Edgar Allan Poe published The Cask of Amontillado, his tale of revenge, betrayal, addiction, and murder, in 1846. It was immediately popular, and has come to be regarded as an exemplar of short fiction.

Part of the gruesome allure of the story is its ambiguity. The lack of detail as to why the narrator harbours a murderous grudge against his antagonist lends to the universality of the themes of the story, but readers are still left to puzzle over what could drive a person to the horrendous act Poe portrayed.

Poe's lack of specifics contributes to the eerie effect of his story. But what if we could now make enquiries not of Poe the writer, but of the text itself? In this interactive retelling, we explore the idea that new language technology can be harnessed to provide an extrapolated reading of this classic text.

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