In any story, the feelings or emotions presented are made up of a combination of three things; tone, atmosphere and theme. This simply means that the overall effect of a story of fiction relies on the story at hand as well as the described setting to get a general effect in the end. In Edgar Allen Poe's The Cask of Amontillado his dark setting description, and sinister characters present a story with a theme that can be only described as revenge.

The point of view of this story is first person through the eyes of the lead character Montresor. This character is presented from the start as being a cold hearted man that believes Fortunato, an old friend of his, has done him wrong and should die for it. His character's evil is shown more upon his greeting with Fortunato, he comes off as friendly and invites Fortunato to come enjoy a recently purchase cask of "...what passes for Amontillado"(203). At this point of the story the main character has already professed his plan for the murder of his so-called friend. This proves how much disdain Montresor has for Fortunato, who has a rather unfitting name. The use of first person narration goes a

The overall theme of this poem is revenge. Poe does a brilliant job in displaying this to the reader through the ideas that Montresor's believes in his mind to be true. He intends to seek vengeance in order to uphold his family motto: "Nemo me impune lacessit," Which, according to Womack, means, "no one dare attack me with impunity". More disturbing than the family motto is the Montresors' family code of arms, which is a picture of a huge foot stomping down or a serpent's head whose fangs are imbedded in the heel. This shows that Montresor's revenge is something that grows deep within him and even extends to past generations. Fortunato has no clue that sinister narrator's code of arms foreshadows what is soon to be his fate. Montresor is so psychologically trapped in his revenge scheme that he wants Fortunato to know what is happening to him. He will get a sort of pleasure from the fact that, "...as Fortunato slowly dies, the thought of his rejected opportunities of escape will sting him with unbearable regret , and as he sobers with terror, the final blow will come from the realization that his craving for the wine has led him to his doom.(Quinn,94)"

Poe very carefully plann

Some common words found in the essay are:
Montresor Fortunato, Cask Amontillado, Loved Wine, tone story, tone atmosphere, tone atmosphere story, montresor fortunato, adds tone atmosphere, family motto, adds tone, overall theme, setting description, code arms, atmosphere story,
Approximate Word count = 800
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)