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The importance of revenge in cask of amontillado
How does poe portray himself through the character of the cask of amontillado
How does poe portray himself through the character of the cask of amontillado
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Abner and Montresor's Motivation for Revenge The pursuit of revenge is not always the right choice to make. As this theme is shown in the short stories written by Edgar Allen Poe and William Faulkner. The two main characters of the stories have hate fueling their motivation to commit cruel acts against others. In the story “Cask of Amontillado”, written by Edgar Allen Poe, Montresor kills a man simply for insulting his family name. In the story “Barn Burning”, written by William Faulkner, Abner takes out his anger on others by destroying property and punishing the world for his poor lifestyle. Abner and Montresor seek revenge for different reasons; however, they do it to honor themselves. These actions will lead to their impending demise. …show more content…
Montresor thought up a devious plan to humiliate Fortunato for insulting his family. For decades, he was able to layout his plan. He leads Fortunato to his palace with the promise of a very expensive wine. He tempts Fortunato by using reverse-psychology and told him that he was looking for Luchresi. Fortunato insists that he is better than Luchresi and goes with Montresor to taste the wine in his catacombs, leading further to Fortunato’s death. Montresor occasionally asked Fortunato to go back due to his cough. Fortunato persisted to get to the wine and said he would not die from a cough (pg. #).Towards the end of their journey to the wine, Montresor chains Fortunato in a small room and starts to encase him with a wall. Montresor has put mortar, brick, and tools beforehand to make it easier to kill Fortunato. He finally encases Fortunato, and he is never found. Montresor got away with the murder and confessed to it on his deathbed. Abner, on the other hand, takes out his anger by burning barns down. He also intimidates and treats other people poorly, especially if they are upper class. His anger and rage cause him to commit arson and destroy his boss's personal property. This prevents him from entering the houses of the plantation owners, which makes him angrier. He would also take out his anger on his son with mild abuse and not provide for him. However, this is less severe …show more content…
Montresor confesses to the murder on his deathbed. This may also show that deep down inside he may feel guilty about the murder. Confessing may also affect his family name. Word will spread about the murder and the Montresor name will forever be branded as untrustworthy and evil. This will ultimately destroy his family name and may cause them to lose their wealth bringing them down to a lower class. Abner’s consequence is harsher than what Montresor had faced. Abner has gotten angry with DeSpain over the rug Abner destroyed. Late at night Abner went to get oil to burn DeSpain's barn down and ordered his son to help him. His son began to think and chose morals over his father. Before Abner could reach the barn, his son alerts DeSpain by screaming “Barn!” (pg. #). DeSpain and another plantation worker quickly go to the barn and shot Abner killing him. Both had very severe consequences after fulfilling their revenge. This leads to the destruction of Montresor’s family name and the death of
It is constantly seen that people take revenge on each other in the real world so it comes to no surprise that Montresor is taking revenge on Fortunato. Specifically in this story Montresor will feel better if he “not only punish but punish with impunity” (108 Poe). But further on what I found to even more realistic was that this wasn’t normal revenge, this was pure mastermind torture. Montresor knew that Fortunato was sick with Montresor saying “…but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted”(109 Poe) regarding that he didn’t want Fortunato to come down to his vaults, but Montresor true intentions were wanting Fortunato to fight Montresor request of not coming, and it worked. Montresor also knew how well Fortunato was at differencing wine “I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter” (109 Poe). By Montresor exploiting Fortunato’s sickness and skill of wines, Montresor knew that he could get Fortunato in the vaults where he could execute his revenge. At a first glance this may not seem lifelike because there’s an assumption to be made that people aren’t this immoral. But the truth is that the revenge that Montresor conducted is seen constantly in our culture. It’s undeniably real of the monstrosity that was made by Montresor when comparing it to the wicked
Evil exists naturally in the world, and there are many acts that are considered evil. As a result, evil is often a theme in literature. “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” by William Shakespeare, and “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe each rely heavily on evil to portray a message. Out of all of the evil acts that exist, exacting revenge is the evilest act that a person can make, for a person’s rash decision to exact revenge will ruin their sense of morality. The characters of Hamlet and Laertes in “Hamlet” each commit terrible acts of revenge, as does Montresor in “The Cask of Amontillado.”
In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor made up in his mind that he would carry out his act of revenge on Fortunato. Whatever offense Fortunato committed against Montresor drove him to the brink. The hatred inside was somewhat poetic. Montresor schemed to every detail how to carry out his revenge. The setting of the story is a dark, gloomy night at a celebration during carnival season. Montresor would be detailed in describing the monetary status of his enemy, his wardrobe or costume he wore to the celebration. He would set the mood as cheerful. Despite the ill feelings he has towards the now drunken Fortunato, Montresor pretends to care for his company to lure him towards his cunning plan. He strokes Fortunato’s ego and his love for wine to draw him towards the cellar. The dark, damp halls, the claustrophobia, and the human skeletons lying about the earth were all a foreshadowing of Motresor’s plan for the drunken Fortunato. It enhanced suspense to the story, building up to the climax which would be Fortunato entering into his grave. As they further enter the hal...
Treachery and revenge are the most horrific ways to express the anger toward friends, but what happens when they lead to a painful death? “I must not only punish, but punish with impunity” (5). This is how Montresor, the main character in Edgar Allane Poe’s short story The Cask of Amontillado, described his desire to kill his friend Fortunato, the second character. Montresor was seeking for vengeance of his friend Fortunato, because the latter had insulted him. The narrator during his telling the story did not refer to the reason that motivated him to kill his friend or even not mention to the readers what kind of insult he received form Fortunato. During the carnival festival, Fortunato is mesmerized by Montresor through reverse psychology.
