Sangster 1

Masio Sangster

Ms. Oberg

English 11

9/16/16

Flashbacks, Imagery, and Pathos used in “The Cask of Amontillado”

Lots of authors use rhetorical devices to better help the reader understand their story. An

example of this is in the short story “The Cask of Amontillado” the most common Rhetorical

devices and strategies Edgar Allen Poe used were: Flashbacks, Imagery, and Pathos. They are

used by Poe to help the reader understand the whole eerie, mysterious, dark, gothic story as a

whole. The structure of the story places the events 50 years in the past. Montresor, perhaps on his

own deathbed, is telling someone, perhaps a priest, the story, but not with any remorse. He still

believes Fortunato wronged him, and at the end eerily says, "In pace requiescat,"( 10 ) or, "May

he rest in peace.”( 10 ). In the beginning of the story, Montresor defines revenge, he says he

must, "punish with impunity."( 3) He states if the avenger is caught, or does not make the

punishment known to he who committed the wrong, the wrong goes unavenged.

The first rhetorical device Poe used in this story was flashbacks, the main character inside

the story is flashbacking his story to an unknown person of which we don’t know of. It is a story

inside of a story. Rather than telling it in the future, Montresor tells the story in the form of a

flashback, recreating the events that occurred fifty years before when he walled up Fortunato.

Not until the end of the story do we discover that he committed the deed many years ago when

he describes Fortunato's bones: "For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them."
 Sangster 2

Montresor has managed to get away with his crime for fifty years, and only now does he finally

boast of his success. Montressor is still gloating about his success. Also, one can consider that if

Montressor had committed the perfect crime, he would be itching to tell someone. It can be

assumed that he hasn't told anyone since he does not explain that he is in jail. The fact that this

memory is still so vivid for Montressor suggests that he has obsessed about it or at least recalled

it several times since the actual event occurred. One could argue that guilt drives him to confess

his success to the reader.

The second device Poe uses is Imagery. He uses it to give the reader the chance to

visualize his chilling, creeping story. An example of Imagery he uses is when Montressor and

Fortuanto are in the wine cellar somewhere in the catacombs and he describes the nitre on the

walls as being toxic. “It is farther on," said I; "but observe the white web-work which gleams

from these cavern walls."(5) another example of imagery used is how Montressor always

describes Fourtuanto and the environment surrounding them throughout this story. “The wine

sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy grew warm with the Medoc. We had

passed through walls of piled bones, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost

recesses of the catacombs. I paused, and this time I made bold to seize Fortunato by an arm

above the elbow.” (6)

The last rhetorical device used is Pathos, because the credibility of the narrator's voice is

devalued by his irrational actions towards Fortunado, the victim of his wrath. The only thing that

seems to motivate Montressor, then, is his passion and hurt pride. Revenge is a topic saturated

with out-of-control emotions and is more logically paired with Pathos. Montressor seems on

hurting Fortunato because of the disrespect Fortunato not only gave to Montressor but to his

family as well.
 Sangster 3

This truly is an amazing story that uses a great amount of rhetorical devices there were

others but these were the main ones that could help the reader understand the story as a whole.

Flashbacks are used to help the reader understand it is a story inside of a story and that

Montressor is telling his story to somebody because it seems he has been dying to tell it to

somebody as a brag. Imagery is used to give the reader the chilling experience of this story, it is

used to see into the world of a murderer’s, he wants the person to imagine what they were seeing

and experiencing. Pathos is used to help the reader understand why Montressor did what he did,

he didn’t kill Fortunato because he wanted to. He killed him out of rage and vengefulness. The

Cask of Amontillado is the story to live through the murderer's eyes.

Works Cited

Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Cask of Amontillado.” Elegant Ebooks, public domain. Web.