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Transcript

Recap of

Amontillado

The story “the Cask of Amontillado” is told from first person where the narrator, Montresor, describe how he took revenge on Fortunato . Montresor start the story by telling that he endured many injuries caused by Fortunato but when he was insulted ,Montresor swore revenge. Monstresor begins the plan by finding a ideal place, the carnival, to prevent anyone from witnessing the murder he planned. Arriving at the carnival Montresor lures Fortunato into the catacombs by using reverse psychology, he assumes that Fortunate is too busy to check if the unique wine,Amontillado, is authentic. Montresor pretends to take the wine called Amontillado to Fortunato’s rival in wine tasting, making Fortunate more excited to see the wine.When they arrive in the catacombs, Montresor fools Fortunato to drink a bottle of wine by telling him that it will prevent him from getting sick . Then, further into the catacombs, Montresor finalize his plan by chaining Fortunate, who is already drunk, to a wall deep in the catacombs, then bricks up the opening where he was left to die slowly.

Bio of Allen Poe

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Psychological

Criticism

Tone and Mood

The tone and mood of the Cask of Amontillado is very dark and vengeful.

  • In relation to Allan Poe's background and psychology, can you relate the mood of this work to Allan Poe's mind and personality?
  • Textual evidence: "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat."

The psychoanalytical critical theory approaches literature as a revelation of its author's mind and personality. It sees work as intimately linked with the author's mental and emotional characteristics. It reflects a writer's consciousness and mental world. It derives from Freud's revolutionary psychology. Most notably, his ideas on the

"unconscious." Based on Freud's ideas, psychoanalytical critics believe that a writer's work is one of the ways in which the author's "unconscious" is expressed. In addition; the id, ego, an superego (another Freudian theory) are also areas of interest in any literary work.

Imagery

Authorial Purpose

Edgar Allan Poe uses imagery to create images in the reader’s heads that help them interpret the poem in the way he sees it. The author uses the ideas of death, misery and revenge to create a dark and sinister atmosphere that contributes to the story. The imagery used in the story was intended to create a dark atmosphere that reflected on Montresor’s psychological disorder.

The visual imagery ““Putting on a mask of black silk, and drawing a roquelaire closely about my person” makes the readers imagine this dark and evil character which illustrate Montresor’s sinister and dark personality..

Another example of visual imagery is demonstrated in the quote “It hangs like moss upon the vaults. We are below the river’s bed. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones”, The drops of water into the bones and the moss in the vaults resembles a place and ideas of death and darkness, thus creating a creepy atmosphere that contributes to Montresor’s madness and revenge.

Allan Poe's purpose for writing the short story was to tell a story of a man hell-bent to take revenge against a person whom they believe cause "the thousand injures" they had to borne and thus deserve the punishment of death (Poe 118) . Poe wrote the story with the ideas of death, misery, betrayal, and doom in idea with some dark humor added into the writing. The question the author likely wanted to express in this work is that when you go into the deepest part of a person's desires what do you find. The answer the story suggests, is something dark and sinister, almost inhuman.

Selection of Detail

Style of Language

  • The details in the story reveal the narcissistic nature of Montresor.

  • His family coat of arms - "Nemo me impune lacessit" which means no one attacks me with impunity, reveals why Montresor is the way he is. According to the Freudian theory of personality, the adult personality emerges as a composite of early childhood experiences. His family coat of arms suggests that Montresor was raised in a proud family.

  • Generally prone to extreme feelings of jealousy; exaggerate their achievements, talents, and importance; and extremely sensitive

  • The narrator doesn't reveal what Fortunato has done, making the readers sympathetic of him. (victim mentality-relates to Freud's theory of personality)

  • Heinz Kohut's states that narcissism is a result of parental lack of empathy during development.

Poe's constant use of foreshadowing in the story through Montresor saying to Fortunato in the catacombs that the nitre won't kill Fortunato knowing full well that he'll be the one to put Fortunato six feet under. These constant warnings of death may be Poe's manifestation of his worry about if he could have seen the death's of his family sooner and perhaps could have done some thing to prevent it. This is a common trait found in people who have experience the death of a loved one or a close friend.

The Cask of Amontillado:

A Psychological Criticism

By Sophia,Vitor,Adriana,Flavio

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