate.

This short story is of no exception - consider how it begins:

The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.

As the story progresses and we see in particular the friendly way in which Fortunato responds to the narrator, we begin to doubt the veracity of the narrator's comments - would Fortunato really entrust himself if he had insulted the narrator?

As the story moves both its characters and us as readers to the labyrinthine catacombs and underground darkness of Italy, we come to realise that we are being exposed to the darkness, or the "underground" emotions and feelings of the narrator. The setting therefore is a wholly appropriate place for the narrator to gain his terrible revenge - sealing a man into a room and leaving him to die a slow and terrible death. As we venture down into the catacombs, we go on a journey into the darkness and horror of the narrator's innermost desires, and thus we are shocked and terrified just as Fortunato is by what is revealed. Consider the following passage:

No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells. My heart grew sick - on account of the dampness of the catacombs.

The way in which the narrator describes the completion of his task in such a matter-of-fact way makes his actions all the more chilling, as does his disavowal that the "sickness" of his heart had anything to do with his act.

What are the causes and effects in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

Poe laid down the rules for the short story, emphasizing that every detail should work to create a single effect. “In the whole composition,” he said in his famous review of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales, “there should be no word written, of which the tendency, direct or indirect, is not to the one pre-established design.” In Poe’s most perfect story, every word can be analyzed with reference to it contribution to the “one pre-established design.” The following is third paragraph of “The Cask of Amontillado.”

He had a weak point -- this Fortunato -- although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian MILLIONAIRES. In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack, but in the matter of old wines he was sincere….I was skilful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could.

This paragraph conveys two ideas. One is that Montresor is not Italian but French. He distances himself from Italians by disparaging their judgment in "painting and gemmary." His family may have lived in Venice for several centuries, but he is still an outsider as far as upper-class Italians are concerned. His catacombs may be full of human bones--but these are not necessarily all bones of his ancestors. In fact, it is quite possible that Montresor doesn't even own his palazzo but is renting. He is obviously not affluent. “I…bought largely whenever I could” should be interpreted to mean “whenever I could afford to.”

The other idea is that both Montresor and Fortunato are specialists in luxury goods and earn their livings selling expensive merchandise to wealthy clientele. They are competitors. Montresor is poor, Fortunato is rich. It is very likely that the thousand unspecified injuries were suffered in business deals. Fortunato can outbid Montresor. Fortunato can afford to buy in larger quantities. And Fortunato has family connections going back for a thousand years. If there is something good to be bought at a bargain price, he is more likely to hear about it first.

When Montresor says he has bought a cask of Amontillado, Fortunato says, "Impossible!" What he really means is that it would be impossible for Montresor to learn about such a valuable cargo before he did. But this is carnival season. Fortunato has been drinking, not attending to business. He thinks this is why Montresor has gotten ahead of him for once. However, Montresor has only bought one "pipe" (126 gallons) because, as he says, "I have my doubts."  Montresor would have bought more if he had been sure of its quality. Fortunato is highly motivated to taste it--not because he needs to consume any more wine, not because he is anxious to show off his connoisseurship, not to accommodate a friend--but because he wants to buy some of the Amontillado himself for resale. But he too must judge its quality. He can afford to buy the whole shipload and make a big profit--and Montresor knows that is exactly what he is planning to do, because that is exactly the sort of thing Fortunato has done to him in the past. Montresor knows that Fortunato is already thinking of tasting the Amontillado, pronouncing it ordinary sherry, and then going off to find the ship that recently brought it into port.

This is a very popular question when discussing “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe in graduate school. Cause-and-effect underscores the first –person point of view. Cause-and-effect to some degree has to be based on a reader’s almost guesswork or assumptions that there is logic in the sequence of events, in the characters’ motivations, and in the ability of the characters to do what they say they do and in the ability of the characters to say what they do. Is it possible for Montressor to have mixed the material and it still remains wet when he returns quite a while later to put his plan into motion? Is it even remotely believable that it would still be wet after hours have gone by?

A reader has to assume that Montressor is leading Fortunato into the catacombs for a reason. In searching for an answer in the story, we notice the cough, when Montressor agrees that Fortunato will not die of a cough, we either disregard that possibility or believe the narrator to be a liar. Or, we can keep both possibilities in mind, if we notice the trowel and take it seriously, we have an answer. In one sense, first-person point of view and cause-and-effect seem to depend on logic, or rationality—how could one guess what will happen next in a wholly un-rational universe? In what we can call the non-Western literary tradition, however, cause-and-effect may derive from the expectation and possibility of sheer wonder, as in the magic and sorcery of Arabian tales.