Term Paper on "Charlotte Perkins Gilman and "The Cask"

Term Paper 4 pages (1186 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Charlotte Perkins Gilman and "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe

Nineteenth century American literature is characterized by the horror and mystery genres, wherein the works of famous writers such as Edgar Allan Poe, Charlotte Perkins, and William Faulkner, among others, proliferated. Most of the literary works under the horror and mystery genres provide insightful depictions and illustrations of social criticisms that the writers wants to critique symbolically or figuratively. In effect, stories of the grotesque are primarily used to increase awareness on a particular social issue.

Indeed, this objective is found in the works of popular writers Edgar Allan Poe and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, whose works criticizes social issues through symbolism and via the horror story genre. Specifically, Poe and Gilman's works have the dominant themes of psychological downfall into insanity and the celebration of death. This paper discusses and analyzes the short stories "The Cask of Amontillado" by Poe and "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Gilman regarding these two themes. These stories are described to be tales of grotesque because of both stories' depiction of insanity of their respective protagonists, while Poe's story utilizes death (specifically murder) as one of the consequences of insanity.

The texts that follow offers a comparative analysis of how Gilman and Poe utilizes the themes of (1) the protagonist's downfall to insanity and (2) the celebration of death to discuss issues of social relevance and offer a creative avenue for social criticism.

The short story "The Cask of Amontillado" illustrates both themes of the protagonist's downfall to insanity and celebration of death through the commitment of murder. The story shows how Poe, through the main character's (Montresor) narration, behavior, and action, is able to generate fear and the air of mystery, especially in illustrating the shocking narration and illustration of the death of Fortunato, the man Montresor despised and considered as his enemy and competitor.

Different forms of irony are used in the story to illustrate the presence of these two dominant themes. With verbal irony, Poe illustrates through the narrator/Montresor's language and dialogues the forthcoming death of Fortunato, established already at the start of the story. As Montresor narrates the unpleasant between him and Forunato, which made the former despise the latter, Montresor planned to avenge his humiliation from Fortunato: "I must not only punish but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong." Montresor, as the narrator (still not identified as such in this part of the story), uses formal language in a threatening and determined tone his pledge of revenge to Fortunato.

Furthermore, the use of Montresor's doubly-meaningful language while conversing with Fortunato illustrates effectively that his actions and behavior towards his enemy is not parallel with the words he uses while conversing with Fortunato: "I continued... To smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation." Indeed, through language, Poe uses Montresor and his verbal conversations and interactions with Fortunato to show how Montresor uses concealment to hide his true character, which is that of a madman and a murderer.

It is evident that as the story progresses, Montresor gains advantage over Fortunato, who is clueless about his friend's plan to kill him. Montresor, once the insulted and underdog, shifted from being a respected man to being a cold-blooded and ruthless killer: "... I busied myself among the pile of bones of which I… READ MORE

How to Reference "Charlotte Perkins Gilman and "The Cask" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

Charlotte Perkins Gilman Was an Important Social Term Paper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was an important social activist and one of the leading figures in the woman's movement during the early Twentieth Century. She is also known for her theoretical… read more

Term Paper 3 pages (1274 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Women / Feminism

---

Gilman Charlotte Perkins Term Paper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

One of the most expressive pieces of fiction to address the issue of the place of the female artist in a society that generally represses woman is… read more

Term Paper 3 pages (1245 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Women / Feminism

---

Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman Term Paper

Yellow Wallpaper

CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN'S

THE YELLOW WALLPAPER:

SYMBOLS OF DEPRESSION

In 1886, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860 to 1935) wrote in her autobiography, "In those days, a new disease had… read more

Term Paper 5 pages (1598 words) Sources: 5 Style: MLA Topic: Psychology / Behavior / Psychiatry

---

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wall-Paper Term Paper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wall-Paper" is the story of a nineteenth century woman's decline into madness.

In a 2002 article in "Studies in American Fiction,' Beverly Hume cites a… read more

Term Paper 3 pages (855 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Women / Feminism

---

Unraveling: The Heroine of Charlotte Perkins Gilman Essay

Unraveling: The heroine of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"

The heroine of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" seems like a normal, articulate, married woman at the beginning of… read more

Essay 3 pages (1063 words) Sources: 1 Topic: Women / Feminism

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>