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1. Name :- Gohil Devangiba Aniruddhsinh
Roll No. :- 14
Email Id :- devangibagohil786@gamil.com
Paper No. :- 10 (The American Literature)
Topic :- Literary Analysis Of “The Cask
Amontillado
Submitted To :- Department Of English
M.K.B.University

2. Edgar Allan Poe
•Born on January 19, 1809, in Boston.
•American writer, editor, and literary critic.
•Best known for his poetry and short stories,
particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre.
•Considered as the inventor of the detective fiction
genre.
•The first well-known American writer tried to earn
a living through writing alone.
•He switched his focus to prose and spent the next
several years working for literary journals and
periodicals, becoming known for his own style of
literary criticism.
•His works influenced literature in the United States
and around the world, as well as in specialized
fields, such as cosmology and cryptography.
•Best known fiction works are GOTHIC.

3. Theories and Approaches
Psychoanalytic Criticism :-
is an approach of critical thought that follows “how and why
people behave the way they do”, can focus on one or more than
one aspect of a literary work by focusing on the author, a specific
character, the literary text, and even the audience that is reading
the text.
 In the “The Cask of Amontillado”. Montresor’s decision to
ultimately box in a living person as an act of revenge by using a
cask of wine as a lure, to get his friend down into the vaults
where his own family lay.


4. Marxist Criticism
views literary works as reflections of the social institutions from which they
originate.
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is a story of revenge, but it’s
more than just one man seeking justice against another. It is a representation
of Poe’s personal life experiences with the upper-class as well as a symbol
of the nobility versus the increasingly important lower classes.
Whenever a major power begins losing influence, there’s always backlash
and that’s what Montresor represented. In the end, Montresor represents the
dying nobility in the world and how strongly they would fight to keep the
lower classes from rising in status; however, like the scene in the catacombs
where Fortunato and Montresor switch places, the lower classes will
eventually take the place of the nobility.

5. Characters
Montresor
 Vengeful
 Prideful
Unreliable
Manipulative
Fortunato
Prideful
Gullible
Alcoholic
Incensitive

6. Setting
Carnival vs catacombs
Carnival
 A time for parties, feasts, parades
and costumes.
Perfect setting for Montresor and
Fortunato to leave unnoticed because
they are dressed up and everyone
around is wasted.
The carnival represents a
celebration of freedom (from lent).
Catacombs
Underground cemetery.
Perfect setting for Montresor to
murder Fortunato because no one
was home.
Represents the opposite of
freedom and Fortunato's fate.

7. symbolism
Symbol of Revenge
"Nemo me impune lacessit" = No one
provokes me with impunity
So who's the serpent and who's the
foot?
Fortunato is the serpent biting on
Montresor's heel. This represents the
"insult" caused by Fortunato on
Montresor, and why he seeks revenge
which is represented by the heel
crushing the serpent's head.
Symbol of Death
Let's break down the title "The Cask of
Amontillado":-
The meaning of cask is a barrel like
container to store beverages, usually
alcoholic. "Cask" is also the root word in
casket.
The Spanish verb "amontinallar" means
"collected in a pile or "gathered in a mount."
The casket of death/pile of bones.

8. Irony
Fortunato's Name:- His name means
fortunate one in Italian, but he is
anything but fortunate when he is buried
alive in the catacombs.
Fortunato's Costume:- He's dressed as
a court jester, which contrasts his
horrible fate
Montresor referring to Fortunato as
"my friend.“
While in the catacombs, the two
characters drink to a "long life".

9. POINT OF VIEW
The Point of View used in this short
story is the First Person - The story
is told by the protagonist or one of
the characters who interacts closely
with the protagonist or other
characters (using pronouns I, me,
we, etc). The reader sees the story
through this person's eyes as he/she
experiences it and only knows what
he/she knows or feels.

10. Ek Villain

11. Conclusion
The short story is about Montresor as he exacts his
revenge against Fortunato for an unnamed insult. Poe
uses vengeful and retaliatory nature of Montresor as a
symbol of a real world upper-class that will fight in
order to keep the power and status.
The first paragraph of the story delineates the conflict
between the characters arising from their social roles.
The conflict between the social roles may have come
from Poe’s personal experience with social classes.

12. Works cited
Poe, Edgar Allan. Edgar Allan Poe, complete tales and poems. Edison, NJ.:
Castle Books, 2001. Print.
"The Cask of Amontillado Theme of Foolishness and Folly." Shmoop:
Homework Help, Teacher Resources, Test Prep. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.
<http://www.shmoop.com/cask-of-amontillado/foolishness-folly-theme.html>.
"The Cask of Amontillado - Edgar Allen Poe [NOOK Book]." Barnes &
Noble. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.
<http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-cask-of-amontillado-edgar-allen-
poe-edgar-allan-poe/1110113285>.