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Carnival and “The Cask of Amontillado”
The events of “The Cask of Amontillado” take place during the Christian festival of Carnival, a holiday celebrated primarily in Catholic communities in the days before Lent. In contrast to Lent’s time of abstinence and self-reflection, Carnival is a time for excess and merrymaking. Historians believe Carnival celebrations likely began in Rome as a Christianization of Saturnalia festivals, which then spread across Catholic Europe, and were later integrated into the cultures of colonized nations such as in Latin America and the West Indies. Regional differences exist, but many celebrations include special foods, alcohol consumption, and the wearing of costumes and masks. Pageants and parades are common, many involving social satire. Indeed, many Carnival celebrations have an atmosphere of liberation and upheaval of social norms. For example, Medieval Venice suspended sumptuary laws, laws that limit what people can purchase or wear according to their social class, and legalized gambling only during Carnival. Over the centuries, Venice’s lawmakers would pass laws attempting to limit Carnival mischief by restricting what people could do while masked. The existence of these laws suggests that people used the anonymity masks afforded and the free-spirited atmosphere to cause trouble.
Scholars, such as Russian philosopher and literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin (1895–1975), have theorized about the social role of Medieval Carnivals and their usage in literature. According to Bakhtin, the anarchic atmosphere of Carnival as it was celebrated in Medieval times represented a temporary reversal of social order, taking power from the state and church and placing it amongst the people. With everyone’s individual identity quite literally masked, the city became one body, with class distinctions hidden. This sanctioned period of transgression allowed for people at all levels of society to release their excessive desires, complaints, and frustrations in a socially acceptable way. Bakhtin used this analysis of Carnival to apply to literature that he considered “carnivalesque,” work that uses transgressive humor, satire, and bodily grotesqueness to break apart social norms such as François Rabelais’s Gargantua and Pantagruel novels.
Poe’s usage of Carnival as a setting for “The Cask of Amontillado” is not carnivalesque in the classic sense, but it adds thematically to the text in interesting ways. On a surface level, Montresor uses the chaos of the season as an ideal cover for his crime. Carnival also adds an interesting dimension to Montresor and Fortunato’s choice of costumes. Carnival costumes are meant to hide one’s identity. However, just as the irreverent nature of Carnival reveals ugly truths about society, Montresor and Fortunato’s costumes reveal their own true natures. In his every day, Montresor pretends to be Fortunato’s friend. However, his black mask and cloak align him with the executioner he is. Fortunato apparently is respected in society, but his jester costume displays his true foolishness. Finally, the story’s Carnival setting thematically ties into the reversal of fortunes between the two men. When Montresor expresses false concern for Fortunato he states, “You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was,” implying that Montresor is not any of these things, at least not anymore. In the atmosphere of Carnival, of social upheaval, Montresor perhaps views this murder as bringing the high down low.
