Short Story Criticism, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Art

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Short Story Criticism CUMULATIVE AUTHOR INDEX r Poe, Edgar Allan 1809-1849 Nf.I.ri 16, 55, 78, 94.97, 117; PC 1, 54fSSC)l, 22, 34r35J54; WLC v ' See also*-7?AYA 14; AMW; AMWC 1- AMWR 2; BPFB 3; BYA 5, 11; CDALB 1640-1865; CMW 4; DA; DAS; DAB- DAC; DAM MST, POET; DLB 3, 59, 73 74, 248, 254; EXPP; EXPS; HGG; LAIT 2; LATS 1; LMFS 1; MSW; PAB; PFS 1, 3, 9; RGAL 4; RGSF 2; SATA 23; SCFW 2; SFW 4; SSFS 2, 4, 7, 8, 16; SUFW- TUS; WP; WYA Poet of Titchfield Street, The See Pound, Ezra (Weston Loomis) Pohl, Frederik 1919- CLC 18; SSC 25 See also AAYA 24; CA 61-64, 188; CAAE "The Cask of Amontillado" Edgar Allan Poe INTRODUCTION Regarded as the originator of the modern short story and a master of the form, Poe established a highly influential rationale for short narrative art, which emphasizes the deliberate arrangement of a story's minutest details of setting, characterization, and structure in order to impress a unified effect on the reader. In his own work he demon- strated a brilliant command of this technique—often elic- iting "terror, or passion, or horror" from his readers—as well as an uncommon imagination suffused with eerie thoughts, weird impulses, and foreboding fear. Renowned for cultivating an aura of mystery and a taste for the ghastly in his fiction, Poe relied on his imagination and literary skills to animate the disconcerting effects of his so-called "tales of horror," especially those dealing with crime and moral depravity. Among the latter kind, "The Cask of Amontillado" ranks as one of Poe's finest stories. Originally published in November 1846, in Godey 's Lady's Book, "The Cask of Amontillado" has since become a classic tale of revenge, distinguished by the subtle irony that pervades many levels of the story and by Poe's uncharacteristic use of dialogue between the protagonist and antagonist as the principal structural device of the narrative. Plot and Major Characters Set in an anonymous city somewhere in the Mediterranean region of Europe during the pre-Lenten festivities of the carnival season, "The Cask of Amontillado" recounts the last meeting between two aristocratic gentlemen, the nar- rator Montresor and the wine connoisseur Fortunate. As the story begins, Montresor plots complete and perfect revenge for "the thousand injuries" instigated by Fortu- nato, who once again has insulted him, although the par- ticulars are never indicated. Montresor encounters the obviously tipsy Fortunato dressed in fool's motley and informs him that a recently acquired cask of amontillado sherry awaits his discriminating palate in Montresor's underground cellars. Eager to taste the wine, Fortunato follows Montresor to his palazzo and into the vaults. Although Fortunato has a cough that is aggravated by the damp air and potassium nitrate hanging in the tunnels through which they pass, he is spurred onward after he learns that his rival Luchresi may be permitted to taste Montresor's new wine. Engaging Fortunato in dialogue ripe with irony, Montresor lures his victim deep into the family catacombs, urging him to try other wines along the way. As Fortunato grows impatient to sample the amon- & fresh mortar nearby, Montresor begins to entomb Fortu- nato brick by brick. Sobering quickly, Fortunato cries in vain for release. As Montresor finishes his task, the bells on Fortunato's costume jingle faintly. Montresor then hides his handiwork behind a pile of his ancestor's bones. He concludes that no one has disturbed them for fifty years. Major Themes j Themes of betrayal and revenge clearly inform "The Cask of Amontillado," but the pervasive irony of Montresor's narration complicates attempts to understand his motives and other conflicts at the heart of the tale. At the same time, layers of irony also contribute to the story's tone of horror While Fortunato remains blissfully ignorant of Montresor's true intentions for most of the story, the evident pleasure Montresor takes in relating his story, proudly recalling every detail fifty years after the fact, CUMULATIVE TITLE INDEX "The Case with the Child" (Capek) See "Pffpad s ditgtem" The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (Doyle) 12:62 »"The Cask of Amontillado" (Poe) JL378, 394 407-08; 22:293; 34:264-65:/35)>97-354; 54:180, 185, 188-89,209 "Cassandra" (Mansfield) 9:282 "Cassation" (Barnes) 3:6, 10, 16, 24-5 "The Cassowary" (Bowen) 3:33 Cast a Cold Eye (McCarthy) 24:215-18 "Casting the Runes" (James) 16:227, 230, 233 236, 245, 248, 252-53, 255 "The Casting Vote" (Murfree) 22:211 "The Castle of Crossed Destinies" (Calvino) 3:101-02 accomplished by the diabolically clever setting and springing of the trap, which Poe substituted for the prosaic beginning of Headley's sketch, and by the murderer's cat-like dalliance with his prospec- tive victim. The originality of