Wharton and Poe: "The Duchess at Prayer" and "The Cask of Amontillado"

Edgar Allan Poe is an American writer and poet (1809 - 1849) who wrote macabre and mysterious fiction. He is accredited with inventing the detective story and is referred to by some as America's only literary romanticist. He penned such famous works as "The Raven", "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Tell-Tale Heart".

Edith Wharton certainly was familiar with the works of Edgar Allan Poe. The closest one gets to Wharton citing Poe as a source of inspiration however is in a correspondence with Walter Barry in 1898/ 1899 about reading ghost stories. They discuss "La Grande Bretèche" and "The Cask of Amontillado" and Henry James's "The Turn of the Screw" for their 'creepiness' and effects.[1] "The Duchess" bears striking resemblance to two of these stories; one already explored in 3.9.2 and the other to be examined below. "The Turn of the Screw" has been omitted here in terms of in-depth analysis or comparison as its direct relevance to "The Duchess at Prayer" is mainly that it is also an unsettling tale that plays with reader's perceptions.

Wharton uses techniques similar to Poe in stories aimed to unsettle the reader, most notably in "The Duchess at Prayer"[2]. Although "The Duchess" cannot be seen as a typical ghost story for its lack of actual ghosts, it certainly has many elements linking it to the more morbid milieu. The supernatural elements of the statue changing after the Duchess's death, the personifying descriptions of the house, the ghastly implied death of Ascanio and the Duchess's demise, all framed in Wharton's descriptive language, weave themselves into a story that has a decidedly Poe-esque flavor.

In terms of direct comparison, "The Cask of Amontillado" can be laid side by side with "The Duchess at Prayer" to carve out key differences and similarities.

To contextualize further analysis, a summary of "The Cask of Amontillado" shall now be given:

In "The Cask of Amontillado", first person narrator Montresor explains that Fortunado, an acquaintance of his, has offered him mortal insult and that he now wishes to revenge himself upon him, with no risk to himself. He makes the decision to enact his plan during carnival season. Montresor approaches Fortunato wearing a black silk mask while the latter wears a jester's costume. Montresor invites Fortunato to come sample a beverage he has recently acquired that may be Amontillado (which is a light Spanish sherry), egging him on by saying he'd invite a man named Luchesi instead if he were unable to come. Fortunato comments derisively that Luchesi would not be able to whether or not the sherry is indeed Amontillado. Fortunato agrees to come taste the beverage with Montresor to ascertain whether or not it is truly Amontillado. They descend into Montresor's vaults.

Montresor has sent away his servants to the carnival festivities in preparation. As they descend deeper, Fortunato's lungs are inflamed by the nitre (saltpeter) on the damp walls and he begins to cough. Montresor offers him wine to ease his hacking. They continue to further down into the vaults where Montresor's deceased relatives reside.

Fortunato declares he has forgotten Montresor's family's coat of arms and motto; Montresor describes it to him: a large human foot crushing a serpent whose fangs are imbedded in its heels, displayed on a field of azure. The motto is 'nemo me impune lacessit' in Latin, which translates to 'no one attacks me with impunity.'

They continue their journey downward. Fortunato tests Montresor with a secret hand gesture, trying to glean whether or not he is a Mason. Montresor does not know the sign, although he claims that he is indeed as Mason. When prompted for proof, he shows Fortunato a trowel, showing that he is, in fact, a stone mason. Fortunato interprets this as a joke.

Fortunato has continued to drink wine on their way down and is by now heavily intoxicated.

They resume their descent and end up in the crypt. Three of four walls are covered in human bones. The bare wall has a small recess or hole and the bones previously covering the wall have been obviously cast to the floor. Montresor tells Fortunato that the nook is where the Amontillado is being stored. Fortunato drunkenly makes his way inside; Montresor chains him to a rock within.

Montresor begins to wall up the small opening in the wall, trapping Fortunato inside. He taunts him, offering him to leave. Fortunato screams at first, then moans in fear as the alcohol begins to wear off as the layers of the wall enclose him within. After a final plea, there is silence and Fortunato no longer replies to Montresor. Only the jingling of the bells on his jester's costume can be heard from the walled up space. Montresor plasters the wall and replaces the bones. He states that no one has disturbed them for fifty years and closes the story with a Latin phrase which translates to 'may he rest in peace.'[3]

"The Duchess at Prayer" and "The Cask of Amontillado" center around a betrayal and feature someone being entombed alive and left to die. The murders are successfully concealed in both stories, with the murderers getting away unpunished.

Both stories play with subtext and subtle use of dialogue to create implications. Eleanor Dwight summarizes this thus: " In “The Cask of Amontillado” Montresor and Fortunato discuss business while they descend into the vault, ostensibly to taste a rare sherry. The reader knows that Montresor plans to avenge himself on Fortunato; thus the dialogue is filled with irony. In Wharton’s story, because the Duchess’ lover is hiding in the crypt and the Duke plans to trap him there, the reader is also aware of the irony in their conversation. "[4]

While Poe is more descriptive with the death of Fortunato, Wharton lets the reader's imagination paint the gory details of Ascanio's demise. The full scope of the Duke's revenge is only apparent through the observation of the Duchess's behavior; the tell-tale sign of her guilty conscience are what adds weight to the unsaid.[5]

In both stories, the avenger strongly controls both the situation and the dialogue. Montresor and the Duke identify their advantages and play to their strengths while simultaneously identifying the weaknesses of their victims and preying on these weaknesses.[6] Fortunato and the Duchess are at the mercy of the wrathful men and ultimately are unable to hold their own against them; Fortunato because of his gullibility and Violante for her guilty conscience.

The atmospheres of the story differ greatly. While "The Cask" is told by the murderer directly and takes place in a bizarre and surreal setting, "The Duchess" comes to the reader third-hand and takes place in a neat and seemingly normal world where the true horror unfolds in the reader's mind rather than being explicitly spelled out.

The statue in "The Duchess at Prayer" is reminiscent not of "The Cask of Amontillado" but perhaps of Poe's "Oval Portrait", "Ligeia", or "Morella", where either artwork either comes alive or spirits transverse bodies. The tortured grimace on the Duchess's once-beautiful marble face is an expression of her deep-seated terror and pain; in adding this supernatural element, Wharton employs a Poe-esque technique of preparing the reading for a fictional world filled with psychological shadows and strangeness.

Aside from the obvious connections "The Duchess at Prayer" makes to Poe's work, Wharton's degree of inspiration for other stories is more a matter of conjecture.

[1] see Dwight 1986, p. 49

[2] Dwight 1986, p. 49

[3] see Poe 2013

[4] Dwight 1986, p. 51

[5] see Dwight 1986, p. 53

[6] see Dwight 1896, p. 53