the cask of amontillado short essay

A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Cask of Amontillado’ is one of Poe’s shorter classic tales. It was first published in 1846 in a women’s magazine named Godey’s Lady’s Book , a hugely popular magazine in the US in the mid-nineteenth century. (The magazine had published one of Poe’s earliest stories, ‘The Visionary’, twelve years earlier.)

‘The Cask of Amontillado’ is one of Poe’s ‘revenge stories’, and the way he depicts the avenger’s psychological state is worthy of closer analysis.

Plot summary

First, a quick summary of the plot of ‘The Cask of Amontillado’, which is our way of saying ‘those who wish to avoid spoilers please look away now’. The story is narrated by the murderer, Montresor, who takes revenge on a fellow Italian nobleman, Fortunato, during the carnival season.

Fortunato, drunk and dressed in motley, boasts that he can tell an amontillado from other sherry, and so Montresor lures his rival down into Montresor’s family catacombs, saying that he has some amontillado for Fortunato to taste. Fortunato finds the descent difficult, thanks to the nitre in the catacombs, which exacerbate his bad chest.

Montresor plays on Fortunato’s inherent sense of pride in his knowledge of wines, by telling him that, if Fortunato cannot make the journey into the catacombs, they can turn back and Montresor can give the wine to Luchresi, another nobleman, instead.

Of course, this only makes Fortunato even more determined to be the one to taste the amontillado, and so they two of them keep going. When they arrive down in the catacombs, Montresor having plied his enemy with Medoc wine, he chains his drunken rival to the wall and then proceeds to wall him up inside the family vault, burying the man alive.

Fortunato at first believes it to be a jest, but then realises that he has been left here to die. Fifty years later, Montresor says that the body of Fortunato is still there in the vault.

Why does Montresor want revenge on Fortunato? This is where we see Poe’s genius (a contentious issue – W. B. Yeats thought his writing ‘vulgar’ and T. S. Eliot, whilst praising the plots and ideas of Poe’s stories, thought the execution of them careless) can be seen most clearly in ‘The Cask of Amontillado’.

For Montresor has every reason to confide to us – via his close friend, the addressee of his narrative, who is our stand-in in the story – his reason for wishing to kill Fortunato. But instead of getting a clear motive from him, we are instead given a series of possible reasons, none of which quite rings true.

It may be that Poe learned this idea from Shakespeare’s Othello , where the villainous Iago’s reasons for wishing to destroy Othello’s life are unclear, not because Iago offers us no plausible reasons for wishing to cause trouble, but because he offers us several , the effect of which is that they all cancel each other out, to an extent.

This is made clear in the opening words of the story:

The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely, settled – but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk.

Immediately, we are given an insight into the motive for the crime, but there is a sense that Montresor  wants  his crime – which he almost views as a work of art – to be acknowledged and even appreciated, in a strange way, by the victim. In other words, as Montresor explains, he wants Fortunato to know who has killed him (and why), but he wants to make sure nobody else finds out:

I must not only punish but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.

That opening sentence is like a literal enactment of the familiar phrase, ‘to add insult to injury’. This provides a key clue to the motivation – shaky and vague as it is – of Montresor. His revenge is not motivated primarily by any tangible harm that Fortunato has done him, so much as a sense of resentment, a way Fortunato has of making Montresor feel inferior.

There are several clues offered by Poe in the story which suggest this as a plausible analysis of Montresor’s character and motivation. First of all, there is Fortunato’s name, suggesting fortune (wealth) but also being fortunate (luck), two qualities which don’t tend to enamour people to you, even though one’s possession of one or both of them hasn’t necessarily harmed anyone else. As F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby , put it: ‘Nothing is as obnoxious as other people’s luck.’

