Carnival Season in Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”

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Axelrod-Sokolov, M. (2018). Madness in fiction: Literary essays from Poe to Fowles. Palgrave Macmillan.

In this monograph, the author explores the depiction of madness in literary works and specifically Poe’s “The cask of amontillado.” He makes several observations that are particularly important for analyzing the context of the carnival season with the short story. On the one hand, the author discusses Fortunato’s motley costume in detail and points to the symbolism of the jester image in Tarot cards. On the other hand, it demonstrates that Fortunato’s proclaimed connoisseurship of wine is nothing but a façade, proving him to be a fool in substance as well as image. As such, this source may be used to demonstrate how the carnival season, with its obligation to dress up, brings out the fool aspect of Fortunato’s persona.

Büyükkarcı, O. (2021). Is it the door through death what scares us? An analysis of The cask of amontillado between semiotics and narratology interface. Journal of Narrative and Language, 9(16), 34-56.

This article in a scholarly journal offers a semantic analysis of ‘The cask of amontillado.’ Among other things, it pays particular attention to the use of binary oppositions in structuring physical space throughout the narrative. In particular, the author focuses on the juxtaposition of the carnival above ground, which is characterized by open spaces, life, and joy, and the damp catacombs below, which are a claustrophobic domain of death. Considering this, one may use this source to discuss how choosing the carnival season for the story’s setting and context enables Poe to craft a particularly impactful contrast between different stages of the narrative.

Elhefnawy, N. (2018). Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The cask of amontillado.’ The Explicator, 76(2), 103-105.

This article in a scholarly journal discusses ‘The cask of amontillado’ as a tale of a perfect murder. The author focuses explicitly on the pains that the narrator goes through to ensure that his gruesome revenge against Fortunato remains an unsolvable case. The article provides a particularly important observation when noting that, although the reader knows of Montresor’s motive since the story’s first sentence, Fortunato is completely oblivious of the former’s hatred and even friendly toward Montresor. As such, this source may also be used to demonstrate how the fool aspect of Fortunato’s personality manifests clearly within the appropriate setting of the carnival season.

Person, L. S. (2019). Outing the perverse: Poe’s false confessionals. In J. G. Kennedy & S. Peeples (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of Edgar Allan Poe (pp. 252-268). Oxford UP.

This chapter in the scholarly monograph explores the motivation behind the narrator’s confession in some of Poe’s stories and, in particular, the element of manipulation – both within the narrative and one the meta-level. The author spends much time demonstrating how Montresor’s approach to exacting his revenge against Fortunato becomes a masterpiece of manipulation. These observations acquire a special significance in the light of the titular cask of amontillado, which impresses Fortunato specifically because it would be so hard to acquire one of these during the carnival season. Thus, one may use this source to demonstrate how the context of the carnival season enables Montresor to manipulate hapless Fortunato more efficiently and lure the latter into the trap.

Saxton, A. (2017). The devil’s in the details: A characterization of Montresor in Poe’s ‘The cask of amontillado.’ Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism, 10(1), 137-145.

This article in a scholarly journal analyzes the protagonist of Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ through the lens of Christian mythology. The author focuses specific attention on Montresor’s family crest, which depicts a serpent biting back the golden foot that attempts to crush it. According to the article, the serpent, especially considering its connotations in Christian culture, is most likely an allegorical representation of the devil with all associated traits from manipulation to unrelenting hatred toward one’s betters. With this in mind, one may use this source to discuss how the carnival season brings out the devil aspect of Montresor, just as it does with the fool aspect of Fortunato.

References

Axelrod-Sokolov, M. (2018). Madness in fiction: Literary essays from Poe to Fowles. Palgrave Macmillan.

Elhefnawy, N. (2018). Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The cask of amontillado.’ The Explicator, 76(2), 103-105.

Person, L. S. (2019). Outing the perverse: Poe’s false confessionals. In J. G. Kennedy & S. Peeples (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of Edgar Allan Poe (pp. 252-268). Oxford UP.

Saxton, A. (2017). The devil’s in the details: A characterization of Montresor in Poe’s ‘The cask of amontillado.’ Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism, 10(1), 137-145.

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Carnival Season in Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”

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