Gothic Elements in the Cask of Amontillado
Gothic Elements in The Cask of Amontillado
By: Harshul Jain The Cask of Amontillado is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. Poe is known for using Gothic conventions in his stories which mostly includes the atmosphere of mystery, oppressiveness to create terror but interestingly he subverts the Gothic conventions by having having human beings, instead of a supernatural element, create most horrible deeds. Poe tries to achieve that horror via the capabilities of the humans. Poe uses unreliable narrator and psyches to propel the story. The Cask of Amontillado is a classic example of such a story. The Cask of Amontillado is a story of 2 friends, Fortunato and Montresor. Montresor in this story is the narrator. Montresor has been Fortunato's friend for years but their relationship is not a healthy on. Fortunato has mentally tortured and abused Montresor for years and one day he crosses his limit. Montresor vows to return the favour and decides to kill him one day. One day Montresor meets Fortunato somewhere in the city. Montresor tells him that he has bought a cask of Amontillado. Fortunato tells him that this is not a season of Amontillado and would like to taste it to confirm its genuinity. They both go to Montresor's place to taste it. When they reach there Montresor ties Fortunato with the chain attached to the wall and closes the room by creating a wall. Soon Fortunato will run out of oxygen and die. You can see that there is no violence, no blood and no supernatural element in the story. Even though this story comes under the genre of Gothic Fiction. Its the other elements of Gothic fiction that make it a Gothic Fiction. Lets have a look at them one by one.Lets start with the Setting. The setting of this story is a perfect indicator of a Gothic story. This story takes place somewhere in Italy. Its the time of the carnival. The whole city is enjoying the carnival. This gives an indication that there are less number of people in their houses and in the city.
By: Harshul Jain The Cask of Amontillado is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. Poe is known for using Gothic conventions in his stories which mostly includes the atmosphere of mystery, oppressiveness to create terror but interestingly he subverts the Gothic conventions by having having human beings, instead of a supernatural element, create most horrible deeds. Poe tries to achieve that horror via the capabilities of the humans. Poe uses unreliable narrator and psyches to propel the story. The Cask of Amontillado is a classic example of such a story. The Cask of Amontillado is a story of 2 friends, Fortunato and Montresor. Montresor in this story is the narrator. Montresor has been Fortunato's friend for years but their relationship is not a healthy on. Fortunato has mentally tortured and abused Montresor for years and one day he crosses his limit. Montresor vows to return the favour and decides to kill him one day. One day Montresor meets Fortunato somewhere in the city. Montresor tells him that he has bought a cask of Amontillado. Fortunato tells him that this is not a season of Amontillado and would like to taste it to confirm its genuinity. They both go to Montresor's place to taste it. When they reach there Montresor ties Fortunato with the chain attached to the wall and closes the room by creating a wall. Soon Fortunato will run out of oxygen and die. You can see that there is no violence, no blood and no supernatural element in the story. Even though this story comes under the genre of Gothic Fiction. Its the other elements of Gothic fiction that make it a Gothic Fiction. Lets have a look at them one by one.Lets start with the Setting. The setting of this story is a perfect indicator of a Gothic story. This story takes place somewhere in Italy. Its the time of the carnival. The whole city is enjoying the carnival. This gives an indication that there are less number of people in their houses and in the city.