“ Revenge sounds so mean, that’s why I prefer to call it ‘returning of the favour’ ”
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| Source - Goodreads |
Revenge Story by Poe
The Cask of Amontillado, short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in Godey's Lady's Book in November 1846. a monthly magazine from Philadelphia that published poems and stories by some of the best American writers of the nineteenth century, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Reading of this short story and applying the technique of structuralism criticism in the said text. The piece is looked for different patterns, repetition and contrasts in characters, locations, objects, language used, and the decisions made. The similarities and differences that help together in tying up the event are being analysed and the for the metaphorical content the allusions and connections of other pieces are found.
Structuralism (Structuralist Criticism)
It is the offshoot of certain developments in linguistics and anthropology. Saussure’s mode of the synchronic study of language was an attempt to formulate the grammar of a language from a study of parole. Using the Saussurean linguistic model, Claude Levi-Strauss examined the customs and conventions of some cultures with a view of arriving at the grammar of those cultures. Structuralist criticism aims at forming a poetics or the science of literature from a study of literary works. It takes for granted ‘the death of the author’; hence it looks upon works as self-organized linguistic structures. The best work in structuralist poetics has been done in the field of narrative.
Structuralist criticism says that all text is part of the bigger picture because of the signs and symbols. A basic example is that of horror stories, all the horror stories follow the same pattern. Analysing the signs and symbols found in this typical plot is how these structuralist determine the hidden and other meaning of the text.
Sign And Symbols
The said short story “THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO” speaks itself as a story about the cask which means a barrel and generally by the barrel the stark imagery of underground storage of vine or vine cellars directly pop into the mind of readers. The first line of the story itself “FOURTUNATO HAD HURT ME and I had suffered quietly” is written in bold letters to grab the attention of the readers that the narrator of the story has been wronged by someone named Fourtunato and till now the narrator has kept quiet about the topic. “I promised myself that I would make him pay for it --- that I would have revenge” the line suggests and sets the central theme and plot that it is a revenge story on some person named Fourtunato because he has insulted his family name Montresor.
About the Revenge
Usually, revenge is a sub-section of the thriller genre. This is because revenge stories often include a crime being committed and here the crime was going to be committed The voice of the story - the form of narration is Intra-diegetic which means inside the text and Homo-diegetic which means the narrator is a character in the story which is evident in the first line where the mention of the word “I” is there.
The story suggests that he will be going to take his revenge and with the help of time but it might be that Montresor would give him poisoned wine and then he would die.
The binary play of light and dark and this line depicts how the dark is more strong than then the light and positivity which sets the power play of dark who is becoming impenetrable. This is The symbolic code this code is also linked to theme, but on a larger scale, so to speak. It consists of contrasts and pairings related to the most basic binary polarities - male and female, night and day, good and evil, life and art, and so on. These are the structures of contrasted elements which structuralists see asfundamental to the human way of perceiving and organising reality.
The hermeneutic code which is the code poses questions or enigmas which provide narrative suspense. This suggests that the piles of bones which were higher than their heads means there had been killings earlier and their bones were the only evidence left.
““Fortunato!” I cried. “Fortunato.” I heard only a soft, low sound, a half-cry of fear. My heart grew sick; it must have been the cold. I hurried to force the last stone into its position. And I put the old bones again in a pile against the wall. For half a century now no human hand has touched them. May he rest in peace!”
This shows The cultural code This code contains references out beyond the text to what is regarded as common knowledge.
The Spine of the Story
A revenge story where Montresor is insulted by Fourtunato and in return the narrator plans and plots revenge by luring Fourtunato of tasting wine “Amontillado” and taking him to vault where he cuffs the prey and binds him between the wall’s and he is trapped alive in middle of the vault but the killer doesn’t enjoys the revenge because the prey does not make noises and stays silent.
The Context and Setting
The situations and cultural bearings are crucial in the setting of a short story to move on. The setting or context helps in understanding the characters. The story is composed in the 1940s, with a tense environment in America where people became more selfish and greedy. The setting is being revealed through the narrator.
Final Words
The above analysis and setting provides structure for the overall theme of the “The Cask of Amontillado”. By including these descriptions Poe has given the insight on the process of revenge and the psychological state of mind of the killer which is disturbed and brinks on the ‘insanity’ these support the plot lines towards revenge and greediness at its climax similar to other dark themes explored by Poe. This story follows a structure where the lead male character doesn’t feel quenched and satisfied even after taking revenge and killing.
The analysis follows the S/Z method which includes the five types of codes and tries to examine the text on other bases and categories. Overall to derive the hidden meaning; the outside meaning from the said text and look carefully through all the details was interesting and also suggested that a simple story can depict and tell the other hidden meanings.
Written by Divya
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