Had Jackson chosen sophisticated (such as Poe's Montesor) rather than common people for characters would the story have the same effect?Shirley...

The date of the story is significant, June 27, close to
the summer solstice and the season for planting. Some of the names, too, are obviously
significant: the ritual is presided over by Mr. Summers, the first man to draw a lot is
Mr. Adams, and conservative warnings are uttered by Mr. Warner. Note, too, that the
leaders of the attack on Mrs. Hutchinson are Adams (the first sinner) and Graves (the
result of sin was death). One last point about the ritual:Clyde Dunbar, at home with a
broken leg, does not participate. Why? Because a sacrificial victim must be
unhurt.

The common and everyday names shows how ordinary,
how routine, the event was, crazy as it was. People have accepted it, and flat, simple
names are the medium in which they think and talk. The reader cannot regard this story
with the same objective, producing an ironic discrepancy between the reader’s feelings
and thoughts and the villagers’.This irony may produce exasperation in the reader and
push him or her into Jackson’s revulsion at these
events.

Montressor is the same way. His name in Latin
means, "I will impune anyone who provokes me, and does. His character name is sued with
a simple matter of factness, just as in "The Lottery."