Cask of Amontillado free essay sample

Another occasion where dialogue is used, is when Montresor and Fortunato are talking in the catacombs of the Montresor’s. Fortunato says, â€Å" ‘the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me [Fortunato]. I shall not die of a cough’ † (Poe 211). It is ironic because he is not going to die of a cough, he is going to die because Montresor is going to kill him. Dialogue in which irony is prevalent can be found within the various conversations amongst the characters. For exampleâ€Å" ‘And I [drink] to your long life’ † (Poe 211). Fortunato will not have a long life and Montresor said that on purpose to toy with him. It is ironic because Montresor is going to kill him. The setting of the story is described in depth while Montresor and Fortunato walk. In particular, after first walking in through the catacombs Montresor ironically points out the background of the cavern walls. In â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† Poe starts by stating that the narrator approaches the house of usher on a â€Å"dull, dark and soundless day† (194) giving the reader hints that the story is going to be somewhat dark and eerie. The narrator states the house seems to have â€Å"Absorbed an evil† (Poe150) and at one point even refers to the house as the â€Å"Mansion of gloom† (Poe150) According to American literary critic and poet, George E. Woodberry, the somber landscape whose hues Poe alone knew the secret of; the subtle yet not overwrought sympathy between the mansion and the race that had reared it; the looks, traits, and pursuits of Usher, its representative of what is to come. This story also has elements of foreshadowing that tell the reader from the very beginning that something, also death in this case as well, is going to occur later on in the story. Although death occurs in both stories, the journey towards death is quite different. In â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† Fortunado who is slightly drunk, is lured through the catacombs with the promise of wine, by Montressor who is seeking revenge. The reader is never informed of what Fortunado did to deserve this revenge. In a way it is biased because the reader is led to believe that Fortunado deserves the revenge Montressor is plotting, when he may be simply overreacting. According to Cynthia Bily, English professor at Adrian College, The word for Montresor’s behavior is â€Å"duplicitous. It means that he is concealing his true motives and feelings beneath a deceptive exterior, that he is being two-faced in order to lure Fortunado to his death. Montressor eventually handcuffs him to the wall and builds up the bricks around him eventually suffocating him, which results in his death. Fortunado’s death is a direct result of Montressor’s actions. However, in â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† death comes about in a much more mysterious, supernatural way. The narrator goes to the mansion in the first place to visit his childhood friend Rodrick, who lives alone with his twin sister Madeline. Rodrick is said to be emotionally and physically unwell, and Madeline suffers from catalepsy, and soon dies. The two men entomb her body in a vault where she escapes from a week later. When she escapes she throws herself on usher, and the two die together as the narrator escapes the house before it cracks in two and sinks into the pond that sits before it. The way the two siblings die is unexplainable, there is really no clear cut reason as to how this has occurred and the reader is left to make their own assumptions as to why the two have died mysteriously at the same time. This differs from Fortunado’s death in â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† because the reader is certain that Fortonado’s death is a direct result of Montressor’s revenge. In Conclusion, it is clear that the two short stories â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† and â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† are similar stories in regards to the universal theme of death. From the opening of both stories the details foreshadow that there will be a deadly conflict later on in the story. The aspect of death occurs in both stories, and both stories are told from an unnamed narrator’s point of view in the opening of both works. In â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† it is clear that Montressor killed Fortunado for revenge. But what exactly did Fortunado do that he deserved such a terrible death? Was he really deserving of the punishment he received or had Montressor simply gone mad? The circumstances surrounding both of the deaths in both stories are very troubling. In â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher,† did Madeline and Roderick simply die from unrelated causes at the same time, or was it something much more mysterious resulting in their simultaneous departure?