1、About the Author and His WritingUnderstanding the Text Theme Characterization Language and Writing styleQuestions for Further ThinkingFollow-Up Assignment Edgar Allan Poe(1809 1849):an American poet,novelist,short story writer,essayist,playwright,editor,literary critic and a leading American Romanti
2、cist.Best known for his poetry and short stories,particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre,Poe was one of the countrys earliest practitioners of the short story and is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging g
3、enre of science fiction.He was the first well-known American writer who tried to earn a living through writing alone,but this engaged him into a financially difficult life and career.He is one of the first American authors of the 19th century to become more popularin Europe than in the United States
4、 and particularly respected in France,in part due to early translations by Charles Baudelaire whose translations became definitive renditions of Poes work throughout Europe.As a literary critic,he has the reputation of being a“tomahawk man”.Fellow critic James Russell Lowell called him“the most disc
5、riminating,philosophical,and fearless critic upon imaginative works who has written in America”,which suggest rhetorically that he occasionally used prussic acid instead of ink.Many of Poes short stories have been adapted into films,and Poe himself also has appeared as a fictionalized character in t
6、he movies,often representing the“mad genius”or“tormented artist”and exploiting his personal struggles.Many such depictions also blend in with characters from his stories,suggesting Poe and his characters share identities.On October 3,1849,Poe was found on the streets of Baltimore delirious,he was ta
7、ken to the Washington Medical College,where he died on Sunday,October 7,1849.All of his medical records,including his death certificate,have been lost.Newspapers at the time reported Poes death as“congestion of the brain”or“cerebral inflammation”,common euphemisms for deaths from disreputable causes
8、 such as alcoholism.But the actual cause of his death remains a mystery.“The Murders in the Rue Morgue”“Morella”“The Fall of the House of Usher”“Ligeia”“Metzengerstein”“Berenice”“The Black Cat”“The cask of Amontillado”“The Mystery of Marie Roget”“The Gold Bug”“The Purloined Letter”Poe s best known f
9、iction works are Gothic,a genre he followed to appease the public taste.In his Gothic stories,he first destabilizes the reader by using unreliable narrators:madmen and liars,initially rational men who have their rationalism thoroughly subverted,men who by all commonsensical standards be dead.Poes Ge
10、nre In Poes stories,the source of mystery and anxiety is something that remains inexplicable.Poe tears the Gothic tale out of the rationalist framework it previously inhabited,and he makes it a medium for exploring the irrational,even flirting with the anti-rational.As such,he makes it as central an
11、d vital to the Romantic tradition as,say,the lyric poem or the dream play.Usually set in Medieval times Dark,mysterious,evil tone Dark castles,palaces,chambers,haunted mansions Blood,pain,death,cruelty Eroticism and characters with aberrant psychological states.Events which are uncanny,macabre,or me
12、lodramatically violent bordering between reality and unreality These elements always come together to emphasize the sense of evil,to evoke“terror”versus“horror”in the reader because of situations bordering reality/unreality.Sometimes Gothic novel may lack a Medieval setting but will develop an atmos
13、phere of gloom and terror.This kind of novel is often used to teach a message.Beyond horror,Poe also wrote satires,humor tales,and hoaxes.For comic effect,he used irony and ludicrous extravagance,often in an attempt to liberate the reader from cultural conformity.He also reinvented science fiction a
14、nd is recognized as the originator of detective story.Most recurring themes:questions of death,including its physical signs,the effects of decomposition,concerns of premature burial,the reanimation of the dead,and mourning.disintegration of the selfOther themes:Popular pseudo sciences such as phreno
15、logy and physiognomy,which aimed specifically at mass-market tastes.subconscious condition of the mind beneath the surface of normal existence.The deep abyss of the unconscious mental activity of the people.Poes literary theory is mainly presented in his essay,such as“The Poetic Principle”and“The Ph
16、ilosophy of Composition”,etc.He believed:works with obvious meanings cease to be art.Brevity,compression and finality are essential for the quality of short stories.The writer should carefully calculate every sentiment and idea to achieve single effect.The very first sentence ought to help to bring
17、out the“single effect”of the story.No word should be used which does not contribute to the“pre-established”design of the work(compression).The short story must be of such length as to be read at one sitting,so as to ensure the totality of impression.A tale should end with the last sentence,leaving a
18、 sense of finality with the reader.Poe disliked didacticism and allegory,though he believed that meaning in literature should be an undercurrent just beneath the surface.He also strongly disliked transcendental ideas.Summary“The Cask of Amontillado”is one of Poes most well-known horror stories.It is
19、 a story of revenge and murder.There are only two protagonists in this story.Montresor,the murderer and also the narrator,tells the story of the day that he took his revenge on Fortunato(Italian for“the fortunate one”)a fellow nobleman.Angry over numerous injuries and some unspecified insult,Montres
