Summary
Once again this is one of Poe’s shorter stories and is set somewhere in Italy. It is based around two main characters Montresor and Fortunato a wine seller. Somewhere along the way Fortunato has wronged Montresor and this has occurred several times and now Montresor seeks revenge.
There is a carnival going on at the time to celebrate the start of Lent and this is where Montresor runs into Fortunato. Fortunato is quite drunk and has obviously been having a good time at the festival.
Montresor tells Fortunato that he has recently come into possession of a cask of Amontillado which is a high quality wine from Spain. However Montresor is not sure whether the wine is genuine or not. Fortunato takes the opportunity being a wine expert and tells Montresor that he would be happy to check the quality of the wine.
The pair go to Montresors house and descend into the cellar where the wine is kept. There are also the skeletons of Montresors relatives that have been stored in the cellar as well. Fortunato is quite sick and appears to have a cold of some sort and Montresor keeps asking him if he is well enough to keep going.
Montresor give Fortunato some wine to make him feel better and gets him quite drunk.
The pair finally reach the end of a tunnel and Montresor quickly claps Fortunato in irons and proceeds to wall up the tunnel.
That is pretty much the end of it.
Analysis
Once again we have an unreliable narrator detailing the facts and we are not overly sure of his mental stability. The fact that Montresor was carrying a trowel with him suggests that this was a fairly premeditated course of action, but we are never quite sure how Montresor has been wronged. There is some interesting language use, the one that stood out for me was the coughing at the bottom of page 498 with the ‘ugh! Ugh!...’, it seems a little unnecessary but nothing is put in without a reason and perhaps Poe wanted to really emphasise the sickness of Fortunato. There is a little play on words in this story as well, think of the title the cask of Amontillado that a cask could mean a bottle of wine but also a coffin. Also when Montresor is asked if he is a mason he says yes but rather than meaning a free mason he means he is a stone mason which comes in handy when he is walling up the tunnel. Consider also Fortunato’s name in this case he is not fortunate at all.
Monday, July 26, 2010
The Masque of the Red Death Summary and Analysis
Summary
This story starts detailing some type of disease called the ‘Red Death’ and details the symptoms and appears to be some type of plague which kills people very quickly in fact in about half an hour.
We are not sure where the story is set but there is some suggestion that it is set somewhere in Italy. This is one of Poe’s stories that does not have a narrator to describe what is happening. The Prince of the region who is named Prospero decides to select his best friends to stay with him at his place in order to avoid the plague that is ravaging the town; they even go to the lengths of welding the doors to the house shut so that no one with the plague can enter. There are all sorts of entertainment held by Prospero as well as plenty of food and so on. After about six months when the plague is really at a peak, Prospero decides to hold a masked ball. It was such a huge event that it was held in seven rooms each of a different colour such as blue and purple and so on, each room also had a giant stained glass window of the same colour as the room. The seventh room was black but had a window the colour of scarlet so that it cast an eerie and bloodlike colour into the room, none of the partygoers would go into that room. In this room there is also a giant black clock which has a loud monotonous clang.
Everyone is having a great time at this party until the black clock strikes twelve when a mysterious figure appears among the partygoers. The figure is tall and gaunt and is wearing a hood and cloak which appears to have blood on it and it appears that the person has dressed up as the red death. Most of the partygoers try to avoid the person in the mask.
When the Prince Prospero notices the figure he flies into a rage and demands that the person in the mask be revealed. No-one helps Prospero so he chases the figure through each of the coloured rooms and carries a dagger. They eventually end up in the black room, and a cry is heard from Prospero at which point he drops the dagger and falls dead. The other partygoers grab the man in the mask only to discover there is no-one under the clothes. It is revealed at the end that the red death has made its way into the house and each of the revellers dies.
Analysis
This is quite different from Poe’s other stories and seems to have a more historical basis to the story particularly in relation to the plague. We have several images of death within the story including the black room with the blood red light shining in, as well as the idea of the black clock which implies that time is counting down towards death. I think the idea that Poe is trying to explore here is that no-one can escape death and that it is inevitable no matter how hard you try. The use of the third person narrative also lends a different feel to the story, perhaps this is done so that we feel less sympathy with the character particularly as he left so many people to die outside his house whilst he is having a great time inside.
This story starts detailing some type of disease called the ‘Red Death’ and details the symptoms and appears to be some type of plague which kills people very quickly in fact in about half an hour.