Montresor is portrayed as a man that turns on his former friend, leaving him to die showing little to no remorse for his deed. The reader can use these clues to believe he is insane, or possibly just a heartless person. The reader knows that the two characters had a previous dispute that created tension between the two. Fortunato seems to not be bothered by this previous argument, but Montresor appears to be a holding a grudge to no end. After he had almost sealed Fortunato’s death, he says “My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so.” (169-170) That statement shows the reader that it is not the man he just killed that is making his heart sick, but it is the atmosphere he was standing in. Any man in his right mind, would feel guilty for these actions, but Poe showed through Fortunato, that no guilt was shown whatsoever. The reader does not know if she can trust the narrator because he is obviously a little
Hoping to obtain revenge, Montresor, the narrator, lures Fortunato, one of his friends, into the depths of his catacombs to be murdered. Montresor says, "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge"(149). This is the first line in the story, and this is why Montresor seeks revenge. There is no explanation of the insults that Montresor received, so the reader may infer that Montresor is just lying. The insults that were received could possibly be just outdoing in the business arena. Montresor might be using that excuse for his desire to kill Fortunato, because he may be killing Fortunato out of jealousy. Montresor is likely telling this story to a family member, friend, or his doctor while lying on his deathbed. Montresor says, "…your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter."(150). Montresor just admitted that he knows Fortunato is better than he. Montresor may have been under the influence of jealousy. Redd 4 There are different theories to ...
Have you ever met someone so clever, determined, and cruel to leave a man to die over an insult? Montresor is the perfect example of these character traits. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor uses all of these character traits to get revenge on Fortunado for insulting his family name. Montresor’s clever planning, determination for revenge, and cruel murder are the perfect combination for his unequaled revenge.
as a result of taking my revenge.” This indicates that Montresor is well prepared and have carefully planned out everything to take his revenge. It also states, “I continued to smile in his face, and he did not understand that I was now smiling at the thought of what I planned for him, at the thought of my revenge.” Montresor puts up a facade as his mind is full of thoughts on how to make Fortunato suffer. Based on Montresor’s evil thoughts, the reader can tell that he is a man full of
and his family, Montresor retaliated by plotting to kill him. Montresor thought of Fortunato as a
Montresor does have some disconnect or mental problem. He wishes to kill Fortunato for insulting him, but he never specifies what insult it was. He also states he has borne a thousand injuries. This is an exaggeration- Montresor only says this because he needs a reason to kill Fortunato. If Fortunato has done anything to deserve a painful death, he would certainly know, but Montresor does not let fortunato know what he has done and states "neither by word nor deed had [Montresor] given Fortunato cause to doubt [his] goodwill." Montresor's madness is also made clear by his method of killing Fortunato; he suffocates him in a wall built in f...
You were not to be found, and I was fearful of losing a bargain (Poe 332)”. This revels Montresor notices that Fortunato is not able to tell Amontillado from Sherry as he is a great wine-lover. When Montresor is coughing, Fortunato is trying to convince him to leave: “Come,” I said with decision, “ we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was”. This shows jealousy and kindness of Montresor against Fortunato at the same time that is quite sarcastic. From this perspective, Montresor envious all of the things that Fortunato has and who is not reconciled to someone surpass him in the status. He mistakenly feels that this is the injury created by Fortunato resulting in his revenge. Therefore, he blame on Fortunato for all fault that he should eradicate him as soon as possible before he become a threatening when it is too late to take any action. Additionally, he does not even regret his choice and believes everything he does is right. This is because he tries so hard to makes an effort to draw Fortunato to his trap and put down his vigilance simultaneously by
Montresor meets his fake friend Fortunato and tells him about amontillado. Montresor had probably been humiliated or embarrassed by this jest, because he is angered once he lays eyes on him from a distance. Fortunato was wearing a jester outfit which makes him seem that he is not meant to be taken seriously. Once met he then manipulate Fortunato into following him into the catacombs of the montresor’s. Once in the catacomb, Montresor then precedes to tell Fortunato about his cough. Trying to lead Fortunato into thinking that he deeply cares about his health, but Fortunato not wanting Luchresi to come along he keep moving forward. While walking
When they arrive at the Montresor estate, Montresor leads Fortunato down the stairs into the catacombs. Down here is where the Amontillado Fortunato is going to taste and where the revenge of Montresor is going to take place. As he get closer and closer, the narrator opens up more and more to how he is going to kill his "friend". It sound like it is a premeditated murder. Montresor seems so inconspicuous that he acts like he cares about Fortunato which is still a part of his plan.
Montresor in "The Cask of Amontillado" is similar to the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" in that his obsession with consuming the soul of Fortunato influences his every action. However, it is with Fortunato himself that he is obsessed. He feeds off of Fortunato's pain, unlike the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" who's obsession is with destroying a menacing inanimate object. Montresor's entire conspiracy is focused around making Fortunato suffer, and for him to know just who is causing this suffering. This is why he goes to such lengths to put together this intricate strategy. It could have been so much easier to kill Fortunato in some easier, quicker way. Instead, he dedicates himself to torturing Fortunato. He creates a plan that leads Fortunato into the depths of the catacombs beneath his home, and kills him in an excruciating manner.
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is a frightening and entertaining short story about the severe consequences that result from persistent mockery and an unforgiving heart. Poe’s excellent use of Gothicism within the story sets the perfect tone for a dark and sinister plot of murder to unfold. “The Cask of Amontillado” simply overflows with various themes and other literary elements that result from Poe’s Gothic style of writing. Of these various themes, one that tends to dominant the story as a whole is the theme of revenge, which Poe supports with his sophisticated use of direct and indirect factors, irony, and symbolism.