The phenomenon of evil is a complicated and relative idea. Opinions vary regarding this topic. Evil can be attributes one is born with; perhaps interpreted as mental illness or a misunderstanding of acceptable behavior and reasoning resulting in an evil act or practice. It may also be traits learned or commonly accepted in a particular society that a third person perspective may not acknowledge or agree with. These ideas being considered may attribute to one carrying out or practicing acts of evil. Although there are many aspects on this subject to potentially debate, a couple in particular will be addressed utilizing what is known of two authors; Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, employing their literary works, “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Young Goodman Brown,” it can be concluded that people are susceptible to evil and/or evil acts for a myriad of reasons. This conclusion is based independently on these two stories as they were expressed during their time.
Edgar Allen Poe’s story of Montresor and his thirst for revenge presents ambiguity at the beginning of the stor...
With a premeditated motive to commit such an act, the culprit, Montressor, thinks, constructs and orchestrates a presumed murder against his insulter, Fortunado. “Poe begins by describing, in characteristically precise and logical detail, Montresor’s (and Poe’s) idea of perfect revenge. At the same time, he needed to end his story by telling how his revenge had affected him. When Fortunatosays, “For the love of god, Montresor!” and Montresor repeats, “Yes, for the love of God,” Poe is indicating that Montresor is already experiencing the closure he sought”(Delaney 39) Unbeknownst why he wants retribution, or what it is that his victim has done to compel Montressor to kill him. What is given is a recount of the night under discussion.
... carnival, so that the narrator would not consult another supposed wine connoisseur about the cask of amontillado, the reader must identify with the dark parts of their character and learn from the mistakes of the characters in this story. Like Montresor, all people have faults and by illustrating this extremely flawed character, Poe allows the reader a glimpse at the flaws in their own. Even Montresor recognizes that he must hares his crime, whether to confess or brag, the story could not die with him. Montresor is a vehicle that allows the reader to identify with their own shortcomings. He was consumed by a thirst for revenge, driven by pride, aided by intelligence, and suffering from a sense of inadequacy which created jealousy. Montresor demonstrates that vengeance and pride are impure motivators that lead to sinister thoughts and actions unfit for judgement day.
The power to change is man’s greatest struggles, since a strong influence that lead them to where they are now. It is also the price and journey that both Montresor in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell Tale Heart” and the narrator of the “The Cask of Amontillado”, another of poe’s story. In both story the narrators, both indicate that they want to get rid of an addiction they had that is driving them to madness, and in order to do so they, must do it at any cost. Both narrator clearly plan on their instincts and carefully plans out methods in which leads them to their satisfaction. These stories contain many similarities and differences in the use of tone, irony and symbolism, of the protagonist. Through these characters and their actions,
Horror themed stories frighten, scare, or startle the reader by inducing feelings of terror and dread. In The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allen Poe tells the tale of Montresor, a disgruntled noble man who plots revenge on his adversary. Montresor declares that another noble man named Fortunato that has constantly battered him and insulted him. Montresor has plotted his revenge over time and has carefully constructed a plan to blatantly and consciously destroy Fortunato right before his very eyes. The most terrifying aspect of Montresor’s plan is the methodical nature in which he leads Fortunato to his doom. Poe continually builds terror in The Cask of Amontillado, masterfully utilizing plot, setting and symbolism to develop horror in his classic
Typically I would never find myself reading something so dark. Shockingly, though, I really enjoyed everything about it. However, it does make me wonder if I’m just attracted to how Poe writes or the actual obscurity involved with this story. I think Poe’s personal life altered how he wrote. Poe was never in the best of mindsets, most likely the reason behind why his story was so hateful. Therefore, I would like to believe I’m more intrigued by how he specifically writes versus typical dark stories.In response to “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, revenge can get the best of everyone. Like most individuals, I too have found myself once glaring from the sidelines annoyed. It takes a lot to make a calm person like myself resentful, but similar to Montresor, it is possible to become so aggravated that a revengeful plot begins to
...clude the creepy setting of the story, the gruesome details, and the tragic death of a seemingly innocent man. Poe describes the walls of the basement being covered in white mineral that choke up Fortunato leaving a disturbing image in a reader’s mind. Then he depicts the family shield in grave details to make his point of the of Montresor’s dominance over Fortunato. The most disturbing part of the story is when Montresor takes pleasure in hearing Fortunato plead for mercy. Not only was Fortunato in altered state of mind from the amontillado; he was being murdered brick by brick of the enclosing wall. Mentall disturbed people such as Montresor take pleasure in pain, anxiety and any other negative emotions.
