Carnival Setting example essay topic

The written word has been the vehicle by which generations have articulated their hopes, fears, aspirations, and nightmares. Amidst these ideas, the author must weave together history, culture, environment and atmosphere to produce a setting in which their ideas will develop. This setting is crucial to many stories, including Edgar Allan Poe's "Cask of Amontillado". Poe shrouds the reader in the warmth of a celebration and the coldness of death with only his words as a guide. Poe starts out by introducing the reader to a carnival like atmosphere reminiscent of Mardi Gras. There are people in multi-colored jester outfits, people wearing masks, and the overall feeling of festiveness.

This jovial atmosphere is greatly contradicted by the Montresor's vengeful mood. The contrast of mood to setting creates a sense of chaos, somehow signifying an underlying madness in the character. Another important aspect of the carnival setting is the wine. At the carnival itself, liquor is free flowing and most people have indulged themselves, including Fortunato, Montresor's bane. This particular feature in the setting allows Poe to set up the events that unfold in the story. Fortunato, intoxicated and somewhat vain, insists upon seeing the Amontillado rather than have Montresor take it to someone else.

At this point, the carnival setting has served its purpose in setting the mood and the circumstances of the story. Poe quickly changes the setting from the jocular activities associated with the carnival to the damp, dark catacombs under Montresor's home. This sudden contrast in setting helps to establish the sinister atmosphere of the story. Poe describes in meticulous detail Montresor and Fortunato's descent into the catacombs. These details place the readers side by side with a calculating Montresor as he descends down the "long and winding staircase". These details place the reader so close to Fortunato that they too can see his eyes are "two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication".

These details make the setting more than just a mere backdrop; they become the personification of Montresor's looming plot. As Poe works to guide the reader through the catacombs, he pays close attention to the surroundings. The notre on the walls becomes an ominous presence, a gloomy foreshadowing of the events to come. The deeper Poe takes the reader into the catacombs, the deeper they go into the recesses of Montresor's mind. Dark and foreboding, the damp catacombs enclose them, sealing them off from the lively carnival above. When Fortunato reaches his final destination, Poe artistically depicts the area: "Within the walls thus exposed by the displacing of the bones, we perceived a still interior crypt or recess, in depth about four feet, in width three, in height six or seven".

Such vivid details entomb not just Fortunato, but the reader as well. Trapped within the recess of the catacombs, the reader holds their breath as Montresor closes out the world. Such relevant details to the setting take an everyday tale and turn it into a literary masterpiece. As with many of Poe's tales, the setting creates the atmosphere for treachery and deceit. The setting is not as important to the plot as plot is to the setting. Without the festival there is no stimulus, without the wine there is no coercion, and without the catacombs there is no culmination.

The setting is the driving force behind the character from intent to commitment. Poe's graphical writing style mixed with his masterful creativeness show that revenge is a dish best served in prose..