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