On Memory, Forgetting, and Complicity in “The Cask of Amontillado”

This article explores the relationship between audience, the motive for murder, and narrative purpose in Poe's “The Cask of Amontillado,” arguing ultimately that the various questions raised by these aspects of the text are far more interconnected than has frequently been acknowledged. It challenges many of the stock interpretations of the story in an effort to open up more fruitful avenues for exploring one of Poe's most noteworthy masterpieces. The primary focus of the article is on the nature of audience complicity generally in the horror genre, and, more specifically, within Poe's story, and how that complicity is at the heart of the most effective horror stories.