Although ‘Montresor’, the narrator’s name, suggests literally a ‘mountain of treasure’, the fortunate Fortunato still has the edge: as we know from such stories as Lawrence’s ‘The Rocking-Horse Winner’ , money is worth little without luck, for luck is how one acquires more money (though hard work doesn’t go amiss, of course). Another clue comes when Montresor fails to interpret a gesture made by Fortunato:

He laughed and threw the bottle upwards with a gesticulation I did not understand.

I looked at him in surprise. He repeated the movement – a grotesque one.

‘You do not comprehend?’ he said.

This taut, clipped conversation continues, as Poe deftly outlines the underlying reasons for the animosity that exists between the two men. In short, Montresor fails to understand the significance of the gesture Fortunato performs, leading Fortunato to suspect that Montresor is not a mason. Montresor insists he is, but Fortunato is having none of it:

‘You? Impossible! A mason?’

Fortunato asks Montresor for a sign that he really is a freemason:

‘It is this,’ I answered, producing from beneath the folds of my roquelaire a trowel.

‘You jest,’ he exclaimed, recoiling a few paces. ‘But let us proceed to the Amontillado.’

This moment suggests a further underlying reason for Montresor’s desire for revenge: Fortunato insults him by belittling him and reminding him that he is not part of the same ‘club’ as Fortunato.

It may be that Montresor – his name perhaps suggesting acquired wealth rather than first-rank nobility like Fortunato (who has inherited his wealth and name by being ‘fortunate’ enough to be born into the right aristocratic family) – is not quite of the same pedigree as Fortunato, and so has had none of the advantages and benefits that Fortunato has enjoyed.

Poe makes his point by some subterranean wordplay on mason : Fortunato refers to the freemasons, that secret elite society known for its mutual favours and coded signs, gestures, and rituals, but Montresor’s trowel suggests the stonemasons, those artisans and labourers who are not aristocrats but possess great manual skill.

This pun is confirmed later in the story by Montresor’s reference to the ‘mason-work’ when he is walling his hapless rival up inside the catacombs.

‘The Cask of Amontillado’ can be productively linked – via comparative analysis – with a number of other Poe stories. Its murderous narrator links the story to ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ and ‘ The Black Cat ’; its focus on revenge and the misuse of alcohol links it to ‘Hop-Frog’; the alcohol motif is also seen in ‘The Black Cat’, while the use of jester’s motley also suggests a link with Poe’s other great revenge tale, ‘Hop-Frog’, where the title character is a jester in the employ of a corrupt king.

The live burial motif is also found in Poe’s story ‘ The Premature Burial ’ and ‘ The Fall of the House of Usher ’.

9 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado’”

There is something very odd about this story – the title emphasises the ‘amontillado’ which the murderer uses as bait for his victim, and the victim dreamily repeates the word as if it refers to something very unusual and precious. But unless there is something special about this cask – and no one suggests that there is, it could just as easily be the kind of wine you can buy in Sainsbury’s – and I frequently do, to use in cooking. And there is the dismissal of the man who ‘cannot tell Amontillado from sherry’ – but actually of course Amontillado is sherry. And it’s not an ‘Italian wine’ but Spanish. Did Poe know all this? is he implying that the two are not the aristocrats they seem and claim to be, but a pair of drunken louts? or did he use the name because it sounded exotic, without knowing what it was…

I think he used the whole ‘Amontillado is sherry’ thing as a joke. Fortunato and Montresor are an awful lot alike, after all. Even there names mean the same thing.

This is one of my favorite Poe stories and a fantastic analysis!

Thank you! It’s one of my favourites too – and there are plenty of fine stories to choose from :)

Nobody likes a clever dick, do they?

Sent from my iPad

Iago–yes, that is very clear intertextuality. I’ll bring that in with my Othello unit with my seniors.

Reblogged this on Greek Canadian Literature .

• Pingback: A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ – worldtraveller70
• Pingback: Μια περίληψη και ανάλυση του Edgar Allan Poe για «το βαρέλι του αμοντιλάδο» – worldtraveller70

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Discover more from interesting literature.

