The Cask of Amontillado

The Cask of Amontillado: In what ways is “The Cask of Amontillado” a Gothic story? Give at least two elements of Gothic literature and give an example of each from the story…

The Cask of Amontillado

Graded Assignment
Honors Project 2: “The Cask of Amontillado”
Read “The Cask of Amontillado,” and complete the online lesson. Complete this assignment, and submit it to your teacher by the due date for credit. Use the project time line to pace your work on this project.
Total score: _ of 50 points (Score for Question 1: of 20 points)
In what ways is “The Cask of Amontillado” a Gothic story? Give at least two elements of Gothic literature and give an example of each from the story.
Answer:
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(Score for Question 2: _ of 30 points)
The narrator in “The Cask of Amontillado” is unreliable and cannot be trusted. How does the unreliable narrator contribute to the element of suspense in the story?
Answer:
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The Cask of Amontillado
In what ways is “The Cask of Amontillado” a Gothic story? Give at least two elements of Gothic literature and give an example of each from the story.
“The Cask of Amontillado” is a definitive Gothic story as it encompasses some Gothic themes like murder, which is an overlying dark leitmotif in all. It also presents an actual “human” motive for murder. The story uses suspense and mystery in its conditions and settings, which create some psychological terror. Suspense and mystery in the scene are depicted in the graveyard and out of it. When catacombs states that they passed through a low arches range, passed on, descended on it, and then arrived at a deep crypt where at its remote end, the walls got lined up with human remains (Poe, 2008).
Moreover, the protagonist of the story, Montresor, seemed to be fanatical about murdering Fortunato, his enemy owing to Montresor’s perception of Fortunato enduring injuries to him. He claims that he will smile on Fortunato’s face as Montresor continues to plan on his enemy’s ultimate demise. The story depicts Montresor’s purpose, whereas Fortunato is entirely not aware of it. It continues to create an atmosphere full of horror, mystery, and suspense.

The narrator in “The Cask of Amontillado” is unreliable and cannot be trusted. How does the unreliable narrator contribute to the element of suspense in the story?
As the narrator, Montresor is quite unreliable as he contributes to the suspense element in the story when he appears friendly, yet he has some underlying conniving, sneaky ways. He contributes to suspense when the narrator plays on his enemy, Fortunato, who is drunk and weak, making Fortunato vulnerable and somehow helpless (Poe, 2008). Moreover, he is unreliable since he has a biased opinion about Fortunato. He felt that Fortunato wronged him greatly, yet the exact reason why he believes that Fortunato did him wrong is never mentioned clearly throughout the story. He cannot be trusted for being a murderer, and the sections in which he says are true cannot be entirely be trusted. At a point, he says that he feels guilt for killing, but he denies it at the same time. All these make Montresor an unreliable narrator.

References
Poe, E. A. (2008). The cask of Amontillado. The Creative Company.