We are not sure where the story is set but there is some suggestion that it is set somewhere in Italy. This is one of Poe’s stories that does not have a narrator to describe what is happening. The Prince of the region who is named Prospero decides to select his best friends to stay with him at his place in order to avoid the plague that is ravaging the town; they even go to the lengths of welding the doors to the house shut so that no one with the plague can enter. There are all sorts of entertainment held by Prospero as well as plenty of food and so on. After about six months when the plague is really at a peak, Prospero decides to hold a masked ball. It was such a huge event that it was held in seven rooms each of a different colour such as blue and purple and so on, each room also had a giant stained glass window of the same colour as the room. The seventh room was black but had a window the colour of scarlet so that it cast an eerie and bloodlike colour into the room, none of the partygoers would go into that room. In this room there is also a giant black clock which has a loud monotonous clang.
Everyone is having a great time at this party until the black clock strikes twelve when a mysterious figure appears among the partygoers. The figure is tall and gaunt and is wearing a hood and cloak which appears to have blood on it and it appears that the person has dressed up as the red death. Most of the partygoers try to avoid the person in the mask.
When the Prince Prospero notices the figure he flies into a rage and demands that the person in the mask be revealed. No-one helps Prospero so he chases the figure through each of the coloured rooms and carries a dagger. They eventually end up in the black room, and a cry is heard from Prospero at which point he drops the dagger and falls dead. The other partygoers grab the man in the mask only to discover there is no-one under the clothes. It is revealed at the end that the red death has made its way into the house and each of the revellers dies.
Analysis
This is quite different from Poe’s other stories and seems to have a more historical basis to the story particularly in relation to the plague. We have several images of death within the story including the black room with the blood red light shining in, as well as the idea of the black clock which implies that time is counting down towards death. I think the idea that Poe is trying to explore here is that no-one can escape death and that it is inevitable no matter how hard you try. The use of the third person narrative also lends a different feel to the story, perhaps this is done so that we feel less sympathy with the character particularly as he left so many people to die outside his house whilst he is having a great time inside.
The Purloined Letter Summary and Analysis
Summary
This is another story based on the detective C. Auguste Dupin, however this tends to jump straight into the story as there is an assumption that we already know of Dupin’s analytical skills and we don’t need to reinforce these. We get an idea that the police once again are unable to solve the crime, however they deny this instead saying that they just tell Dupin about it as it is an excessively odd case.
The case is based around a government official who allegedly steals a letter from the royal apartments. Apparently the letter would ruin the reputation of a woman of high standing, the government official realised that this was an important letter and decided to steal it. He switches the letter for one of his own and leaves the apartment.
The government official uses the letter to blackmail the lady and she turns to the police to help her out.
The police ransack the apartment to try to find the letter all to no avail and believe that the minister is keeping the letter at another location. Dupin believes that the letter is still at the ministers apartment as he would need it to hand in order to blackmail the lady.
Dupin tells the police to search the apartment again and it seems he only does this to make them see silly when they fail to find the letter.
Dupin supposes that the minister is storing the letter in plain sight and visits the ministers apartment and notices the letter in the letter rack, he decides not to take the letter as it would arouse suspicion so he decides to go back to the apartment again and this time swap the letter for another letter.
Apparently the minister had done something bad to Dupin in the past and Dupin was at last able to have his revenge and wrote this inside his replacement letter.
Analysis
Once again this story does appear a little clichéd but does build up some tension in the reader in order for them to try to work out the solution to the crime. It has an intelligent detective who uses cold logic in order to work out the solution to the crime, but also use some intuition in order to work out the solution. It does appear to be an overly simplistic crime and the ending to me seems a little contrived and disappointing. It certainly doesn’t seem as gruesome as “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and Poe seems to have wanted to create a more intelligent type of crime which really demonstrates Dupin’s skills.
This is another story based on the detective C. Auguste Dupin, however this tends to jump straight into the story as there is an assumption that we already know of Dupin’s analytical skills and we don’t need to reinforce these. We get an idea that the police once again are unable to solve the crime, however they deny this instead saying that they just tell Dupin about it as it is an excessively odd case.
The case is based around a government official who allegedly steals a letter from the royal apartments. Apparently the letter would ruin the reputation of a woman of high standing, the government official realised that this was an important letter and decided to steal it. He switches the letter for one of his own and leaves the apartment.
The government official uses the letter to blackmail the lady and she turns to the police to help her out.
The police ransack the apartment to try to find the letter all to no avail and believe that the minister is keeping the letter at another location. Dupin believes that the letter is still at the ministers apartment as he would need it to hand in order to blackmail the lady.
Dupin tells the police to search the apartment again and it seems he only does this to make them see silly when they fail to find the letter.
Dupin supposes that the minister is storing the letter in plain sight and visits the ministers apartment and notices the letter in the letter rack, he decides not to take the letter as it would arouse suspicion so he decides to go back to the apartment again and this time swap the letter for another letter.
Apparently the minister had done something bad to Dupin in the past and Dupin was at last able to have his revenge and wrote this inside his replacement letter.
