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 1AMWR 2; BPFB 3; BYA 5, 11; CDALB
1640-1865; CMW 4; DA; DAS; DABDAC; 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; SUFWTUS; WP; WYA
Poet of Titchfield Street, The
See Pound, Ezra (Weston Loomis)
Pohl, Frederik 1919CLC 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 demonstrated a brilliant command of this technique—often eliciting "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 narrator Montresor and the wine connoisseur Fortunate. As
the story begins, Montresor plots complete and perfect
revenge for "the thousand injuries" instigated by Fortunato, who once again has insulted him, although the particulars 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 Fortunato 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 Themess
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 prospective victim. The originality of Poe's treatment is well illustrated
by his unconventional handling 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 punish, 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, respected, admired, beloved," and he has a title (his wife is
"Lady"); his status makes the injury more serious. Fortunato's taunt is our first hint about the nature of this longstanding 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 comprehend 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 conceives of Fortunato's death as an "immolation," a sacrificial act in which Montresor himself assumes a perverted
priestly function. The vaults and the wine become sacramental 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 immolation 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 reversed 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 "Amontillado!" 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 parallel 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 Montresor'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 Godless mockery is so profoundly irrational that it drives him
mad. The only further sound which Montresor can provoke from the crypt is "a jingling of the bells"; Fortunato
has escaped to the haven of the fool. By his silence and
SHORT STORY CRITICISM,
Vol. 35
"THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO"
Studies Poe's method of first-person narration in "The
cask of Amontillado."
Jacobs, "A Possible Debt to Cooper," Poe Studies, 9 (June 1976),
23.
5
Kennedy, J. Gerald. "Revenge and Silence: The Foreclosure
of Language." In his Poe, Death, and the Life of Writing,
pp. 114-44. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1987.
Analyzes the linguistic elements of the revenge theme
in Poe's story.
Edward Craney Jacobs, "A Possible Dept to Cooper," p. 23.
Marvin Felheim, Sam Moon, and Donald Pearce; "The Cask of
Amontillado,'" Notes and Queries, NS 1 (October 1954), 447-49.
6
7 Francis B. Dedmond, "'The Cask of Amontillado' and the 'War
of the Literati,'" Modern Language Quarterly, 15 (June 1954),
137-46.
Kirkham, E. Bruce. "Poe's 'Cask of Amontillado' and John
Montresor." Poe Studies 20, No. 1 (June 1987): 23.
Suggests biographical sources for Poe's use of the
Montresor name.
FURTHER READING
Kishel, Joseph H. "Poe's 'The Cask of Amontillado'." The
Explicator 41, No. 1 (Fall 1982): 30.
Identifies Montresor's economic motives from
Fortunato's last words, which are a beggar's traditional
cry for alms.
Bales, Kent. "Poetic Justice in 'The Cask of Amontillado'."
Poe Studies 5, No. 2 (December 1972): 51.
Comments on multiple levels of irony in the tale from
a Protestant viewpoint.
Kozikowski, Stanley J. "A Reconsideration of Poe's "The
Cask of Amontillado'." American
Transcendental
Quarterly, No. 39 (Summer 1978): 269-80.
Evaluates historical and psychological readings of the
tale's ironic effects, revealing the overarching irony of
Poe's narrative skill.
Benton, Richard P. "Poe's 'The Cask' and the 'White
Webwork Which Gleams'." Studies in Short Fiction 28,
No. 2 (Spring 1991): 183-94.
Addresses the implications of the nitre on the walls
of Montresor's catacombs.
Levine, Stuart. "Horror, Beauty and Involvement." In his
Edgar Poe: Seer and Craftsman, pp. 77-92. Deland, Fla.:
Everett/Edwards, 1972.
Examines Poe's mythic use of horror as the central
image of "The Cask of Amontillado."
Bonaparte, Marie. "The Masquerades." In her The Life
and Works of Edgar Allan Poe: A Psycho-analytic
Interpretation, pp. 505-24. London: Imago Publishing Co.,
1949.
Outlines Poe's oedipal rivalry in the context of the
tale, supposing that Poe "fully vented" his aggression
against a suspected romantic rival.
Meyers, Jeffrey. "Fordham and Literary Quarrels, 18461847." In his Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy, pp.
190-212. New York: Charles Scnbner's Sons, 1992.
Recounts the plot of "The Cask of Amontillado" and
events contemporaneous to its composition.
Bums, Shannon. '"The Cask of Amontillado': Montresor's
Revenge." Poe Studies 7, No. 1 (June 1974): 25.
Explains the Italian tradition of revenge, concluding
that the tale's final line is addressed to Montresor's
ancestors.
Pribek, Thomas. "The Serpent and the Heel." Poe Studies
20, No. 1 (June 1987): 22-3.
Detects a pattern of role reversal between avenger
and victim in Poe's story.
Cervo, Nathan. "Poe's 'The Cask of Amontillado'." The
Explicator 51, No. 3 (Spring 1993): 155-56.
Identifies Montresor's family motto as the Scottish
national motto, linking it to the tale's structure.
Punter, David. "Romanticism and the Unconscious:
Amontillado." In his The Romantic Unconscious: A Study
in Narcissism and Patriarchy, pp. 150-54. New York:
Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1989.
Treats "Cask" as a structure of puns that revolve
around romantic notions of revenge.
Current-Garcia, Eugene. "Poe's Short Fiction." In his The
American Short Story before 1850: A Critical History, pp.
59-83. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985.
Argues that Poe's tale exemplifies his theory of short
fiction.
Scherting, Jack. "Poe's 'The Cask of Amontillado': A
Source for Twain's 'The Man That Corrupted
Hadleyburg'." The Mark Twain Journal XVI, No. 2 (Summer 1972): 18-19.
Draws parallels between the two stories.
Hoffman, Daniel. "Murder!" In his Poe Poe Poe Poe, pp.
218-25. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co., 1972.
Discusses
psychoanalytic implications of the
doppelganger aspect of "The Cask of Amontillado,"
specifically Poe's relation to the narrator.
Voller, Jack G. "Allegory and Fantasy: The Short Fiction
of Hawthorne and Poe." In his The Supernatural Sublime:
The Metaphysics of Terror in Anglo-American Romanticism, pp. 209-39. Dekalb: Northern Illinois University Press,
1994.
Kempton, Kenneth Payson. "T as Protagonist." In his
The Short Story, pp. 82-91. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 1947.
353