The Cask of Amontillado - By Edgar Allen Poe
ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE : Narrator and Voice: Who’s Talking? by John Leggett
When you read a story, you hear someone—the narrator—telling the story. The narrator controls
everything we know about the characters and events. There are three main types of narrators,
or points of view: Third person omniscient, first person, and third person limited.
Third Person Omniscient Point of View: The All-Knowing Storyteller When the omniscient
point of view is used, the narrator is not a character in the story and almost never refers to
himself or herself directly. Omniscient means “all-knowing,” and the omniscient narrator is able
to tell us everything about every character (including how each one thinks and feels). Let’s look
at a story told from the omniscient point of view: One day a young woman looked out her
apartment window and saw a man playing a saxophone. “Cool,” she thought as she swayed to his
tune. A big brown dog joined the man and howled along with the music. Then a man in pajamas
yelled from another window, complaining that the noise woke him up and he was going to call
the police. This man, who worked the night shift and had to sleep all day, liked cats better than
dogs anyway. The young saxophonist left.
The First-Person Point of View: “I” as the Storyteller Unlike the all-knowing omniscient
narrator, the first-person narrator is a character in the story who talks to us, using I, the firstperson pronoun. (Literary critics sometimes use the term persona to refer to a first-person
narrator.) We get a very personal view of what is happening from a first-person narrator, but we
know only what he or she thinks and experiences and is able—or chooses—to tell us. Always
question whether a first-person narrator is credible, or can be trusted.
Unreliable Narrator - Writers sometimes assume a persona, which is a mask or a voice for a
first-person narrator. When you read a story told by a first-person narrator, you need to ask
yourself if you can trust the narrator. Sometimes a writer will purposely use an unreliable
narrator to tell a story. An unreliable narrator is biased and does not (or cannot) tell the truth.
Let’s look at our story told by the man in pajamas, for example. Would you consider his opinion
of the music reliable? Oh, man! Just as I was finally dozing off, he starts playing that stupid
saxophone. I’ve already been fired from one job because I fell asleep on the night shift. Now it’s
going to happen again. I don’t know which sounds worse, that tone-deaf saxophonist or that
yowling dog. I’m going to call the police. An unreliable narrator may not always know the
whole truth or may purposely choose to deceive readers. A narrator’s actions, statements,
and voice—his or her style of speaking, diction (word choice), and tone (attitude)—will provide
you with clues about his or her reliability.
Third Person Limited: Focus on One Character In the third-person-limited point of view, the
storyteller zooms in on just one character but talks about the character in the third person,
using he or she. With this point of view, we share one character’s reactions to everything that
happens in the story, but what we know about the other characters is limited. Suppose we hear
our story from this point of view, focusing on the saxophone player: He found a good spot in
front of Park View Apartments and started playing soulfully on his sax. He wanted an audience
and needed money. After one song, he spotted a cute girl at a window, applauding madly. A dog
howled with the music, but the sax player let him stay, hoping the dog might attract some
donations. Then he heard a man yelling about calling the police—clearly not a music lover.
Tone: Watch That Attitude! A story’s tone can be described in a single word: joyous, somber,
humorous, serious, angry, tender, ironic. Tone is the attitude a speaker or writer takes toward a
subject, character, or audience. If you change a story’s point of view, you may change the tone as
well. For example, how might the tone of the saxophonist’s story be different if the young
woman were telling the story instead of the man in pajamas?
Voice: One-of-a-Kind Style Tone is one aspect of the voice that characterizes a piece of writing.
Voice refers to the writer’s use of language and overall style, and it’s created by the writer’s tone
and choice of words (diction). Often you can identify the author of a piece of writing from the
voice. Sometimes writers purposely switch voices, or their voice may change over time, but
usually a writer’s voice remains the same from work to work. In fiction, narrators can also be
said to have a voice, which is created by their manner of speaking, word choice, and tone. The
narrator’s voice can affect our view of characters and plot events and shape the tone of the story
as a whole. Imagine, if you will, the big brown dog telling our story.
