Set in Italy during the carnival season, The Cask of Amontillado delves into the mind of a diabolical man bent on revenge. Montressor narrates the horrifying tale, which alerts the reader to impending doom for the buffoon Fortunato, who has reportedly inflicted a thousand injuries upon Montressor. Yet, the unwitting Fortunato is easily lured to his demise with an appeal to his vanity.

Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents were both actors who left him orphaned. Edgar went to live with the family of John Allan—a tobacco merchant from Virginia–but eventually broke with his step father, who gave him little or no money.

The old man is kind, but he has a vulture eye and his heart beats like a watch enveloped in cotton. It is too much for the narrator to bear, whose senses are acute. No, the old man must die. Yet, will death stop the beating heart, or will it never cease?