The Tormented Life of Edgar Allan Poe
“The Short Life” 1809-1849
• Background• Born 1809-1849• His mother died during his
youth and his father abandoned them
• After the death of his grandmother married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia in 1835
• Virginia died in 1847• Died in 1849
• Education of Poe • Entered and dropped from both the University of Virginia and West Point
• Ran into debt and started borrowing money, gambling and getting deeper into debt
• Writing Style of Poe • Wrote in a Gothic Style
• Deep and intense• Explorations of а
world of dream and of nightmare
• In his stories the past is darker, mоrе ominous and oppresses his heroes and heroines
• Poe’s Characters • Many of his characters аrе filled with madness
• Obsessed with the irrational side of the mind
• Famous Works– Short Stories
– Poems
• The Pit and the Pendulum
• The Fall of the House of Usher
• Tell-Tale Heart• The Cask of the
Amontillado• The Masque of the Red
Death
• The Raven• Lenore
The Cask of Amontillado
• Background– The Cask of Amontillado • Published 1846
• One theory for the inspiration for story was a feud Poe had with 2 other poets
• The story was somewhat controversial for focusing his story on a crime with no apparent motive, and a murderer with no apparent remorse
• The Cask of Amontillado– Overview
• The story is narrated by Montresor, who carries a grudge against Fortunato for an offense that is never explained
• Montresor leads a drunken Fortunato through a series of chambers beneath his palazzo
• The Cask of Amontillado– Overview
• Although Fortunato has a horrible cough the promise of a taste of Amontillado spurs him deeper and deeper into the underground
• When the two men reach the last underground chamber, Montresor chains Fortunato to the wall, builds a new wall to seal him in, and leaves him to die
• Literary Focus– Themes and Conflicts
• Revenge• Madness• Deception• Remorse vs. Lack of
Remorse• Pride• Friendship• Power and Respect• Social Clases and
Social Significance within Society
• Literary Focus– Symbols
• Montresor’s Coat of Arms and motto, Nemo me impune lacessit
– Irony• The Usage of a
Trowel
• A foot in a blue background crushing a snake whose fangs are embedded in the foot's heel
• “No one attacks me with impunity” – Both the coat of arms and motto
are representative of Montresor’s lust for revenge
– He will crush Fortunado for the “injuries” he has given
• Fortunado belongs to a secret society called the Freemasons
• Montresor says he is also a mason, but then produces a trowel used for regular masonery work
• Fortunado thinks this action is trivial, but the trowel ends up playing an integral part in his demise .
• Literary Focus– Point of View • Told in the first
person by Montresor
• By presenting the story in the first person, Poe puts the reader at the mercy of an unreliable narrator, a mad man, who decides what to tell and what to leave out.
• Fortunato • Montresor's sworn enemy,
• Fortunato displays no uneasiness in Montresor's company, and is unaware that his friend is plotting against him.
• Fortunato is a proud connoisseur of fine wine
• He is urged on by the chance of sampling some rare Amontillado
• Luchesi • Acquaintance of Montresor's and Fortunato's
• A rival wine expert of Fortunado’s
• Montresor keeps Fortunato on the trail of the Amontillado by threatening to allow Luchesi to sample it first
• Montresor • Holds a grudge against his friend Fortunato, who has committed several unnamed offenses against him
• Wealthy and lives in a palazzo
• Has planned murder of Fortunado
• Telling the story fifty years after it has taken place he reveals no regret for his actions
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