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Mood and Suspense in 'The Cask of Amontillado'

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Navneet Kaur QHST ELA Section: 03 Date: Nov 23,2017 The " Cask of Amontillado" is a story about revenge. To display revenge in this story, Poe uses mood and suspense to display that revenge can lead to negative intentions. Mood is a feeling that is conveyed to the reader through literary work. Suspense is a state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen. In the “Cask of Amontillado” Poe uses mood and suspense to display that revenge can make you lose your humanity. The first device Poe uses in the story “Cask of Amontillado” is mood. Poe uses mood to analyze the story to show that mankind believes in the necessity of revenge and doing justice by their own hands. One quote that supports this claim is, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (Poe 1). This quote supports the claim because this quote displays that the mood of this story is developed through word choice, dialogue, sensory details, and description. In the first sentence of the quote “A thousand injuries I had suffered” (Poe 1) the author explains in the opening sentence, it gives a justification of the actions of Fortunato. The narrator of the story, Montresor is talking about his side of the story, by telling the reader that Fortunato has “ventured upon insult”, and crossed the line. The mood of the story “Cask of Amontillado” is dark and suspenseful. The mood of the story is dark and suspenseful because the strength of Montresor hatred for Fortunato is strong. The way Montresor manipulates Fortunato builds a great deal of tension. The mood of the story is dark and suspenseful because while Montresor executing his plan of getting revenge by Fortunato, by killing him, he didn’t feel guilty and not having any mercy on Fortunato. Another quote from the passage that supports the claim is, “We had passed through long walls of piled skeletons, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs. I paused again, and this time I made bold to seize Fortunato by an arm above the elbow” (Poe 3). This quote sets up the mood of the story because the walls of the catacombs are covered with spider webs as they

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