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Type your email…

Continue reading

Poe's Stories

Edgar allan poe, everything you need for every book you read..

Join Now to View Premium Content

GradeSaver provides access to 2354 study guide PDFs and quizzes, 11005 literature essays, 2762 sample college application essays, 926 lesson plans, and ad-free surfing in this premium content, “Members Only” section of the site! Membership includes a 10% discount on all editing orders.

Poe's Short Stories

The cask of amontillado heather moorefield.

Edgar Allan Poe is known for his thrilling tales of madmen, cunning murderers, and intense, claustrophobic situations. "The Cask of Amontillado" is one such tale. From the very beginning of the story, the narrator's unreliable nature shines through his over exaggerated descriptions of how honorable of a man he is, of the wrongs that have been committed against him and the culprit responsible. Throughout the narrator's confession there is foreshadowing. Montresor warns Fortunato to turn back, that the nitre on the walls may worsen his cough, yet at the same time he deceives Fortunato, pretending to be his friend, so that he will never know the reason for Montresor's grotesque deed. Since the story is told in a flashback in the narrator's perspective, we can see more closely the narrator's soul, and can judge how he really feels about his so-called revenge. At the beginning of the story, Montresor relays to the reader some rules of revenge, which by the end of the story are not fulfilled by his actions against Fortunato. Ironically, it seems that Fortunato has had the ultimate revenge that Montresor fantasized about so obsessively. Poe uses these four devices to address the question of whether...

GradeSaver provides access to 2313 study guide PDFs and quizzes, 10989 literature essays, 2751 sample college application essays, 911 lesson plans, and ad-free surfing in this premium content, “Members Only” section of the site! Membership includes a 10% discount on all editing orders.

Already a member? Log in

English Studies

This website is dedicated to English Literature, Literary Criticism, Literary Theory, English Language and its teaching and learning.

“The Cask of Amontillado”: Revenge

Introduction to revenge in “the cask of amontillado”.

The nature of the character Montresor, how he weaves a web around his victim Fortunate, a character in “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, shows that human nature is not only inexplicable but also unpredictable. Even a slight joke, which if considered an “insult” (Poe 1), could be fatal for a person. Montresor states that just a slight insult led him to conclude that Fortunato, otherwise his close friend, in whose death he would demonstrate his true nature. If Fortunato has insulted him by not refraining from making fun of him, he would surely have to pay for it. Even though he belongs to the gentry and lives a highly popular life, once Montresor makes up his mind, he goes for it and takes his life. Commenting about Montresor, Patrick McGrath said, “none are quite as deranged as the narrator of “The Cask of Amontillado” … [whose] story opens with a threat” (McGrath). Not only he makes a plot but goes for its implementation. From the very start, he enters the stage with a bang of “the thousand injuries” (Poe 1). He shows not only his patience but also his fury. He makes up his mind to redress what happened in the past. He then spots weaknesses in the character of Fortunato, picks up his habits, and exploits them to the point where he falls in his lap like a ripe apple. He knows when to choose the right moment, where to trap his victim, and how to take him to the depths of his catacombs. With precise and measured steps, he arranges for his death. Therefore, there is one point that needs debate. It is how he exacts his revenge that is quite clear, but the most important thing is the evil machinations he uses. This is a psychological aspect of his character that he uses all his machinations besides exploiting the weaknesses in the character of Fortunato,  then chooses the right time of the year and of that night, and manipulates him through deception.

