1。1 Background of the Study 1

1。2 Purpose of the Study 2

1。3 Significance of the Study 2

1。4 Structure of the Study 2

2。 Literature Review 3

2。1 Conversation Analysis 3

2。2 Turn-taking 3

2。3 The Cooperative Principle and the Politeness Principle 3

2。3。1 The Cooperative Principle 3

2。3。2 The Politeness Principle 4

2。4 Brief Introduction of “The Cask of Amontillado” 4

2。5 Brief Introduction of “The Cask of Amontillado” 5

2。5。1 Review of Studies about Poe 5

2。5。2 Review of Studies about “The Cask of Amontillado” 5

3。 Analysis of Turn-taking in “The Cask of Amontillado” 7

3。1 Luring into the Cellar 7

3。2 Walking in the Cellar 8

3。3 Implementing the Crime 9

4。 Analysis of the Cooperation Principle in “The Cask of Amontillado” 10

4。1 The Violation of Quality Maxim 10

4。2 The Violation of Quantity Maxim 10

4。3 The Violation of Manner Maxim 10

5。 The Violation of the Politeness Principle 11

6。 Conclusion 12

6。1 Main Findings 12

6。2 Limitations and Suggested Further Research 13

References 14

1。 Introduction

1。1 Background of the Study 

Edgar Allan Poe (January 19 1809 – October 7 1849) was an American poet, novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, editor, critic and a leading American Romanticist。 Edgar Allan Poe is extolled as the founder of crime fiction。 Allan Poe is famous of mysterious stories and horror fiction。 As one of the earliest pioneers of American short stories, Poe leaves a profound impression on people with his horror fictions。 The representative works includes“A Tell-Tale Heart”， “The Black cat”, “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Cask of Amontillado”。

The theme in most of Poe’s works reveals the dark side of human subconscious and consciousness which is obviously different with other contemporary romantic writers。 Then, how does Poe create an air of horror and unpredictability in his works? In order to study this question, I am going to use pragmatic methods and study from the perspective of turn-taking analysis。

Because the story“The Cask of Amontillado” almost made up of bilateral conversations, my essay will try to find how the author describes characters and creates the atmosphere of mystery and horror by the dialogues between the two main characters。

The literature work of Edgar Allen Poe moves beyond the category of the popular literature。 The image, metaphor and symbolism Allen Poe writes in his books are totally poetic and artistic。 The significant feature of Edgar Allen Poe’s works is the dark romanticism, Gothic style and transcendentalism。 The obvious points of gothic novels are horrible atmosphere, mysticism, transcendentalism, death old houses with ghost, certain family curse and so on。 These can all be found in Poe’s works。 Poe has influenced the later popular horrible fictions to a large extent。