The Cask Of Amontillado Symbolism Essay

572 Words3 Pages
The setting is an essential element for the author to dictate the tone of the story and portray the story. Without it, the motives of the characters, atmosphere, and mood of the story are lost. The author can also use the setting to emphasize certain events of a story by contrasting the setting with the event, as used by Edgar Allan Poe in “The Cask of Amontillado.” Edgar Allan Poe creates a sharp contrast by using the festive event of carnival with the gruesome murder occuring below, within the catacombs. Montresor, the protagonist, kills Fortunato by chaining him to a wall and builds a brick wall in front of him, encasing him in the catacombs. As aforementioned,“The Cask of Amontillado” takes place during carnival season, an Italian event that lasts for two weeks and ends on Shrove Tuesday. Italians celebrate carnival season with events such as dressing up, wearing elaborate masks, masquerades, and street performances. With all these festivities occurring, this is the perfect time to commit murder, due to the loud noises caused from excitement, along with the costumes providing a guise to hide people’s…show more content…
Montresor predicted that Fortunato will eventually scream for help, as characterized by “I reapproached the wall; I replied to the yells of him who clamoured.” The choice of placing Fortunato’s body within a catacomb, is ingenious because if his men look for him inside Montresor’s catacomb and see bones, they will not think much of it due to it being a burial ground. Montresor’s account of future scenarios only emphasizes his scrupulous planning to the premditated muder of Fortunato. On the other hand, if the story took place in a different time period or location, the discovery of Fortunato’s death can occur, revealing Montresor to be guilty, making it no longer be the perfect
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