Regardless of what people think Poe did or did not do, he did change the face of literature through some of his short horror stories. Two of his stories that were discussed within this paper are, “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Within these two stories Edgar Allan Poe has given it a horror reading, with descriptive places, such as “wet and gloomy” and “evil atmosphere.” Besides the stories giving off a sense of horror, they also contain characters with disturbed psyches. The character with a disturbed psyche in “The Cask of Amontillado” was Montressor. He got revenge by murdering Fortunato, who ruined his self-esteem. He bricked Fortunato in alive in the catacombs and walked away feeling pity on him but knowing what he had done and having to live with it. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Roderick Usher was distracted by his thoughts knowing he buried his sister alive within the vaults of their home. She got out of the encasement, Roderick and the narrator placed her in, and attacked Roderick in her bloody
Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado” is a dark and foreboding tale about a man’s insatiable appetite for revenge, and his descent into madness. The story itself is a very macabre tale, no doubt, but is there a deeper, darker meaning? Looking at the symbols and references in the story and with the tragedy that surrounded the author for most his life, it would not be too far a stretch. What this tale could really be representing, is a small insight at what Poe saw in the worst of people. Deceit, murder, simple mindedness, hate, and untrustworthiness; all very primal feelings, with the exception of murder, reside in each and every individual. Readers, in fact, are more or less familiar with these emotions to an extent; Poe however displays what havoc these feelings can have on the human psyche. This short brings out what the author thought was the worst in people, a person driven only by the most cruel, yet innate emotions to attain a goal for their personal benefit.
Poe's, The Cask of Amontillado is a story about fear and revenge. The story begins with Montressor's vow of revenge, foreshadowing future actions. "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could; but when he ventured upon insult vowed revenge..." Montressor had to be sure not to raise suspicion of what he was going to do Fortunato. Montressor knew that Fortunato had a weakness that he could use towards his advantage.
In her article, Renee utters that when the thought of vengeance build up in an individual’s brain, it coerces him insane and does not tolerate him to present it a second thought. The first sentence of the story, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge,” clearly describes the whole theme of the story as a deeply enrooted revenge in Montresor’s mind” which is an absolute portrayal of retribution that occurs due to arrogance and jealousy. Author sees himself as a superior individual and was victimized by a superiority complex which is quite visible through the phrases which he wrote in the story that Montressor expresses superiority as showed his victim as a foolish person by attributing weird physical appearance and dress appearance in which he described his dress code of “tight fitting parti striped dress and head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.”
In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of the Amontillado”, Montresor has always been viewed as a sociopath. He is a man who lured his friend into his family 's catacombs by lying to him. He then got his friend, Fortunato, drunk enough that he did not know what was going on. Montresor then chained his friend to a wall and boxed him in with mortar, all as an act of revenge and justice in his eyes. Although Montresor trapping Fortunato in the catacombs can be viewed as a cold, evil, heartless act, it does not mean that Fortunato’s death was meaningless. Montresor viewed Fortunato’s death as poetic justice, but others can not help but think of the irony of the situation. Poetic justice is defined as a result or occurrence that seems proper because someone
Poe creates a horror story of a psychological revenge and murder that occurred fifty years ago. Montresor is able to recall with clarity the details of his crime. Does he feel remorse for what he has done to Fortunato? The reader would think that he does, Montresor seems to be making the haunting confession from his death bed. The last thing that Montresor says to Fortunato is “In pace requiescat” which means “In peace may he rest” (557)! This is what Montresor wants for himself, this is why he is confessing to his sins.
Alcohol is a commonly used symbol in Poe’s literature and it has a very unfortunate effect on his characters. When Montresor leads Fortunato to the river’s bed, he decides to further inebriate Fortunato. Before continuing he “broke and reached him a flagon of De Grâve. [Fortunato] emptied it at a breath. His eyes flashed with a fierce light.” This exemplifies how alcohol can be misused because Montresor takes advantage ...
This immediate familiarity helps the reader to see inside the calculating mind of Montresor, whom we later learn is a killer. When talking about the past insults of Fortunato, he takes on a cold, determined tone: “At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitively settled […] I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong” (Poe, 618).
How does one define evil? It is universally thought of as bad, negative, harmful, vicious, corrupt and wicked. In all of humanity there stands an image or figurative concept of evil, differing from each culture of the globe. Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1836—enunciated a theory of symbol in his first book Nature, that retained validity through much of the century (Dunne 107). A fundamental doctrine of many mid nineteenth century American writers was a belief in the symbolic authority of nature (Dunne 107). Nathaniel Hawthorne has intended to emphasize that no single person can endure the escape from the devil’s nature in his short story “Young Goodman Brown”. Using an abundant amount of symbolism, Hawthorne