The Cask Of Amontillado Theme Analysis

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In the story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, the main theme is revenge. Montresor was insulted by Fortunato, we are never told what the insult was, but it was serious enough that Montresor vowed to enact revenge. People want and take revenge every day, and Poe decided to portray that in one of the darkest ways possible, murder. The perfect revenge must be performed flawlessly, without getting caught, having no regret, and the victim knowing why revenge is being taken. In the story “The Cask of Amontillado” Montresor does not execute perfect revenge. Throughout the story, and especially at the end, Montresor tries to convince himself that he is getting the revenge he wants. He wishes to restore his honor that was hurt from Fortunato’s insults, but instead he ended up making his life a guilty one. This is shown by the narration of the story. Montresor is telling the events leading to the murder of Fortunato, and the murder itself, in a regretful tone. Before Montresor placed the final stone in the …show more content…

His coat of arms is a heel stepping on a poisonous snake, killing it, as the serpent sinks its fangs into the heel injecting its poison. The snakes in its last attempt at fighting back bites the heel, killing the heel with its venom. The coat of arms represents mutual destruction. The foot and serpent are locked together in an embrace of death. While Fortunato was still killed by Montresor, Fortunato still injected Montresor with his venomous words in his last moments of life like the snake did to the heel. “A huge foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.”(Poe, 185). It is the same allegory represented in the coat of arms, they are locked together in a death embrace, one dying at the moment depicted, the other injected with a venom that would slowly kill them throughout their life from guilt and

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