The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan PoeIn "The Cask of Amontillado", Edgar Allan Poe uses several different artistic choices in the construction of the story . He manipulates the story to be the way he wants it to be by using the narrator's point of view, the setting, and a common monotonous feeling throughout. Poe manages to maintain a “spirit of perversity” that is prevalent in most of his works. Point of view plays a very important role in influencing the reader's perception of the story. The first line of the story is a good example of how the narrator tries to bring the reader on his side from the beginning. “I had borne Fortunato's thousand wounds as best I could, but when he ventured to insult him, I swore revenge” (O'Neill 666). Montresor, the narrator of the story, immediately attempts to win the reader over to his side by telling him that Fortunato has “dared to insult” and has apparently crossed the line. This attempt is clever, but the reader never gets a sense of what Fortunato actually did to the narrator. This fact alone raises the question in my mind whether Fortunato truly insulted Montresor, or whether Montresor is creating it in his own mind. The point of view of the story can also affect the emotional attachment the reader feels, or fails to do so. obtain in this case, for a given character. When a reader is involved in a story, the point of view from which the story is told is crucial to the feelings they experience. In this story, Montresor dominates the progression of the story in every way. In other words, the reader only knows what Montresor tells him, or what he can infer from the story. This being said, it is difficult for the reader to develop a...... middle of paper ......for the narrator, it is a sentence of triumph. The narrator's triumph, and ultimately evil, over justice makes "The Cask of Amontillado" one of Poe's most unique works and is an example of Poe's evil at its best. " Discovering the Authors. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center – Gold. Gale. Brevard County Main School District. May 22, 2008 http://find.galegroup.com/ ips/start.do?prodId=IPS. “What Thing Serves Him: A Possible Source of Poems The Cask of Amontillado (Notes).” Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2007. Student Resource Center – Or. Gale. Brevard County Main School District May 22, 2008 http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS.O'Neill, Edward The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan. Poe, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1992