LITERACY ANALYSIS

Edgar Allan Poe is well known for his engaging, interactive, mysterious and intense short stories. Poe’s compositions are known for immense madness, sudden action and mania. Poe's perspective varies from authors of his time. His compositions engage the reader within the thrill and anxiety of the story as it actually focuses at them throughout the content. Edgar exploits a narrative for the main character as it will no doubt leaves a solid impact on the audience. In "The Cask of Amontillado" the utilization of protagonists is to ensure credibility and interactivity of the story with the readers. Protagonists reach out of the stories and concede that there is a reader present. They're indicating a focused-on reader.

"The Cask of Amontillado'' concentrate on the main character’s intend to rebuff their casualties and it allows the reader's to develop immediate interest. The 'dreadful acts' are exhibited as pre-pondered. Montresor does feel outraged by the cruel acts. In the story, the attention is in on revenge and vengeance, since "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, however when he wandered upon insult I pledged revenge.'' Montresor arranges revenge upon his victim named Fortunato. Revenge suggests that the Montresor was overwhelmed by his gruesome act. This announcement alarms the reader bys creating a feeling of pressure and in this way Poe catches the reader's consideration and hobby.

In the short story, the protagonist demonstrates his extent to demonstrate his cleverness. Also, he didn't simply essentially summon his workers to leave, in order not to witness the wrongdoing, he deceived them as "these orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappearance, one and all, when my back was turned." Montresor purposefully utilized reverse brain science to guarantee their leaving. Montresor tactically and deliberately plotted his reprehensible arrangement, however saw it as a methodology to flaunt his cleverness to the readers.

Critically analyzing and evaluating the instances and evidences in the story, it can be deduced that Montresor acquires proper vengeance on Fortunato and it was neither overacting nor exaggeration. This can be said because Montresor was not acting or behaving emotionally. Instead his entire plan for vengeance was very carefully and systematically planned. He made sure that his timing, place and the approach for taking vengeance are effective enough to have the maximum impact on Fortunato. His vengeance was aggressive enough but his plan was very cool as he stated that “The very definitiveness with which it [the act of revenge] was resolved precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish, but punish with impunity”. (Poe, 2008)

First of all, Poe made Montresor to be very careful and particular when it comes to the timings of the vengeance. For instance, Montresor chose the specific time as he stated that “About dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season”. (Poe, 2008)

Choosing this time was a very clever trick. He did this because he knew that it was the peak time of carnival season and the house will be all empty while the servants and other members will be busy in festivity. Such a time was perfect for him as he could have easily gotten away with the crime without even being noticed. Furthermore, he also made sure that none of the servants should return back till next day by instructing them through excuses. All of these instances and issues made sure that Montresor should get enough time to commit the crime without any hassle of worries.

Other than choosing the perfectly thought time for the crime, he also chose the place and location of crime very cleverly. For this purpose he decided to choose the crypt within his vaults that was the deepest, farthest and the innermost. The purpose of choosing such a crypt was to ensure that when Fortunato cries and shrieks, none of them could be heard. Furthermore, his feeling of vengeance was so intensified that he wanted to cement Fortunato in the wall so that he could not escape or cry or help later. That is why he made sure that he has mortar, stones, and other required material on hand. He also had the trowel in his hand, ready to strike as he moved through the vault by cleverly trapping Fortunato so that he may not suspect.

Not only that Montresor was very clever and had planned the entire setting of revenge very carefully, he had also chosen the approach of vengeance in such a way that it should satisfy his regnant feeling as well as keep him safe from any suspicion. For instance, Montresor never revealed his intensions to Fortunato or made him suspect that Montresor wants any sort of revenge from him. He was always so flattering and smiling to trap Fortunato psychologically. He was clever enough to trap Fortunato in talks and make him blurt out his vulnerabilities and weak points as Fortunato revealed that “[He] prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine” (Poe, 2008).

This was exactly the weakness that Montresor was looking for. Montresor was trapping Fortunato till the very last moment as he talked Montresor cleverly believing that it is actually Fortunato who wants to help Montresor check the quality of Amontillado rather than Montresor asking him for the favor. This was a clever trick by Montresor that served as the bait in which Fortunato got trapped and followed Montresor into the vault in an attempt to prove that he is better than Luchresi when it comes to identification of Amontillado. In the vault, Montresor, still stays calm and relaxed while he cleverly makes Fortunato drink the wine and get high before he strike him with the trowel.

Critically observing all of these instances, it is evident that the vengeance by Montresor was not overacting. Instead it was a very clever plan that was executed in a very cool and calm manner without any hassle or aggressiveness. Montresor had complete control over his nerves till the end. Montresor’s plan and vengeance were very successful as he states that “For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them.” (Poe, 2008). This is a complete reflection of Poe’s writing style and approach that help him engage, thrill and overwhelm his readers using suspense and gruesome maniac details.

Works Cited

Poe, Edgar Allan. The cask of Amontillado. The Creative Company, 2008.

Stepp, Walter. "The Ironic Double in Poe's" The Cask of Amontillado"." Studies in Short Fiction 13.4 (1976): 447.

Baraban, Elena V. "The Motive for Murder in" The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe." Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature (2004): 47-62.

Dern, John A. "Poe's Public Speakers: Rhetorical Strategies in" The Tell-Tale Heart" and" The Cask of Amontillado"." The Edgar Allan Poe Review (2001): 53-70.