“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is a frightening and funny short story about the grave consequences that come from persistent mockery and an unforgiving heart. Poe's excellent use of Gothicism within the story sets the perfect tone for the unfolding of a dark and sinister murder plot. “The Cask of Amontillado” is simply overflowing with various themes and other literary elements that result from Poe's gothic writing style. Of these various themes, one that tends to dominate the story as a whole is the theme of revenge, which Poe supports with his sophisticated use of direct and indirect factors, irony, and symbolism. The theme of revenge in “The Barrel of Amontillado” is the driving force of the entire story. The main character, Montresor, vows to take revenge on the other main character, Fortunato, due to an "insult" that Fortunato apparently made against Montresor (Baraban). This is evident in the opening line of the story when the narrator Montresor states: “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured on the insult I swore vengeance (Poe 1612). This opening sentence makes it obvious that the insult is what directly led to Montresor's insatiable desire for revenge, but there are also some underlying factors that may have indirectly led to this revenge as well. The first indirect factor that could contribute to Montresor's vengeful act, and therefore the revenge theme of the story is Montresor's character. Montresor tends to harbor feelings of resentment and has difficulty not taking things out of context (Womack). He also plans Fortunato's murder in advance and devises it in such a way that he does not get caught. In killing Fortunato, Montreso...... middle of paper ......cky Mountain Modern Language Association. npndnpag. Network. November 6, 2011. Bloom, Harold. “Plot Summary of 'The Cask of Amontillado.'” Bloom's Major Short Story Writers: Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. Harold Bloom, Gwendolyn Bellerman. Chelsea House Publishers, 1999. 55. Print.Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Cask of Amontillado." The Norton Anthology: American Literature. Ed. Wayne Franklin, Philip F. Gurpa, Arnold Krupat. New York: Norton, 2007. 1612-1613, 1616. Print.Tolman, Kelly. "Amontillado Irony Barrel." The barrel of Amontillado. np, 21 May 2011. n.pag. Network. November 6, 2011. Womack, Martha. "'The Barrel of Amontillado' by Edgar Allan Poe." The Poe decoder. Christoffer Nilsson, 1997. n.pag. Network. November 6. 2011 .