Critical analysis of the cask of amontillado 038 quot in the cask of amontillado, edgar allan poe uses several different artistic choices in the construction of the story. He manipulates the story to be the way he wants it to be by using the point of view of the narrator, the setting, and a common monotonous sentiment throughout. Poe is successful in maintaining a spirit of perverseness that is prevalent in most of his works. The point of view plays a very important role in influencing the reader's perception of the story. The first line of the story is a good example of how the narrator attempts to bring the reader to his side right from the start. The thousand injuries of fortunato i had borne as i best could, but when he ventured upon insult i vowed revenge 231. Montresor, the narrator of the story, immediately tries to win the reader to his side by telling him that fortunato has ventured upon insult, and apparently crossed over the line.

This attempt is clever, but the reader never gets a sense of what fortunato has actually done to the narrator. This fact alone raises the question in my mind as to whether fortunato has really insulted montresor, or whether montresor is creating it in his own mind. The point of view of the story can also affect the emotional attachment that the reader gets, or fails to get in this case, for a given character.

When a reader is involved in a story, the point of view from where the story is being told is crucial to the feelings the reader has. In other words, the reader only knows what montresor tells him, or what he can infer from the story. This being the case, it is difficult for the reader to develop any liking for another character unless montresor describes him or him in a favorable way. Montresor begins putting down fortunato in the reader's mind with the first line of the story, when he ventured upon insult i vowed revenge 231. This puts fortunato at a major disadvantage in the fight for the reader's liking, and ultimately the fight for his life. As in most poe stories, the narrator tries to steer the reader away from seeing the perverseness of his actions.

In the cask of amontillado, montresor tries to convince the reader that walling up fortunato is his way making himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong 231. In reality, poe tells the story from montresor's point of view in order to increase the astonishment and perverseness that the reader feels when reading the story. There are two primary settings in the cask of amontillado, the carnival and the catacombs. There are several reasons that make the carnival the ideal setting for poe to lure fortunato away. It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that i encountered my friend 231.

This sentence contains two important details as to why the carnival is a perfect setting for montresor's undertakings. The first is that it is dusk, which makes it harder for people at the carnival to notice what is happening, and also adds some gloom to the story. The second and most important detail, is that the carnival is a scene of supreme madness. Fortunato, along with most others at the carnival, has likely been drinking most of the day, is relaxed, and more likely to disappear with montresor on a quest into the dark catacombs than he would be on a normal day. The excessive warmth, that fortunato greets montresor with even further proves his intoxication and relaxed state.

Poe's descriptive setting is an asset to the appeal of the story, particularly when the story proceeds to the catacombs. We came at length to the foot of the descent, and stood together on the damp ground of the catacombs of the montresors 233. Descriptions such as this, are a very distinct characteristic of poe stories, and are one of his greatest strengths. His descriptions allow the reader to put themselves in the story and get the same feeling as the characters.

In this example, the reader subconsciously puts himself in fortunato's position, walking along with a madman in the catacombs of montresors, not knowing your fate. The only difference in this case is that the reader has a better sense of fortunato's fate than he does. Besides using it as appeal to continue reading a story, poe also uses the setting in symbolic ways as well. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones is symbolic of what fortunato's bones will someday look like after he is walled up in the catacomb.