Exploitation of Human Nature in “The Cask of Amontillado”

Most of the acts of Montresor, the murderer, are based on the exploitation of the weaknesses in human character. As McGrath has further stated about him that “fictional narrative and psychotic illness are mutually exclusive entity” (McGrath) where such characters could possibly be either one of these or both. After swearing to exact revenge on his friend, he starts looking for his weaknesses to exploit them. His major idea is not to put his own life at risk. Like every other person, Fortunato certainly has a weakness and one of them is his expertise in wine, while the other is flattery. It becomes a secondary weakness that Montresor just finds out when mentioning his rival Luchresi, with the idea that he would feel jealous, and it exactly happens. Commenting on his plot, Gargano states that “His reasoned, “cool” intelligence weaves an intricate plot” that destroys his very humanity (Gargano 179). In other words, it makes him different from that the narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart.” He is better in that he succeeds in concealing his murder for more than fifty years, but the narrator of the other tale could not keep it a secret even for fifty minutes and speaks out in the same house where he commits the crime. However, Montresor, not only conceals it but also keeps it in his memory. His exploitation includes flattery at the very start when he praises him for his connoisseurship of wine, and then arouses his jealousy with the mention of his rival. In order to further enhance his thirst and curiosity, he mentions the name of Luchreshi repeatedly saying only he is at the top. He also mentions his disease, and the effects of the seasons on his mind so that he should know that he takes care of him. But his real objective is to strengthen his plot and not to leave him. And up to the point of that hidden corner, he was really successful that he brought him of his own volition.

Psychological Issue in “The Cask of Amontillado”

Had Montresor been a psycho-case, it must have been different on the occasion of the great carnival, but again he displayed his extreme sagacity by choosing the right time to bring him down to his catacombs. He selects the occasion of the carnival not on some premeditated thoughts but just by coincidence. It shows that he is capable of thinking at the moment and weaving his plot accordingly. This just props up in his mind that he could make further excuses to convince Fortunato that he needs “I have received a piple of what passess for Amontillado” (3). It is his shot, and it did not miss his target. The target is with him on his way to his death chamber. The joining of his passion with his taste is really a good idea, but the excellent plot is to weave it at the right moment and then exploit it further. Gabbard states that he “lures his victim” through his tricks” (Gabbard 18-19) and one of them is the trick of using the time to his own advantage. Moreover, when he states that “It was midnight” (Poe 5) which shows that the selection of midnight or to trap and kill at night was not merely a coincidence. He has thought long and hard to conclude that he could kill him and live for another day, only after he executes this task at night. However, it is further supplemented with the use of flattery, jealousy, and extra caution in asking about his health repeatedly. But the real choice is the choice of time that seems to show Montresor working at his best.

Manipulation of Habit in “The Cask of Amontillado”

Habits are die-hard and never leave a person. A person is often caught or trapped through his/her habits and if you catch a person by exploiting his habits, you are a great dissembler that you do not let the victim knows what, when, or how you pose. Montresor is exactly that sort of person. One thing is perhaps due to the word “mask” in the very title of the story. As Gargano states that Montresor actually has a “black silk” mask and Fortunato is “in the motley of a fool” (Gargano). This is the mask of amontillado that is black and under this mask, he uses his deceptiveness. The mask he wears is complete and perfect in that he never lets his victim knows at any stage what is happening inside his mind. Montresor is hellbent on hiding his ”good will” (Poe 1). This goodwill is to show him that he is the well-wisher of Fortunato. On the one hand, he exploits his habits as stated earlier, and on the other hand, he does not demonstrate any transformation in his own habit “to smile in his face” (2). This is a devilish way of trapping any enemy – a supreme method to exhibit that he has nothing bad against him. But his deception is due to the factor that although Fortunato is a well-respected man in his community, he is also “feared” (2). This is the basis of his deception. This means that had Fortunato known at any moment his evil intentions, Montresor’s own life would have been in danger. Not only does he escort him with glee but also demonstrates the same warmth in return for his “excessive warmth” (2) until he blurts out that “you are luckily met” (3). The extreme moment comes in the catacomb when he brings him to the corner and still hides his evil intentions in his broad smile that Fortunato only thinks it a “very good joke indeed” (7). This is despite the fact that he is almost sure that he has been trapped. This is the point where he hurries to complete his task of trapping him to ensure his slow death. And his deception is executed flawlessly.

