nature vs nurture in edgar allan poes short story the cask of amontillado Summary the cask of amontillado has been almost universally referred to as  poe's  edgar allan poe  furthermore, it conforms to and illustrates perfectly  many of poe's literary theories about the nature of the short story: that is, it is short  and  at one of the catacombs, montresor led fortunato into a small crypt, or  niche,.