Poe's treatment is well illustrated by his unconventional handl ing of the conduct of the victim, which Headley made so tritely stoical. James T. Pole. ^ Marvin Felheim, Sam Moon, and Donald Pearce (essay ^ date 1954) ^ // i^ //SOURCE: "'The Cask of Amontillado,'" in Notes & i V \\T"w. Vol. 1, No. 10, October, 1954, pp. 447-49. \ \ the following essay, each critic focuses on the struc- ture of Poe's tale. In the first part, Felheim explains two requisites for Montresor to perfect his revenge; in the second part Moon accounts for Montresor's failure to exact revenge; and in the third part, Pearce compares Poe's story to a profane rite, or scriptural parody.] In^The Cask of Amontillado^here are two parts, equally impollanl, lu Momresor's revenge: "I must not only pun- ish, but punish with impunity"; and "the avenger [must] make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong." If the story is aesthetically self-contained, our reading must be governed by these two requirements. That Montresor accomplishes the first half is evident; his crime has not been detected "for the half of a century." Working out the second half of his requirement is more complicated, for Fortunato must become fully aware of what his "wrong" was before he can comprehend his punishment. He is a distinguished individual, "rich, re- spected, admired, beloved," and he has a title (his wife is "Lady"); his status makes the injury more serious. Fortu- nato's taunt is our first hint about the nature of this long- standing insult. Deep in the vaults he laughs and throws a bottle "upwards with a gesticulation," a "grotesque" movement. The action, admits Forrunato, indicates that he is "of the brotherhood," "of the Masons." Here is insult enough to the proud Montresor, member of "a great and numerous" Italian (presumably Catholic) family, a family SHORT STORY CRITICISM,(yol. 35 — whose vaults include catacombs; here, indeed, is not personal injury (which could be "borne") but insult (which required "revenge"). If being a Mason is Fortunate's crime, does he compre- hend the enormity of his deviation and the consequent punishment? When the reality of the situation penetrates the consciousness of the now sober Fortunato, he first assumes that Montresor is joking. But on this score, he is quickly undeceived by Montresor's calm irony in carefully repeating Fortunato's phrase, "Let us be gone." Fortunato immediately and dramatically shouts (note Poe's use of italics at the climax): "For the love of God, Montresor!" These are. significantly, Fortunato's last words. Again, with deliberate emphasis, Montresor echoes him. After that, Fortunato does not speak. There is no need to. He understands. In pace requiescat! This final phrase of Montresor's is significant, too. Now, indeed, the "old rampart of [family] bones" can rest in peace. By this reading, the story now becomes Montresor's enactment of an elaborate ritual. From the outset he con- ceives of Fortunato's death as an "immolation," a sacrifi- cial act in which Montresor himself assumes a perverted priestly function. The vaults and the wine become sacra- mental properties which give a blasphemous significance to the ritual murder. And Fortunato, besides being the snake in Montresor's family arms, takes on all the qualities of a serpent, traditional religious symbol of evil. His immo- lation enables Montresor to accomplish a fitting act of revenge, complete even to the benediction. n The interpretation of (jThe Cask of Amontillado^! which Montresor succeeds in his revenge is required as a mirror which will reflect the ironic sense in which Montresor fails. For Poe has here taken a tale of revenge and re- versed the whole thing by a pervasive irony; he has set up a problem of requirements and their fulfilment with mathematical precision, and he has solved it as a poet. His method is to establish in great detail an ironic parallel between Fortunato and Montresor, so that by the end they are virtually identified. In the beginning Fortunato, in motley, mimics Montresor with his repeated "Amontilla- do!" but by the end the roles are reversed and Montresor plays the mimic. As Fortunato approaches the edge of madness, the mad Montresor re-echoes his yells and the identification is complete. This carefully built ironic paral- lel points to the crucial irony—the profound failure of the revenge. First, Montresor does not really fulfil the requirement of explaining his motive to Fortunato. Such a deed as Mon- tresor's is incredible to him except as some monstrous joke, but this hope is killed by Montresor's mockery. Finally Fortunato makes his ultimate appeal, "For the love of God, Montresor!" but Montresor's reply of cold God- less mockery is so profoundly irrational that it drives him mad. The only further sound which Montresor can pro- voke from the crypt is "a jingling of the bells"; Fortunato has escaped to the haven of the fool. By his silence and