The Shining
The Shining is a short story revealing the lives of a family whereby the husband is employed as a caretaker in Overlook Hotel, which according to the author is overlooking Colorado. Although the author has failed to give a deeper in sight about both the wife and husband, he has attempted to describe terrifying details about the Overlook Hotel, which harbors a force within. According to the author, the force within the hotel goes beyond the eras and has an insatiable desire of spreading its terror to any individuals who reside in it. Since the family is new and thus oblivious of the dangers of living in the hotel, they fail to notice any strange occurrences except their son, Danny Torrance, who witnessed it firsthand. This way, the author successfully prepares the readers psychologically aware of the eminent danger that is likely to occur in the subsequent pages of the short story (Murphy 27).
The Cask of Amontillado
On the other hand, Edgar Allan Poe successfully brought out the theme of terror and tragic through The Cask of Amontillado. Doe was able to achieve this using the character of a man desiring to obtain revenge on another character as a result of insults that he had received from him. In this case, the main character or protagonist named Montresor, plans to achieve revenge from the protagonist named, Fortunato by burying him alive. The whole plot of The Cask of Amontillado involves the issue of inebriation and in due course, the live burial of Fortunato. In this regard, the author has been able to prepare the minds of the readers by suggesting the occurrence of terror that is caused by the strong desire of avenging as demonstrated through Montresor, whereby the most outstanding theme witnessed from the beginning of the story is revenge. As a result, just as King's The Shinning, The Cask of Amontillado seeks to highlight people's fear of unknown and in particular, death as well as the curiosity of the experience felt during live burial in the case of Poe's story (Murphy 37). More importantly, both short stories demonstrate the notion of many individuals' habit of doing things without contemplating any possible consequences.
Symbolism
Alcoholism
King and Poe have used symbolism throughout their short stories such as alcoholism to represent destruction and carelessness of societies living during the period when they wrote them. For instance, Poe's The Cask of Amontillado shows and reflects a number of societal perceptions during late 1840's, regarding alcohol (Murphy 35). Most prevalent in this case was the fact that alcoholism was extremely widespread during that past society. In this regard, the author made it clear in the minds of the readers that one or two characters will illustrate the driving force carried by alcoholism. Montresor was able to use alcohol as a bait to acquire revenge from Fortunato who had caused him terrible pain as a result of high degree of insults. In this case, Fortunato foolishly trusted Montresor after he offered him a drink in his house despite the fact that they were never in good terms and thus, had a soiled relationship. Due to the prevalence of alcohol at the time, the author was able to illustrate how it could be used to cause destruction, since; Montresor used it as a tool of executing his desires of burying Fortunato alive (Murphy 35). In short, alcohol caused the ultimate death of Fortunato who could not pass the offer of a drink from a foe who was clearly vengeful and dishonest.
On the other hand, King was able to highlight the dangers of alcohol in The Shinning using the character of Jack Torrance, who was both a husband and a father (Bennett 19). Due to alcohol, Jack had lost most things in his life including teaching, coaching and writing career, which had driven him to seek a job as a caretaker at Overview Hotel. In this case, King excellently revealed that Jack was using the new chance of a new job as a means of redeeming himself after destruction caused by alcohol. Alcohol was to blame for his marriage life, which was failing and was going downhill at a fast rate. In fact, readers are made to understand that the wife was plotting to obtain divorce from him.
Tone
Poe and King have employed almost similar tone variations throughout their writing in describing events happening in their short stories. In this context, although both stories carry the tone of death and mystery, the authors have attempted to use lyrical and beautiful words to express feelings of both the characters as well as to capture the attention of the readers or audience (Murphy 41). Generally, people tend to fear death and it is an experience that many would never desire to deal with. However, The Shinning and The Cask of Amontillado have incorporated the tone of death from the beginning and thus, readers are prepared for the occurrence of death as the plot is further unveiled (Spears 34). This is best illustrated in The Cask of Amontillado, where the protagonist, who is Fortunato, finally dies in the end. The same can be said about Montresor although his death is not really physically. This is mainly due to reason that he actually went ahead with the gruesome plan of burying another person alive, meaning that Montresor had a corrupt mind and conscious.
Moreover, Poe has illustrated each detail or element of Fortunato's forthcoming death through lyrical and beautiful words written down, plans that went about in Montresor's mind. Thus, according to the readers the author made Montresor's method of murder sound perfect despite the fact that it was a gruesome murder that nobody would wish to witness or go through (Murphy 42). The style used by Poe of repeating the plan over and over again convinced the audience that there was no way that he was going to change his mind as he was convinced that only murder would make everything right. Thus, Montresor allowed himself to be controlled by the insatiable desire to revenge for all the hurt that had been caused to him by Fortunato. More importantly, based on the setting of the story, Montresor could have allowed himself to die in the process of killing another person. This is because of the harsh punishment received by murderers during the 1880s. Certainly, Poe successfully used tone in making the tragic tale of The Cask of Amontillado in capturing the minds of the readers (Zimmerman 126).
On the other hand, tone has been used by King in The Shining for the purposes of offering readers a vivid depiction regarding the Overlook Hotel as well as in providing the readers with the opportunity of getting to the minds of the characters (van Leeuwen, Evert Jan 54). This way, the author has ensured that readers get insights of every character and thus, are able to understand why they commit certain actions during the flow of the story (Murphy 44). In addition, tone has enabled the audience have an attachment with certain characters such as Jack, whose only desire is to salvage himself from a past of abuse from his father. Although, he is supposed to be angry, the author has illustrated his self control using tone mainly to emphasize to the audience the efforts that he was putting in fixing his life. Thus, the tone successfully accomplishes the intended purpose because at the end, readers feel sympathetic to Jack, who is unaware of the dangers of the unknown making The Shining become a realistic tale.
More importantly, tone has been used by the author during the first pages of the short story where the author reveals normal interactions between family members or characters that revoke feelings of peacefulness and fun to the readers. In this case, King differs with Poe who directly introduced the readers to horror and terror. Essentially, both The Shining and The Cask of Amontillado are psychologically thrilling and disturbing and both authors have successfully executed the element of tone to being out deeper insights regarding the characters and their thoughts. As a result, readers are able to understand why certain characters act the way they do, mainly due to fear of death, mystery and unknown.
Works Cited
Bennett, Zachary ZE. “A Moral Problem of Universal Concern”: The Axiological Structure of Poe's Gothic Fiction. Diss. The George Washington University, 2012.
Murphy, Patrick D. Transversal Ecocritical Praxis: Theoretical Arguments, Literary Analysis, and Cultural Critique. 2013.
Spears, Shelby. "A Place for Poe: The Foreign in Two Tales of the Gothic." (2016).
van Leeuwen, Evert Jan. "Hero of Horror: Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)." Celebrity Authorship and Afterlives in English and American Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2016. 43-66.
Zimmerman, Brett. "Approaches to Teaching Poe's Prose and Poetry." (2010): 120-135.
