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The Cask of Amontillado - Edgar Allan Poe - Coggle Diagram
The Cask of Amontillado - Edgar Allan Poe
Character List
Old Swede
Along with the narrator, the only survivor of the tale’s first hurricane. The Old Swede’s experience of the tragic voyage is purely physical, not intellectual like the narrator’s. His death signals the metaphoric importance of the voyage as a quest for knowledge.
Lady Ligeia
The darkly beautiful and learned first wife of the narrator, Ligeia is a woman who returns from the grave. After dying from a mysterious illness, Ligeia haunts her husband and his new bride, becoming part of the Gothic decorations of their bridal chamber.
Lady Rowena
The blonde second wife of the narrator. Rowena’s cold English character contrasts with Ligeia’s sensual, Germanic romanticism. Ligeia punishes Rowena’s lack of affection for the narrator by haunting the bridal chamber and dooming their marriage
Roderick Usher
The owner of the mansion and last male in the Usher line. Roderick functions as a doppelganger, or character double, for his twin sister, Madeline. He represents the mind to her body and suffers from the mental counterpart of her physical illness.
Madeline Usher
Roderick’s twin sister and victim of catalepsy, a mysterious incapacitating illness. Because the narrator is surprised to discover that Madeline is a twin, she signals the narrator’s outsider relationship to the house of Usher.
C. Auguste Dupin
A Parisian crime solver. Dupin discovers the truth behind the violent murders of two women after the Paris police arrest the wrong man. He employs psychological analysis and intuition and considers possibilities not imagined by the police to conclude that the murders were committed by an Ourang-Outang.
Themes
Love and Hate
Self vs. Alter Ego
The Power of the Dead over the Living
Setting
Place
Italy: During the carnival season, but the exact year and location are left unspecified. The story's unnamed narrator, Montresor, is a member of a wealthy Italian family who seeks revenge against his friend Fortunato. Montresor leads Fortunato into the catacombs beneath his palazzo, where he intends to carry out his plan for the revenge
Plot
Exposition: During Carnival in Italy, Montresor runs into Fortunato, and offers to share a very nice bottle of Amontillado wine with him. However, this bottle is in his catacombs. It is late at night and Fortunato sees ill.
Conflict: The narrator, Montresor, claims that Fortunato has gravely insulted him, and is plotting to get his revenge. Although, he doesn't tell the reader what Fortunato has done, he makes it known that it was unforgivable.
Rising Action: Montresor lures Fortunato down into the dark and enne wine vault, As suspense builds, Montresor keeps asking if Fortunato would like to turn back because hetes ill, Fortunato continues to drink wine to ease his cough.
Climax: When they reach their destination, there is no Amontillado, but here is a whole in the wall. Montresor shackles Fortunato inside and begins to seal up the wall with bricks.
Falling Action: As the last few bricks are laid, Fortunato screams for Montresor t enacted his revenge. but it is too late. Montresor has enacted his revenge.
Resolution: Montresor walks away with only the sound of Fortunato's jing ter bells echoing in the tomb. He replaces the bones of the crypt. In the end, he claims that no one disturbed them for 50years; he has gotten away with his plot!
Moral Values
The story underscores
the importance of trust and the consequences of betrayal.
Through Montresor's deceitful actions towards Fortunato, Poe emphasizes the significance of maintaining trust and the detrimental impact of breaching that trust. This serves as a reminder of the importance of honesty and integrity in interpersonal relationships.
"The Cask of Amontillado"
encourages reflection on the complexities of human nature
, urging readers to contemplate the implications of allowing darker impulses to govern one's actions. The story serves as a reminder of the potential for malevolence that resides within each individual and warns against succumbing to the destructive tendencies that can lead to irreversible consequences.