Comparing Cask Of Amontillado And Annabel Lee By Edgar Allan Poe
“The Cask of Amontillado” and “Annabel Lee” were written by Edgar Allan Poe. “Annabel Lee” is a poem about love that turned into an obsession. The speaker was never able to get over Annabel Lee and continued to sleep in her grave. On the other hand, “The Cask of Amontillado” is a short story about revenge and how it’s pursued. Montresor takes vengeance to the extremes when he basically kills his offender by locking in a niche in his catacombs.Edgar Allan Poe uses imagery and amorous word choice to create an eerie tone.
The amorous word choice and tone created by the author adds to the disturbing and sinister mood in his writings. The romantic yet psychotic story of “Annabel Lee” turns uncomfortable when you find out he “lie[s] down by the
side of my darling...in her sepulcher by the sea.” Poe uses amorous language to add to the sinister feeling of the obsessed man. You get the feeling that he loved her very much but his love has become obsessive to the point of becoming unhealthy. The speaker in “Annabel Lee” claims nothing “can dissever [his] soul from the soul of the beautiful Annabel Lee,” never being able to truly let her go. He can never dismiss his feelings for Annabel Lee even though she is dead, and continues to creepily sleep with her corpse. The speaker is unable to move on and forget Annabel Lee and his immense love has driven him insane. The eerie tone in Poe’s writings is created by not only his amorous word choice but also by his use of imagery.
The use of imagery contributes to the uncanny tone and setting of Poe’s writings. The catacombs in “The Cask of Amontillado” are “lined with human remains” intensifying the spine-chilling feeling and signaling the imposing danger of the situation for Fortunato. The imagery makes you feel as if you are there, you can almost see the bones and feel the overall dampness. The setting is dark and frightening, evoking a sense of fear in the reader. The “foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame,” making the the catacombs in “The Cask of Amontillado” to feel claustrophobic and suffocating. The catacombs are damp and claustrophobic, resembling Fortunato’s feeling of entrapment at that point in the story. The imagery shows you how trapped and isolated Fortunato in the claustrophobic catacombs, where he ultimately meets his death. The amorous word choice and imagery are important to the stories because they create a sinister and eerie tone.
In these stories, the author wanted us to learn how we should do everything in moderation and should not take things too far, to the point of being unhealthy. This can be in terms of love like in “Annabel Lee” or retribution like in “The Cask of Amontillado.” In the final analysis, we need to learn when to let go and forget, as we will most likely be happier taking it easy.
The amorous word choice and tone created by the author adds to the disturbing and sinister mood in his writings. The romantic yet psychotic story of “Annabel Lee” turns uncomfortable when you find out he “lie[s] down by the
side of my darling...in her sepulcher by the sea.” Poe uses amorous language to add to the sinister feeling of the obsessed man. You get the feeling that he loved her very much but his love has become obsessive to the point of becoming unhealthy. The speaker in “Annabel Lee” claims nothing “can dissever [his] soul from the soul of the beautiful Annabel Lee,” never being able to truly let her go. He can never dismiss his feelings for Annabel Lee even though she is dead, and continues to creepily sleep with her corpse. The speaker is unable to move on and forget Annabel Lee and his immense love has driven him insane. The eerie tone in Poe’s writings is created by not only his amorous word choice but also by his use of imagery.
The use of imagery contributes to the uncanny tone and setting of Poe’s writings. The catacombs in “The Cask of Amontillado” are “lined with human remains” intensifying the spine-chilling feeling and signaling the imposing danger of the situation for Fortunato. The imagery makes you feel as if you are there, you can almost see the bones and feel the overall dampness. The setting is dark and frightening, evoking a sense of fear in the reader. The “foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame,” making the the catacombs in “The Cask of Amontillado” to feel claustrophobic and suffocating. The catacombs are damp and claustrophobic, resembling Fortunato’s feeling of entrapment at that point in the story. The imagery shows you how trapped and isolated Fortunato in the claustrophobic catacombs, where he ultimately meets his death. The amorous word choice and imagery are important to the stories because they create a sinister and eerie tone.
In these stories, the author wanted us to learn how we should do everything in moderation and should not take things too far, to the point of being unhealthy. This can be in terms of love like in “Annabel Lee” or retribution like in “The Cask of Amontillado.” In the final analysis, we need to learn when to let go and forget, as we will most likely be happier taking it easy.