The Tormented Life of Edgar Allan Poe

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The Tormented Life of Edgar Allan Poe
The Nightmarish Mind of Edgar Allan Poe

• The Short Life 1809-1849

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• 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

• Background

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• 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

• Education of Poe

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• Wrote in a Gothic Style
• Deep and intense
• Explorations of ? world of dream and of nightmare
• In his stories the past is darker, m?r? ominous
  and oppresses his heroes and heroines

• Writing Style of Poe

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• Poes Characters

• Many of his characters ?r? filled with madness
• Obsessed with the irrational side of the mind

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• 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

• Famous Works
• Short Stories
• Poems

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The Cask of Amontillado
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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• Literary Focus
• Symbols
• Montresors 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 Montresors 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 .

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• 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.

• Literary Focus
• Point of View

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• 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

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• Luchesi

• Acquaintance of Montresor's and Fortunato's
• A rival wine expert of Fortunados
• Montresor keeps Fortunato on the trail of the
  Amontillado by threatening to allow Luchesi to
  sample it first

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• 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