In Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," the setting is of a very different nature, but also concerns life, death, and the irony that often accompanies the interaction between the two. The main character and first-person narrator, Montresor, leads Fortunato to his grave for an unnamed trespass. Under the pretence of wanting his expertise regarding a cask of amontillado, Montresor leads his friend into the recesses of an extensive vault, which also serves as a grave for a centuries-old family. The story is filled with increasingly grim descriptions of damp darkness and "piled bones" belonging to the generations of Montresor's family. The increasing darkness then correlates with the theme of Fortunato's impending doom. At the final turn, Montresor traps him in a crypt and seals him inside. The darkness can then serve to indicate the darkness of Montresor's action as well as the horror of Fortunato's final doom.
In Hawthorne's story, "Young Goodman Brown," darkness also plays an important role. The setting here is a forest through which...
The forest is described as almost evil, dark, and unknown. However, the closer Young Goodman comes to his destination, the clearer the purpose of his visit becomes. Ironically, he discovers that the darkness of the forest and the night can no longer in his mind be used as a contrast for the comfort of his wife's arms, as she is part of the dark gathering inside the woods. The darkness of the forest might therefore be seen as symbolic of sin, or indeed of the unknown. At the end, it is unknown whether Young Goodman Brown only dreamed, or whether the events were real. Sadly, he allows the darkness to ruin his life, and he goes to his grave in complete misery.
In conclusion, the settings as used in the three stories all correlate with the moods of the main characters, and demonstrate the ironic twist in the events that the characters experience. All three main characters are changed irrevocably as a result of these events.