Analysis
Once again this story does appear a little clichéd but does build up some tension in the reader in order for them to try to work out the solution to the crime. It has an intelligent detective who uses cold logic in order to work out the solution to the crime, but also use some intuition in order to work out the solution. It does appear to be an overly simplistic crime and the ending to me seems a little contrived and disappointing. It certainly doesn’t seem as gruesome as “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and Poe seems to have wanted to create a more intelligent type of crime which really demonstrates Dupin’s skills.
The Oval Portrait Summary and Analysis
These summaries and analyses are my own views on the stories, however, I am happy to take any comments that you may have.
Summary
Once again in this story we have an unnamed narrator who we know very little about, apart from the fact that he has a valet called Pedro and that he has been injured whilst travelling in Italy. The narrator takes refuge in a gloomy mansion (just for something different), which is decorated with tapestries and paintings. The narrator appears fascinated by the paintings and discovers a book detailing the history of the paintings.
He reads on into the night and as he moves the candle closer to see more clearly the light hits a particular portrait. It is a portrait of a young lady. The narrator is not so taken in by the subject or her beauty but more that he is fixated on how lifelike the woman looks in the picture. The writer is disturbed by this picture and turns his attention back to the book.
The book explains the history of the picture and that it was the portrait of an artist’s wife. The artist seemed to love his art more than he loved his wife. She agrees to sit so that he can paint her though he tends to pay more attention to the canvas than his wife.
The wife sits for hours and starts to wither and fade but the artist does not notice, and it is almost that he is drawing the colours from his wife and putting them on the canvas.
When the artist finally finishes he states ‘This is indeed life itself!’, he is so excited by the work that he has done that he turns to his wife only to realise that she is dead.
Analysis
This is an interesting idea and hearkens back to a similar story by Oscar Wilde in ‘The portrait of Dorian Gray’ where a painting and person are inextricably linked. We also have the idea of this over the top type of obsession particularly with the artist who is so engrossed in his work he fails to notice the declining health of his wife. It does seem strange that the wife would just sit there and die whilst her husband painted her, surely she would have said something to alert him. This idea of subservience within the story once again suggests the role of women in the society of the time. There is also a similar theme of the idea of beauty fading and being turned into something more macabre similar to Berenice who withers and fades from some strange disease. Is Poe here suggesting that sometimes we are too obsessed with beautiful things to our detriment?
Summary
Once again in this story we have an unnamed narrator who we know very little about, apart from the fact that he has a valet called Pedro and that he has been injured whilst travelling in Italy. The narrator takes refuge in a gloomy mansion (just for something different), which is decorated with tapestries and paintings. The narrator appears fascinated by the paintings and discovers a book detailing the history of the paintings.
He reads on into the night and as he moves the candle closer to see more clearly the light hits a particular portrait. It is a portrait of a young lady. The narrator is not so taken in by the subject or her beauty but more that he is fixated on how lifelike the woman looks in the picture. The writer is disturbed by this picture and turns his attention back to the book.
The book explains the history of the picture and that it was the portrait of an artist’s wife. The artist seemed to love his art more than he loved his wife. She agrees to sit so that he can paint her though he tends to pay more attention to the canvas than his wife.
The wife sits for hours and starts to wither and fade but the artist does not notice, and it is almost that he is drawing the colours from his wife and putting them on the canvas.
When the artist finally finishes he states ‘This is indeed life itself!’, he is so excited by the work that he has done that he turns to his wife only to realise that she is dead.
Analysis
This is an interesting idea and hearkens back to a similar story by Oscar Wilde in ‘The portrait of Dorian Gray’ where a painting and person are inextricably linked. We also have the idea of this over the top type of obsession particularly with the artist who is so engrossed in his work he fails to notice the declining health of his wife. It does seem strange that the wife would just sit there and die whilst her husband painted her, surely she would have said something to alert him. This idea of subservience within the story once again suggests the role of women in the society of the time. There is also a similar theme of the idea of beauty fading and being turned into something more macabre similar to Berenice who withers and fades from some strange disease. Is Poe here suggesting that sometimes we are too obsessed with beautiful things to our detriment?
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Edgar Allan Poe Introduction
Ok better late than never here's is the start to Edgar Allan Poe. There will be summaries posted on this blog along with short analyses of the stories. I have tried to keep the summaries fairly casual and give my own views on the stories and what I think that Poe was trying to achieve.
Poe is viewed as the godfather of gothic horror, particularly in America and this can be seen with so many references to his work in modern literature and media such as 'The Simpsons' along with many modern horror movies that pay homage to his work. He was also responsible for the development of detective fiction and 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' can be seen as the first example of this type of fiction.
Some people view his work as cliched and stereotypical, such as the gothic mansions were so many of the stories take place, as well as the idea of gloomy and dark landscapes that help set the mood. I am sure we have all seen the start of horror movies with the ominous looking house that is surrounded by fog.
