Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The Cask of Amontillado

While reading The Cask of Amontillado, a few questions arose to me. My first question is what made Poe want to write a story like this? I also wondered why did he name the guy Fortunato which sounds like fortune when the guy dies in the end? That is not a fortune I would like to inherit. I didn't understand why a jester would be so influenced by such a rich and royal habit of wine collecting. Were they even jesters or did they just dress like them? I also didn't understand why the man killed Fortunato to begin with. Weren't they friends? If he was going to kill him all along why did he keep asking him to go back? Did he feel guilty? Or was he trying to seem worried so Fortunato wouldn't suspect anything? I really didn't understand this story, but I did like the way it was written. It was almost poetic. But I like a story where I don't have to play twenty questions just to understand it though.

1 comment:

liana.m.robert said...

While reading the story I got the impression that there was a carnival or some type of celebration going on during the time of Fortunato's death, which would explian why he was dressed up as a Jester. The narrator never said that he was jealous of Fortunato but I feel that that is why he killed him, because in the beggining he states, "It must be understood that niether by word nor deed had I given Fortunato causen to doubt my good will - in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared," (124) I thought that this implied Fortunato was very successful and well liked, and that the Narrator was maybe less respected or successful. Maybe he felt he needed some type of affection or consideration from Fortunato and failed to recieve it which made his envy grow. As far as everything else goes, the only words I can think of to descrbe Edgar Allen Poes writing style is creepy, and dark. This may be the reason why he decided to call the character Fortunato, to add to the gloomy irony that always seems to make it's way into his stories.