Conclusion of Analysis of “The Cask of Amontillado”

In nutshell, Montresor is a great dissembler. Leaving aside all psychological theories applied to his mind or character, his selection of the season, time and moment are so perfect that he deserves the praise of a detective. Even there is nothing to detect, as he has ensnared Fortunato where nothing comes out for the next fifty years until he himself reveals his secret. His all machinations of exploiting his nature to his own advantage make him a fearful and terrifying killer among all the other killers of Edgar Allen Poe. Although other characters such as the narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” is also as merciless as Montresor, the difference is in the use of machinations and deception, and above all keeping them a secret for long. His machinations and deceptions are so perfect that fifty years pass but nothing is known of this respectable, noble and yet feared person, until he reaches the point where he thinks it harmless to reveal in his story. However, the narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” could not hide in the face of confrontation and just passes fifty or so minutes when he exposes everything. However, Montresor is of a different mettle. He has worn a mask that he could not remove until he feels quite safe. Although from the very start, Montresor also thinks that it could be difficult as he is “feared,” he starts using deception not only in his manners but also in his actions. His love, his happiness after seeing Fortunato, his praise, his smile – in short satisfaction and calmness ooze out of every organ of his body. He never lets him suspect that a grave danger is lurking behind his smile. Behind this entire plot and his excellent machinations lie his passion for revenge for the insult that he bears at his hands, though thousands of injuries could not prompt him to this action. Therefore, it is correct to say that his whole body and mind are working in tandem to execute his plan, which is the product of his passion for revenge.

Work Cited about “The Cask of Amontillado”

• Gabbard, Alexandra Lauren Corrêa. “The Figure of the Trickster in Poe’s “Hop Frog” and the Cask of Amontillado.” UMFGO (2009): 18-22.
• Gargano, James W. “The Masquerade Vision in Poe’s Short Stories”. Edgar Allen Poe. 15 Oct. 2010. Web. Accessed 04 Aug. 2020.
• —. “The Question of Poe’s Narrators.” College English 25.3 (2011): 177-181.
• McGrath, Patrick. “Method to the Madness”. The New York Times. 28 June 2013. Newspaper Source. Web. Accessed 04 Aug. 2020.
• Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Cask Of Amontillado”. 1846. Web. Accessed 27 Nov. 2020.

You may read on Shorty Essays Below:

• “The Hunger Artist” and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”
• Characters in Pride and Prejudice: Natural and Reality
• Humanity in “The Cabuliwala”
• “Araby” by James Joyce: Modernist Story

Related posts:

• “Sweat” and “Everyday Use”: Feminism
• Magical Realism in “The Handsomest Drowned…”
• “The Belonging Kind”: Cyberpunk Story
• “Where are You Going, Where Have You Been”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Literary Devices in “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe Essay

Introduction, figurative/symbolic expressions, works cited.

The ‘ Cask of Amontillado’ is a literary classic story, which can pass as an ordinary narrative piece of literature to the average ordinary reader. To readers with a critical eye however, the figurative speech, and the hyperbole contained in the story cannot go unnoticed.

Irony – Montresor, who is committed to punishing a perceived wrong, is also committed to carrying out a wrong without being punished for it. By his own admission, Montressor states that “a wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser” (Poe 3).

As such, Montressor states that he would punish the person who inflicted him with injuries, because to him, the wrongs committed against him were worthy of punishment. Ironically, though, Montresor states that he would be avenging insults with death, since he perceived that as the ultimate revenge. Unfortunately, Fortunato seems not to have suffered the pain of dying, as Montresor would have liked.

Paradox – Montresor triggers a paradox by juxtaposing in the same sentence the phrase “punish with impunity,” two words that are ordinarily antithetical. As human nature would have it, people are often quicker to see weaknesses in other while ignoring their more apparent flaws. As such, Montresor finds his companion’s “transgression” worthy of the cruelest death, and believes that his cause is so right that he deserves to get away with it.

