Thank You, Mr. Poe
51
Death”, in which Prince Prospero had arranged for his masked
ball a series of chambers, each one more fantastic, bizarre, and
macabre than the one before it. The final chamber—the
chamber of Death—^had been black, with blood-colored
windows (351).
Although Wren was working in New York, and Pendergast was working in
Kansas to solve the serial murders there, the imagery of Prince Prospero’s
macabre abbey foreshadowed the catacombs inhabited by the mysterious being
who committed the murders. Just like with Prince Prospero’s rooms, as one
entered the cavernous subterranean private playground of madness, each
subsequent catacomb became more horrific and diabolical, until the last one was
reached. The final catacomb could have been considered the monster’s Death
room because it was where he took his victims to die.
In the final text of study. Brimstone, the two Poe references were directly
taken from “Cask of Amontillado.” On page 106, the man who we later discover
is the perpetrator of the crimes. Count Fosco, asks Pendergast if “[he] would
care for some amontillado.” The Count’s possession of amontillado lets the
reader know that Count Fosco has a great deal of money because having read
Poe’s story, one knows that amontillado is a rare, expensive type of wine. It also
reminds the reader of ancient Italy and honor and revenge, all elements found in
Brimstone as Count Fosco’s evil plan unraveled throughout the mystery. The use
of amontillado not only hints at his evil intent but actually winds up
foreshadowing his plan of death for Agent Pendergast. At the end of the book,
Pendergast awakes from a drug-induced haze and finds himself chained to a
brick wall. Fosco says to him,
“I beg your pardon for the scant accommodation. Still, these
chambers are not without their natural charm. You’ll notice
the white webwork that gleams from the cavern walls? It’s
nitre, my dear Pendergast—^you of all people should
appreciate the literary allusion. And thus understand what is to
follow.” And to underscore this, the count slipped his hand
into his waistcoat and slowly withdrew a trowel (680).
Yes, Count Fosco brandishes his trowel, like Montresor, who “[produced] from
beneath the folds of [his] roquelaure a trowel” (Poe 500), and continues to
construct the brick wall in front of Pendergast’s eyes with the intent on his
demise. This mode of murder by Fosco recalls Montresor’s need to avenge the
wrongs on his family by Fortunato; Fosco also feels his family has been
wronged in that they were the rightful owners of the invaluable Stormcloud
violin, which had belonged to his family generations earlier.
As I mentioned previously, the use of direct allusion to Poe’s works
provides Preston and Child with a sort of literary credibility in the genre of
horror detective fiction. Because Poe has such a strong reputation for the terrific
and macabre, by citing his work, they transfer the sense of his reputation into