Two Different authors, two different styles, yet two of the best gothic short stories. William Faulkner an American writer and Nobel Prize winner is one of the most well known authors to date. Like Faulkner, Edgar Allen Poe an American writer is also one of the most well known for his poetry and short stories. Despite the years apart and many differences both of these authors created two of the best short stories. Although “A Rose for Emily” and “The Cask of Amontillado” are both gothic short stories with similar settings and themes, their differences in suspense and motive ultimately result in much different stories.
Overall, these short stories are much different, but they do share similarities in both setting and theme. In “A Rose for Emily” the setting is the Grierson family home, while it was …show more content…
In Faulkner’s short story Miss Emily’s house is described as not only the last house on the street, but also as “an eyesore among eyesores”(309).. It is easily inferred in Faulkner’s text that the decaying state of Miss Emily's home is due to her inability to move forward in time beyond her father's death. Although an eyesore to the townspeople due to its “ Coquettish decay”(309), for Miss Emily her house symbolizes her family's former glory. This is very similar to the setting of Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” which takes place in an old grungy vault described as the catacombs. These catacombs contain the remains of the Montresor family, which is full of decay and undoubtedly an eyesore. There is also a similarity between the two stories knowing that montresor is bitter about his family's fallen status and Miss.Emily feels lesser due to her lack of family status. In both short stories their is apparent family value within the two main characters. Within these stories the largest undebatable similarity is the theme. The theme in both of these stories is death, although it is portrayed in