Sarcasm – In human speech, very few styles of expression are as cruel as sarcasm. Although in this case Fortunato is ignorant of the sarcasm, Montresor is nevertheless invoking it when he says, “my dear Fortunato, you are luckily met”’ (Poe 3). It is as if Montresor, if he were understood for his true intentions, were saying, ‘It is your ill-luck that you have met me today’.

It is often the cruelest hearts that fashion the most effective sarcasms: sarcasms so sharp-edged that they slice through their target audience’s ears without their ever getting to understand their full true meaning. The cruelty resident in Montresor’s dark mind is exhibited in his solitary musing: “I was so pleased to see him that I thought I never should have done wringing his hands” (Poe 3).

Oxymoron – Montresor engages in oxymoronic speech by describing the attendant’s abandonment of their duties at his palazzo as “making merry in honor of the time” (Poe 4). This was in direct disregard for his instructions to them not to leave the house at all while he is away.

Of course, there is the implication that he knew beforehand what they would do. By the attendants behaving just as he had anticipated, Montresor gets his perfect alibi. To protect themselves from the charge of absconding duty, they would swear that he had been on a journey and had not at all returned that whole day.

Hyperbole – There is a sense of this in Fortunato’s statement that he drinks to “the buried that repose around us” (Poe 5). Dead bodies may be immobile but as to whether they are at rest, is a matter of conjecture.

Poe’s tale can be interpreted as an allegory of the pain, death, and the senselessness of vengeance. To reflect all the three identified themes, Poe (knowingly or unknowingly) divided his story into three parts. In the first part, Monstresor is infuriated by what he perceives as an insult from Fortunato.

As a result, he vows to inflict vengeance on Fortunato. This part of the story symbolizes people’s desire to avenge for the wrongs committed against them, and to inflict pain on the people who wrong them. As reflected in the conclusion of Poe’s tale, while inflicting pain on a person may seem like the perfect vengeance, it does not fetch as much pleasure as the avenger would like to.

The tale also makes an attempt to convince readers that death, is not necessarily a painful or even bitter experience to those who are dead or dying. This is symbolized by what sounds like Fortunato’s laughter when he finally realizes his fate. Poe also hints at the emptiness of revenge through Montresor’s description of his feeling as “sick” soon as he realized he had just killed Fortunato.

The second part of Poe’s take is apparent when Montresor lures Fortunato underground, and gets him drunk. The third part of the tale on the other hand is reflected in the long journey that two take, only for Montresor to encourage Fortunato into reaching “the extremity of the niche” (Poe 7), where he found iron staples hindering his progress further into the crypt.

Here, Montresor chained Fortunato up, ready to avenge the perceived wrongs committed against him. His vengeance was only pleasurable for a short period, because Fortunato’s cry only lasted several minutes. At the end, Fortunato made fun of his tormentor, and upon his death Montresor admits that his “heart grew sick” (Poe 8).

Poe, Edgar Allan. The Cask of Amontillado . Feedbooks, n.d. Web.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, October 29). Literary Devices in "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-cask-of-amontillado/

"Literary Devices in "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe." IvyPanda , 29 Oct. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/the-cask-of-amontillado/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Literary Devices in "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe'. 29 October.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Literary Devices in "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe." October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-cask-of-amontillado/.

1. IvyPanda . "Literary Devices in "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe." October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-cask-of-amontillado/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Literary Devices in "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe." October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-cask-of-amontillado/.

