Example Of The Cask Of Amontillado Essay

In Edgar Allan Poe’s famous story, The Cask of Amontillado, the readers come across the narrator who is also the protagonist of the story. Montresor is the vile narrator of this story by Poe. The first person narrative comes across to be very merciless, cold, conniving and cruel. The narrator never minds telling the reads that he goes on to torture and then kill Fortunato. Montresor thinks that he did a just act through his brutality. The avid readers of the tale are truly surprised to find that Montresor’s point of view also encompassed writing and poetry. The story portrays the inner feelings and psyche of the character via the first person narrative. It is as if the readers are delving into the mind of the person involved in the vengeful plotting of killing Fortunato. In this manner, the author is able to accentuate the affective appeal and psychological effect of the entire narrative of this story.
However, if the author of this story had used a different point of view in the narration, the entire story’s affective appeal would have changed. The avid readers would not have been able to access the mind and thoughts of the male protagonist of the story. Also, the narrative would have then been objective in its approach. This might have thwarted the engagement of the readers to the text. They might not have understood the dark emotions and the vengefulness of the character of Montresor as such. Hence, the choice of the author to use the first person narrative can be deemed to be the best option for penning the story in context. One is left stirred by the intricate details provided by Montresor and the exploration of his mind catapults the effect of this story.