Edgar Allan Poe and Gothic Imagery in "The Cask of Amontillado"
ENG 341-Studies in Literary Genres | The Significance of Imagery | In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” |
Lauren Grilli
6/7/2010
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Imagery is described as the ‘mental pictures’ one interprets from reading any type of literature; this can be done using any of the five senses: taste, touch, smell, sight and sound. Edgar Allan Poe is notorious for his use of dramatic imagery in the gothic genre. “Gothic literature has a number of conventions, including evocations of horror, suggestions of the supernatural, and dark, exotic locales such as castles and crumbling mansions” (Canada, 1997). In this paper, I will examine the imagery Poe has chosen in The Cask of Amontillado, and explain why it is vital to the furthering of the plot. In "The Cask of Amontillado" Poe uses descriptive language and imagery to create a sense of intrigue and an enticing character and situation, expanding the rhetorical strategy of maintaining a state of suspense. Although it remains a mystery, throughout The Cask of Amontillado, the reason why the narrator harbors such hatred toward Fortunato, this missing information adds to the suspense and allows the reader forge a bond with the words Montresor speaks, as he cunningly guides Fortunato to his death. Aside from creating a closer attention to the descriptive language, Poe also uses imagery to create the sense of impending doom. Two main contributors to the impending doom and suspense, which course freely through the structure of the entire story, are irony and foreshadowing. Poe highlights these components through imagery, creating, for the reader, a sense of place that becomes overwhelmed with underlying fear. In sum, the story of The Cask of Amontillado relies heavily on descriptive language and imagery to achieve a sense of atmosphere that parallels its dark plot. Some critics, like Phillips, argue that Poe’s extensive use of dark imagery “in an effort, largely successful, to create mood, sacrificed (willingly or
Lauren Grilli
6/7/2010
|
Imagery is described as the ‘mental pictures’ one interprets from reading any type of literature; this can be done using any of the five senses: taste, touch, smell, sight and sound. Edgar Allan Poe is notorious for his use of dramatic imagery in the gothic genre. “Gothic literature has a number of conventions, including evocations of horror, suggestions of the supernatural, and dark, exotic locales such as castles and crumbling mansions” (Canada, 1997). In this paper, I will examine the imagery Poe has chosen in The Cask of Amontillado, and explain why it is vital to the furthering of the plot. In "The Cask of Amontillado" Poe uses descriptive language and imagery to create a sense of intrigue and an enticing character and situation, expanding the rhetorical strategy of maintaining a state of suspense. Although it remains a mystery, throughout The Cask of Amontillado, the reason why the narrator harbors such hatred toward Fortunato, this missing information adds to the suspense and allows the reader forge a bond with the words Montresor speaks, as he cunningly guides Fortunato to his death. Aside from creating a closer attention to the descriptive language, Poe also uses imagery to create the sense of impending doom. Two main contributors to the impending doom and suspense, which course freely through the structure of the entire story, are irony and foreshadowing. Poe highlights these components through imagery, creating, for the reader, a sense of place that becomes overwhelmed with underlying fear. In sum, the story of The Cask of Amontillado relies heavily on descriptive language and imagery to achieve a sense of atmosphere that parallels its dark plot. Some critics, like Phillips, argue that Poe’s extensive use of dark imagery “in an effort, largely successful, to create mood, sacrificed (willingly or
Bibliography: Baraban, Elena V. (2004). The Motive for Murder in “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe. Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature, Vol. 58, No. 2 (2004), pp. 1-110. Retrieved May 14, 2010, Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1566552 Benton, Richard P. (1991). Poe 's `The Cask ' and the `White Webwork which Gleams '. Studies in Short Fiction, 28.2, pp.183. Canada, Mark. (1997). "Edgar Allan Poe." Canada 's America. 1997. http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/canam/poe.htm (5/27/2010). DiYanni, Robert. (2004). Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. New York: McGraw-Hill. St. John Stott, Graham. (2004). Poe 's The Cask of Amontillado. Explicator, 62.2 : 85.