• Montressor in The Cask of Amontillado
• Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado
• Jury Defense and “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe
• Edgar Poe and “The Cask of Amontillado”
• The Cask of Amontillado
• Edgar Poe's “The Cask of Amontillado” Literature Analysis
• Irony in "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe
• Dark Humor in The Cask of Amontillado Essay
• Epilogue to “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe
• Imagery Use in “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe
• A review of Sojourner Truth the Narrative
• The American: Gender Theme
• A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Literary Critical Analysis Essay
• Summary Atlas Shrugged Part One and Two
• Examples of Loyalty in Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner"

The Cask of Amontillado

45 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Introduction

Before Reading

Reading Context

Reading Questions & Paired Texts

Discussion/Analysis Prompt

Essay Questions

Exam Questions

Exam Answer Key

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Get access to this full Teaching Guide and much more!

• 7,200+ In-Depth Study Guides
• 5,000+ Quick-Read Plot Summaries
• Downloadable PDFs

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

The SuperSummary difference

• 8x more resources than SparkNotes and CliffsNotes combined
• Study Guides you won ' t find anywhere else
• 100+ new titles every month

1. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Edgar Allan Poe masterfully employs suspense and symbolism to create a chilling tale of revenge.

• How does Poe build suspense throughout the story, and what effect does it have on the reader’s experience? ( topic sentence )
• Analyze specific examples of suspenseful moments and how they build toward the story’s climax.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, discuss the significance of the suspense in enhancing the theme of Revenge in the story.

2. The narrator, Montresor, embodies the theme of Deception and Devious Calculation as the story unfolds.

• What role does deception play in Montresor’s plot for revenge? ( topic sentence )

Don't Miss Out!

Access Teaching Guide Now

Ready to dive in?

Get unlimited access to SuperSummary for only $ 0.70 /week

Related Titles

By Edgar Allan Poe

A Dream Within a Dream

Edgar Allan Poe

Annabel Lee

The Black Cat

The Conqueror Worm

The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar

The Fall of the House of Usher

The Gold Bug

The Haunted Palace

The Imp of the Perverse

The Man of the Crowd

The Masque of the Red Death

The Murders in the Rue Morgue

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket

The Oval Portrait

The Philosophy of Composition

Featured Collections

Horror, thrillers, & suspense.

View Collection

Required Reading Lists

Truth & lies.

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Cask of Amontillado — Irony in “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe

Irony in "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe

• Categories: The Cask of Amontillado

About this sample

Words: 380 |

Published: Jan 30, 2024

Words: 380 | Page: 1 | 2 min read

Table of contents

Verbal irony, situational irony, dramatic irony.

• Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Cask of Amontillado." 1846.
• Shmoop Editorial Team. "Irony." Shmoop, Shmoop University, Inc., 11 No2008, www.shmoop.com/glossary/irony.html.
• Porter, David. "Irony in Literature." The British Journal of Aesthetics, vol. 45, no. 2, 2005, pp. 144-158. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/574264.

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Verified writer

• Expert in: Literature

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

6 pages / 2882 words

2 pages / 714 words

3.5 pages / 1676 words

6 pages / 2692 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on The Cask of Amontillado

"The Cask of Amontillado" is a captivating short story written by Edgar Allan Poe that delves into the dark and mysterious world of revenge. Through the intricate narrative and vivid characterization, Poe explores various [...]

In Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado," the character of Fortunato is rich in complexity and depth. From his flamboyant clothing to his excessive pride, Fortunato exhibits a range of characteristics that [...]

Edgar Allan Poe is known for his dark and macabre writing style, often exploring themes of revenge and deception in his works. "The Cask of Amontillado" is a prime example of Poe's exploration of these themes through the [...]

“The Cask of Amontillado” is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1846, not long after his most famous poem “The Raven” was published. During this time period, Poe explored the darker tones of gothic fiction and presented [...]

The setting of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado" is crucial in creating a dark and ominous atmosphere. The story takes place during the carnival season in an unnamed European city, most likely in Italy, in [...]

Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" is a chilling and twisted tale of revenge and betrayal. Set in an Italian city during the carnival season, the story follows the narrator, Montresor, as he seeks to exact revenge on [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free