Dramatic Irony: This term is taken from drama (plays, movies, etc.) and is often used to bring
an audience into a performance. When the audience knows something that one or more
characters don’t know, that’s DRAMATIC IRONY. For example, in many movies, the audience
knows who the murderer is before his victims do. This increases tension in the story as the
audience sees this character spin his web around his victim before he strikes.
The Cask of Amontillado
Reading Skills
Drawing Conclusions - When you read, you act like a detective. You gather evidence and
draw conclusions,or make judgments, based on that evidence. To decide if the narrator of Poe’s
story is unreliable, look closely at all the narrator says and does. Then, examine what his enemy,
Fortunato, says. What details could support a charge of unreliability—even insanity?
Background - Centuries ago Christians in Italy buried their dead in catacombs—long, winding
underground tunnels. Later wealthy families built private catacombs beneath their homes. Dark
and cool, these chambers were suitable not only for burial but also for the storage of fine wines,
such as amontillado. Poe’s story is set during carnival, which is celebrated before the start of
Lent, the season during which Christians give up various pleasures. During carnival, many
people wear costumes and dance in the streets.
Vocabulary Development - precluded v.: made impossible in advance; prevented.;
impunity n.: freedom from punishment or harm.; retribution n.:punishment.;
immolation n.:destruction.; connoisseurship n.:expert knowledge.; impose v. (used withupon):
take advantage of.; recoiling v. used as adj.:moving backward, as in fear.
endeavored v.: tried.; obstinate adj.: stubborn.; succession n.: series’ accost v. to approach and
speak to, especially in an aggressive manner; explicit adj. definitely stated; clearly expressed;
implore v. to ask earnestly; beg.
A CLOSER LOOK - The Other Man in the Wall - On July 12, 1845, a letter appeared in a
New York newspaper. The letter writer was describing his recent travels in Italy. He said that he
had an amazing experience in the little town of San Giovanni when he visited the church of San
Lorenzo. He was shown a niche covered with a sort of trapdoor in the wall of the church. Inside
the niche was an upright human skeleton. The writer examined the skeleton and concluded that
the victim had been walled in alive and suffocated. The writer supposed that the motive had been
revenge. He guessed that the man had been tied securely and then walled in, brick by brick. The
writer also guessed that the men involved were nobles (like Fortunato and Montresor)—no one
else, he figured, could have gotten control of a church to perform the gruesome deed. The year
after this letter was published, Poe wrote his famous revenge story “The Cask of Amontillado.”
MEET THE WRITER - Edgar Allan Poe - A Haunted Life - Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)
was the son of traveling actors. His father deserted the family, and his beautiful young mother
died in a theatrical rooming house in Richmond, Virginia, before Edgar was three years old. The
little boy was taken in as a foster child by the wealthy and childless Allan family of Richmond.
At first, Edgar’s foster parents were pleased with his brilliant scholarship and athletic ability. But
later they became angry at his moodiness and irresponsibility with money. Poe went to the
University of Virginia but dropped out with heavy gambling debts. (John Allan apparently
refused to support him any longer.) Eventually Poe and his foster father split up completely, and
Poe was left penniless. After several failed courtships, Poe married a thirteen-year-old cousin,
Virginia Clemm, and moved to New York City. There, in 1837, they set up house, together with
Virginia’s mother, whom Poe fondly called Muddy. Poe drank excessively at times, and he was
always in need of money. He wrote regularly, however, and had increasing success, although his
unusual poems and stories were mocked by conservative critics. “The Cask of Amontillado” was
published in 1846, during a time when Poe was enduring vicious insults from critics. The story
might have been Poe’s way of getting even not only with hostile critics but also with his foster
father. The Montresor motto is the motto of Scotland; John Allan was Scottish and, like the hated
Fortunato, a businessman and a Mason. Poe’s one refuge in life was threatened when Virginia
became ill with tuberculosis. (Almost 25 percent of Americans in the nineteenth century died
from tuberculosis.) When she died, Poe broke down completely. Two years later he was found
delirious in a tavern in Baltimore on a rainy election day. The great master of horror died a few
days later.
Father of the Modern Detective Story: Poe is credited with being the first to write stories that
later became known as detective stories. Many of today’s most popular writers, like Stephen
King, say that Poe was their inspiration to become a writer.