If you have already read some of the stories you would be aware that Poe spends a lot of time setting the mood of his stories and it can be quite often three or four pages into the story before the story really begins, this can be seen in 'The Fall of the House of Usher' as well as 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' and 'The Premature Burial'. Poe may have done this in order to help build the mood of his stories and there is the constant reference to gloom and dull, dark and dreary, it is meant to put us into a certain frame of mind for the rest of the story. It does sometimes take some perseverance to plow through the start of these stories and I recommend reading the summaries first in order to get an overview of the story which will then help with your understanding.
Speaking of which here are some good links to summaries and information on Poe's short stories.
http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/index.html#PoeStudy
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/poestories/
Good luck and enjoy, remember if you have any questions you can post them here and I will get to them as soon as possible.
Cheers
Mr Hill
Sunday, May 30, 2010
SAC reminder
Don't forget that the SAC is this week!
Key things to remember in regards to preparing for the SAC
* Make sure you have read the play
* Make sure that you have an understanding of the key characters within the play
* Make sure that you have an understanding of the background of the play in paticular Henry the VIII and his divorce
* Make sure that you have a good collection of quotes from the play and memorise these for the SAC.
* Remember how to structure a text response so that you have a clear introduction which demonstrates your view on the prompt, and that each paragraph explores a key idea in relation to this prompt.
* Every paragraph should start with a clear and succinct topic sentence, that is then explored in the body of the paragraph and supported with evidence and quotes from the text.
Good Luck
Key things to remember in regards to preparing for the SAC
* Make sure you have read the play
* Make sure that you have an understanding of the key characters within the play
* Make sure that you have an understanding of the background of the play in paticular Henry the VIII and his divorce
* Make sure that you have a good collection of quotes from the play and memorise these for the SAC.
* Remember how to structure a text response so that you have a clear introduction which demonstrates your view on the prompt, and that each paragraph explores a key idea in relation to this prompt.
* Every paragraph should start with a clear and succinct topic sentence, that is then explored in the body of the paragraph and supported with evidence and quotes from the text.
Good Luck
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Symbolism in AMFAS
Robert Bolt uses symbolism to great effect within AMFAS. One of the main symbols is this of the river and water. In order to see the symbolism and the idea of the metaphor we have to first understand the characteristics of the river and water, that is that water can generally go where it wants, in paticular a river never runs straight it moves to suit itself, if it can't go in one direction it will quickly seek another, (remind you of any Tudor monarchs?) The first example of the use of this symbolism is when More is returning from Wolseys house and meets the boatman on the river. It is here that he is intercepted by both Cromwell and Signor Chapuys both of whom are trying to find out what More's conversation was about with Wolsey, and which side that More is taking in regards to the divorce. Both Chapuys and Cromwell leave feeling that More is on their side, which of course More has not revealed any particular leanings to either side. More then comments to the boatman that 'the river looks very black tonight. They say it is silting up, is that so?' In this case we can take the river to represent the moral landscape of England. The river they are talking about is the river Thames which is an icon of England and the London landscape.So, if the river indeed represents the moral environment of England and in particular that of the monarchy and government, then if the river is black it means that the morals of England are looking black, which could be construed as meaning that there is a loss of morals and this may refer to the fact of Henry wanting to seek the divorce or annulment of the marriage to Catherine. More also mentions it is silting up which suggest that it is getting harder and harder to move in this moral landscape and that you will eventually become stuck. On page 17 the boatman replies 'Not in the middle, sir. There's a channel there getting deeper all the time.' This suggests that it is More that is stuck in the middle and the fact that it is getting deeper could mean that More is becoming more and more seperated from what Henry and Cromwell want to achieve that he could eventually find himself in some trouble in the deep water and may in fact drown.
The second sybolic feature in the play is the gilded cup which More offers Rich at the start of the play. The cup was given to More as a bribe to help in a legal case he was looking in to. More does not want to keep the cup as it is tainted,and in his offering it to Rich it is almost as if he is testing him to see whether he is morally upstanding. Rich of course takes the cup which shows that he he is not too fussed about accepting these tainted goods. Rich states that he will sell the cup to buy some clothes like More's, suggesting he wants what More has, i.e status and power. This suggests that Rich is more Machiavellian and is prepared to do whatever it takes in order to move up in the world.
The second sybolic feature in the play is the gilded cup which More offers Rich at the start of the play. The cup was given to More as a bribe to help in a legal case he was looking in to. More does not want to keep the cup as it is tainted,and in his offering it to Rich it is almost as if he is testing him to see whether he is morally upstanding. Rich of course takes the cup which shows that he he is not too fussed about accepting these tainted goods. Rich states that he will sell the cup to buy some clothes like More's, suggesting he wants what More has, i.e status and power. This suggests that Rich is more Machiavellian and is prepared to do whatever it takes in order to move up in the world.
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