To be specific, there are three main typical characters in Poe’s literature works。 

The most typical of Poe and his works is the puzzles, the suspense。 The Scottish critic William Archer (cited in Wang, 2008) said it is “to predict a very attractive state of affairs without telling it out”。 It is a unique structure that raises the interest of readers by their inherent curiosity。 Poe understood exploring the mysteries is human nature, so he adopted the methods of suspense which could stimulate the curiosity of readers。 Readers keep tense, concentrated on the stories, and finally approve the writer’s rational thinking。

In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Poe writes in the beginning of the story, “the thousand injuries of Fortunato (F) I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge”。 Actually, it’s an obvious suspense that readers will seek the specific “insult” and the reason why F insults M。 However, after finishing the story, Poe doesn’t reveal any information about the “insult” which makes the story more mysterious。

Another distinctive character of Poe’s work is revenge。 Allen Poe combined his vengeful psychology with his fiction, where he penetrated the violence of language into narration。 No other thing than revenge gives his horrible novels an unusual power of control, forcing rivals into silence。

 The third character of Poe’s work is twisted enjoyment。 The narrator and murder Montresor (M) feels content in the process of the analysis and investigation, yet he can not explain where this joy came from。 In the end of the “The Cask of Amontillado”, Poe writes that, “I reapproached the wall; I replied to the yells of him who clamoured。 I re-echoed, I aided, I surpassed them in volume and in strength。” It is clear the murder gains a lot of enjoyment from the cries and begs form the victim。 This kind of behavior can perfectly represent the ill and twisted image of the murder。 

With the overall knowledge about the author and his writing style, the analysis of the story can be easier to study。

This study is devoted to examine the features of turn-taking in bilateral conversation。 Study the number of turns, initiation& topic controls, turn-types and turn-control strategies to have a better understanding of characters’ power position and the evolution of whole story。 What’s more, the essay uses cooperation principle and politeness principle to analyze different personalities and mental status of characters。 Lastly, the essay hopes to provide some practical advice for readers in their daily communications。

1。2 Purpose of the Study

This study is devoted to examine the features of turn-taking in bilateral conversation。 Study the number of turns, initiation& topic controls, turn types and turn-control strategies to have a better understanding of the distribution of power and the evolution of whole story。 By analyzing the violations of cooperation principle and politeness principle, the essay helps readers to get a proper knowledge about different personalities of characters。

1。3 Significance of the Study

The significance lies in its attempting to give a chance to appreciate the story better and in detail in order to have a deep analysis of characters’ personalities and how the plots develop。

1。4 Structure of the Study 

This study is devoted to examine the features of turn-taking and the violations of cooperation principle/politeness principle in a bilateral conversation。 Study the number of turns, initiation& topic control, turn type and turn-control strategies to have a better understanding of different personalities of characters and the  the evolution of whole story。 The thesis is composed five chapters。 Chapter one briefly introduces the research background, purposes, significance, and framework of this thesis。 Chapter two includes literature review about research tools used in analysis, review of studies about Poe and “The Cask of Amontillado”。 Chapter three is about the analysis of turn-taking。 Chapter four is about the analysis of the cooperation principle。 Chapter five is about the analysis of the politeness principle。 Chapter six is the final conclusion, some limitation and further improved ways。