Edgar Allan Poe is a writer who dies in the gutter but left behind a rich legacy. He was born poor and he dies poor, but he filled the years of his life with literary richness. “Edgar Allan Poe has always been a paradox in American literary history. Although he is probably the most widely read of all American writers, he is commonly believed to have been no more than an alcoholic,” ( May, p ix, 1991). He had thousand of readers when he lived, but no friends. Poe was a writer who added value to English literature during his times by introducing mystery, suspense and the macabre vein to an existing body of literature that lacked these elements. Poe also popularized the short story as a form of literature. “As well as being one of its first and greatest practitioners, Poe is the first theorist of short stories as a literary form he focuses above all on the tale’s ability to achieve unity of effect and impression,” ( Scofield, M., 2006).
Poe was the son of travelling actors who separated after the birth of three children. Edgar lived with his mother, little sister and elder brother, but their mother died of tuberculosis. Their father also died soon father and the orphaned children were sent to different caretakers. Edgar was adopted by Mr. And Mrs. Allan, who was rich but childless. Poe inserted “Allan” in his name, spent a happy childhood, received good education, but eventually ditched the Allans and joined the army. He was not happy there so he decided to work with a magazine and married his cousin and settled down. His poems and short stories soon became popular, but fetched little money. He kept pestering his foster father for money but with no success. Poe really broke down when his wife also died of tuberculosis. He cherished a dream to own a magazine. On his way to arrange for money for the magazine, he stopped at Baltimore. He was found lying unconscious in the gutter. He died four days later. His death was a mystery like his entire life and stories.
Poe wrote only one novel. He realized that the form was not suitable for his purpose. He believed that the element of suspense is lost if the reading is interrupted. The short story can be read in one sitting; the reader’s attention remains sustained till the end and the desired effect can be achieved. The West had enjoyed epics, poetry, drama and novels; however, the short story as a genre, a specific art form with its own structure and characteristics was not recognized by critics until the early 1800s. Some writers like Balzac were experimenting and theorizing the form. In America, Poe’s voice was the first to hail and exploit the form.
Poe did not write about the common things in life. He always probed the dark recesses of the mind where few ventured to explore. He was familiar with them on account of his sufferings in life. His characters are complex and strange. They are described in the following words: “In their masquerade costumes, the people are in fact a multitude of dreams, but they are fashioned like the inhabitants of the macrocosmic world. Many are beautiful but many are bizarre and grotesque,” ( Haugen H. p 178, 2001). Most of his stories describe some kind of journey, full of mystery and suspense, ending up in unearthly horror. His themes, though common, are outlined with the grotesque element. The plots are simple with few prominent events.
Accordingly, his famous tale “The Cask of Amontillado” has a simple plot. Fortunato was returning from a carnival in a drunken state. Montresso meets him and induces him to go to his house to taste the new wine that he has purchased. They go down to the vaults. It is a short journey, from the carnival to the vaults, from outside to inside, from the open to the underground, from home of the living to the precincts of the dead, from life to death. Nothing eventful happens on the way except incidents that push Fortunato forward towards his death. Montressor walls Fortunato alive in the walls of the vaults.
The reason for the cruel act of Montresso was revenge. Montresso begins his narration with these words: “ Fortunato had hurt me a thousand times, and I had suffered quietly.” We doubt the truthfulness of these words; the word ‘thousand’ indicates an exaggeration. He continues, “I had learned that he had laughed at my proud name” He had ‘learned’ and not ‘heard’ with his own ears. He had believed in other sources. He was taking revenge in an inhuman way without bothering to find out any evidence of truth. Even he must have felt a sense of guilt in taking revenge, as Poe suggests in a subtle way. He has to take the support of his honoured family motto to justify his act. He repeats the motto “Nemo me impune lacessit” (No one can attack me without being punished). The theme of revenge is common, but in Poe’s story it becomes sinister. The queer part of the revenge is Montressor’s queer concept of revenge. He had decided to act with care as he did not want to suffer for his act. He explains, “The wrong is not made right in this manner.” He did not want anyone else to suspect him; at the same time, he wanted to make sure that Fortunato should know who was punishing him. The story is a deep study of human psychology. Besides the main theme of revenge, Poe touches upon typical human nature that he understands so well, like taking advantage of someone’s weakness and arousing jealousy. Montressor knew that his servants would leave the house the moment his back was turned because they were specifically told not to do so.
The servants however, are fringe characters. They are absent characters. The story revolves round the two main characters, Montressor and Fortunato. The readers understand that they were acquainted with each other. While Montressor is fully prepared and has taken every precaution for carrying out his revenge plan, Fortunato is unsuspecting. Poe uses irony wherever possible to intensify the effect. Fortunato’s name is significant. While it means ‘the fortunate one,’ Fortunato ironically becomes the unfortunate victim. He is dressed as a jester for the carnival and made a fool by Montresso. Thus, Poe uses symbols that convey more than words. This is how he achieves effect as well as brevity. The grotesque effect is achieved by Montressor’s ‘honored’ ancestors lying in the form of a heap of bones in the cold vaults. The carnival hints at a crowd of people. The servants have left the house. The ‘felt’ presence of all these characters adds a touch of reality to the tale. Another important absent character is Luchresi. Montressor refers to him from time to time to arouse the jealousy of Fortunato. Poe manages to keep the characters in the background and focuses on the two main characters.
The story is short and compact, but packed with suggestions, implications and depth that one cannot imagine. It shows an understanding of the psychology of human beings on the part of the writer. The cruel pleasure that Montressor derives sets one trembling at the thought. By making the avenger the narrator of the story, the readers find themselves unknowingly seeing the situation through his eyes, although though their sympathies may be directed towards Fortunato. “ Characteristics of American Romantic fiction are the depiction of a mysterious, irrational and incomprehensive universe, supernatural foreshadowing and silences of the text as they reveal universals rather than learned truths,” ( Pakditawn S., p 8, 2007). By using irony, symbols, mystery and suspense, Poe succeeds in creating a grotesque tale that moves story lovers from within. Like Fortunato, the readers wait expectantly for the cask of Amontillado, which (ironically) does not exist!
All the stories of Poe are marked with horror, suspense, mystery, the grotesque and macabre. These features appealed to many readers and inspired a host of writers. His detective story C. Auguste Dupin was the world’s first detective story, predating Sherlock Holmes. As a master of horror and father of detective fiction, Poe left a legacy for future writers. His influence is observed in the writings of Jules Verne, Baudelaire, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alfred Hitchcock and many other writers even today.
Works Cited
Haugen, Hayley Mitchell. Readings On The Short Stories Of Edgar Allan Poe. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 2001. Print.
Pakditawan, Sirinya. 'Aspects Of American Romanticism In Short Stories By Edgar Allan Poe And Nathaniel Hawthorne'. 2007. Print.
Poe, Edgar Allan. The Complete Stories. New York: Knopf, 1992. Print.
Scofield, Martin. The Cambridge Introduction To The American Short Story. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Print.