20、or takes advantage of Fortunatos weak points and plots to murder Fortunato during Carnival when the latter is drunk and dizzy.Montresor leads drunken Fortunato to his vaults to have a taste of Amontillado,a wine that Montresor has just purchased.When they reach the last underground chamber,Montresor
21、 chains Fortunato to the wall,and builds a new wall to seal him in,and leaves him to die.Poe is masterful in characterization with tightly woven symbols and contrast in this story.Character analysisMontresor:vicious,discreet,crafty,sophisticated,hypocritical,cruel,well-educated,but morbid psychologi
22、cally.Montresors monologue and dialogue in the story show that he plans his revenge at length,and carries out the murder discreetly.He is very careful to settle the avenge but avoid the risk,try to punish but punish with impunity,so he is very crafty in hiding his true purpose when he traps Fortunat
23、o into the wine cellar.He take advantage of Fortunados pride on his connoisseurship in wine and flatters him by saying“I have my doubts，and I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter”This hypocritical flattering is workable in luring Fortunato into his
24、vaults.，Character analysisFortunato:arrogant,greedy,ignorant,seemingly cruel,and self-centered.Fortunato is somewhat greedy,he is crazy about wine and proud of his connoisseurship in wine,so he is easily lured into the dark and somber vaults just because a cask of Amontillado.He gets him lost on hea
25、ring the wine and easily becomes arrogant and boastful when flattered by Montresor for his connoisseurship in wine on purpose.Arrogance and greed as well as vanity easily make him be cheated and trapped so that he completely ignores the dangers around him.He was easily confused by the superficial ph
26、enomena and fails to watch out for others.Symbols and ImagesBlack silk mask Vs.Motley-colored costume The black silk mask,which Montresor uses to cover his face is a symbol of mystery and death.In contrast,the motley-colored costume of court fool Fortunato dresses indicates he is literally and tragi
27、cally fooled by Montresors masked motives and his tragic death.Casket Vs.Cask Casket means“coffin”（棺材，骨灰盒）,here Poe uses“cask”(酒桶，屏蔽容器）which is similar in spelling,pronunciation and image to casket,to suggest that the cask will become the coffin of Fortunato and indicates his death.The envisioned“ca
28、sk”finally draws Fortunato into the“casket”.BellsRepeatedly appear in the story,it suggests that Fortunato,who is wearing the motley-colored costume of court fool ,is really being fooled by Montresor.The jingle of the bell echoed in the dark and damp vault suggests the death knell or funeral bell wh
29、ich tolls for Fortunato.Fortunatos ignorance is presented and the sense of horror and mystery is increased.Montresor:has similar spelling and pronunciation of“monster”,which indicates that Montresor is a murderer.Fortunato:an Italian word which means“fortunate”.Fortunato has been always lucky in his
30、 life,but this time he is no longer fortunate.He will die of the avenge started by his friend Montresor,which produces an effect of irony.De Grave:a kind of wine,“De Grave”indicates“the grave”.In Montresors vaults，when proceeding to Amontillado,Fortunato drinks De Grave given by Montresor，which make
31、s him more drunk and loses the power to make sensible judgment and be alert to the coming danger.It suggests the vault is the grave of Fortunato.Names and Phrases Nemo me impune lacessit:Latin phrases,once used in The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper.Poe uses it here to be the motto of
32、 Montresor family,which means“No one provokes me with impunity.”“凡犯我者，必遭报应”。It drops a hint of the revenge launched by Montresor and the death fate of Fortunato.Language:Succinct,informative and expressiveDeliberate diction of words:for example,Poe uses specific words for“wine”：Amontillado,vintage,S
33、herry,Medoc and De Grave.All these words are hyponyms of the word“wine”.The use of specific words suggests both Montresor and Fortunato are wine connoisseur.Moreover,these words make the process of murder in the air filled with alcohol,giving the readers the felling of madness and sickness.Language
34、and Narrative Skills First person point of view narrative:The reader experience the whole event and psychological morbid together with the narrator from the very beginning to the end,which strengthen the effect of horror.The horrible soul and dark human nature are disclosed and revealed.Language and
35、 Narrative Skills Brevity,compression and finality These are Poes principles for the creation of short stories which typically reflected in this story.Poe hold the idea that the short story“must be of such length to be read at one sitting,so as to ensure the totality of compression.Here Poe employs
36、succinct,expressive and informative language to achieve brevity,Single effect and compression,every detail is designed to achieve the expected effect of the work.Language and Narrative Skills The syntactic deviation:“The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best,but when he ventured upon
37、insult,I vowed revenge.”The opening sentence of the story is a typical deviation of normal syntactic structure.Its in accordance with the narrators mindset at that moment.The hatred is foregrounded to fulfill Poes“single effect”,revenge and murder thus can be predicted.1.what psychological state of Montresor can you infer from the last part of story?2.What dark human nature does the story disclose?1.Read“The Fall of the House of Usher”or “Ligeia”by Poe to have a further understanding of Poes writing skills and themes.2.Share the other writing skills you find in Poes stories.
