The Cask of Amontillado
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Related e |
Featured: |
"The Cask of Amontillado" (sometimes spelled "The Casque of Amontillado") is a short story, written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book.
The story is set in a nameless European city in an unspecified year (possibly sometime during the eighteenth century) and concerns the deadly revenge taken by the narrator (Montresor) on a friend (Fortunato) whom he claims has insulted him. Like several of Poe's stories, and in keeping with the 19th century fascination with the subject, the narrative revolves around a person being buried alive, or more specifically, by immurement.
As in "The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart," Poe conveys the story through the murderer's perspective.
The remorseless, calculating Italian aristocrat Montresor thinks and behaves very much like a psychopathic personality. His aristocratic pride and bearing, as well as his concern for preserving and vindicating his reputation, are reminiscent of the duke in Browning's poem, "My Last Duchess".