Transcript Document

The Cask of
Amontillado
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
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a poet, short-story writer, editor and
literary critic
Contributing greatly to the genres of
horror and science fiction, Poe is
now considered the father of the
modern detective story
first gained critical acclaim in France
and England, later in America
Poe’s Life (1809-1849)
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Early life: adopted by John Allan at 3
Education: University of Virginia (1826-27)
Serving the army: gambling debts; 1827-29
Stay at West Point: 1830-31
Editor and Writer: staff member of magazines
Marriage: married his 13-year-old cousin in 1836
Death: depression, suicide (1848), alcoholism
(1849)
Literary Works
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Poem
Short story
fiction
Essay
Literary criticism
Short Story
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Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840)
The Black Cat
The Cask of Amontillado
The Fall of the House of Usher
Ligeia
The Masque of the Red Death
The Purloined Letter
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Categories of Poe’s Short Stories
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Horror story
Science fiction
Detective story
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psychologically thrilling tale
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Poetry
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The Raven (1845)
Annabel Lee (1849)
To Helen (1848)
Sonnet—To Science
…
Literary Criticism
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Review of Twice-Told Tales (1842)
- the unity of effect（单一效果）
- completed at one sitting（一口气读完）
“Philosophy of Composition” (1846)
“The Poetic Principle” (1850)
The Cask of Amontillado
The Cask of Amontillado
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Place
- a town in Italy
Time
- dusk/evening of a Carnival season
Character
- Montresor, Fortunato
Theme
- revenge, death
Atmosphere
- gloomy, horrible, etc.
Language: not easy
Plot Summary
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The story is narrated by Montresor, the
protagonist, who has sworn to repay another
Italian nobleman named Fortunato for many
insults to the protagonist. Montresor tricks
Fortunato into entering the Montresor vaults on
the excuse of asking Fortunato’s opinion of a cask
of wine. When the two men reach the last
underground niche（壁龛）, Montresor chains
Fortunato to the wall, builds a new wall to seal
him in, and leaves him to die.
Question 1
Who is the narrator?
Montresor, a man from an old and
important Italian noble family who is also
the protagonist of the story.
 What wrong does he want to redress?
- The thousands of injuries and insults
Fortunato inflicts upon him (para 1).
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Question 2
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What is the pretext he uses to lure
Fortunato to his wine cellar?
- That he has doubts about the received
pipe of Amontillado and needs to consult
an expert like Fortunato to judge if it is
worth the paid price (para 4 – 6, p. 12).
Question 3
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What happens to Fortunato in the end?
- He was lured into a niche of the
underground catacombs of the Montreso
family mansion and walled in it by Montreso.
He probably had choked to death for the
lack of air in it.
Question 4
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Describe briefly how Poe characterizes Montresor
and Fortunato as contrasts?
Montresor – inwardly calculating / scheming,
insidious, pretending humility, excessively
revengeful, smart, cunning…
Fortunato – outwardly arrogant, stupidly selfconceited, looking down upon Montreso, not
counting Montreso as worth much notice
Unity of Effect
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What effect does the story achieve?
By what devices has the story achieved the
effect?
Horror
Unity of effect
Elements contributing to the effect of
horror
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Setting: time and place at which the story is
set
Characters
Symbols (signifying sth. beyond itself) of
death
Narrative mode
Irony
Plot and structure
Setting
around dusk
 one evening during the carnival season
 in the damp, dark, cold and foul catacombs
with piled bones around the walls
- long winding staircases, white web-work,
cavern walls, deep crypt, piled skeletons
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Characters
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both the protagonists have very serious
flaws in their character:
- Fortunato’s self-conceitedness
- Montresor’s insidiousness and
unfathomable desire of revenge (e.g. his
family’s coat of arms and its motto: Nemo
me impune lacessit.) (ll. 6-9, p. 14)
Symbols of Death
darkness of the catacombs and the black
color of M’s mask
 human skeletons / remains
 Montresor’s costume
- “the mask of black silk”, “roquelaire”,
“trowel”( a changed form of “scythe”)
- Death (死神) is often shown in pictures as a
human skeleton (骷髅) in black knee-length
cloak（黑袍）with a scythe（大镰刀）in hand.
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Death – Grim
Reaper
Narrative mode
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First-person-criminal narrator - from Montresor,
a murderer’s point of view to intensify the effect
of moral shock and horror.
- By telling the story from M.’s point of view, Poe
forces the reader to look and delve into the
inner workings of a sinister murderer’s mind: his
insane pursuit of revenge, his incredibly cruel
scheme of taking another person’s life.
Plot and structure
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Short narration and quick rhythm: every
word, phrase and detail help achieve the
desired effect of the whole story
Premature burial motif: suffocation, life-indeath
Irony 反讽
a difference between what is asserted / expected /
appears and what is actually the case
 Dramatic irony: the audience/reader shares with
the author knowledge of which a character is
ignorant, as for example, in Sophocles’ Oedipus.
 Verbal irony: a statement in which the implicit
meaning intended by the speaker differs from that
which he ostensibly asserts, as for example, in
the opening sentence of Jane Austen’s Pride and
Prejudice, “It is a truth universally acknowledged
that a single man in possession of a good fortune
must be in want of a wife.”
Dramatic irony 戏剧性反讽
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We become painfully aware of a danger waiting for
Fortunato while he unknowingly continues his descent
into the catacombs in pursuit of the Amontillado, taking
Montreso as a friend who pretentiously smiles to him,
saying “good” as a comment on Montreso’s coat of arms
and motto, insisting on going ahead in spite of Montreso’s
seeming dissuasion.
Effect
– intensify fear and hence horror effect
Verbal irony 词语反讽
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Fortunato’s name
Forunato’s clothes – a jester costume (a jester 弄臣，小丑 is
a joker or fool, ridiculously dressed in motley like a
harlequin and wearing a belled cap)
“My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met.”
Montreso’s apparent concern with Fortunato’s health.
Montreso says he is a mason.
calling Fortunato “noble” (p. 16)
Effect – intensify the horror effect
- set off Montreso’s insidiousness
- intensify the tragic sense of Fortunato’s destiny
Why do we like horror tales?
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Aristotle: a catharsis of fear and pity.净化
论（悲剧的快感）
Sigmund Freud: “blowing off steam”（发
泄）; sublimation （升华）
Assignments
Review 序言（pp.1-5）
 Read Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”
closely and think about
1. What is the significance of the setting?
2. What dramatic change happens to Goodman
Brown? Why the change?
3. What is the theme of the story?
4. What are some of the major symbols?
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Assignments
Review 序言(pp. 1-5)
 Read Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” (pp.20-24) ;
 Prepare discussion questions on p. 24.
 Find the major argument points of the essay.
 Identify two passages that you find amazing /
inspiring or confusing / puzzling.
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