“The Cask of Amontillado ": Revenge & the Human Soul
In "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe, the guilt-ridden Montresor reveals, a dark secret, that he tortured and murdered Fortunato. Fortunato 's ill-fate stems from Montresor 's intense hatred and immoral desire to "punish [Fortunato] with impunity. (Poe 740)", for his past transgression. Montresor believes, "A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes the redresser. (Poe740)" Montresor must inflict a suffering as great as the suffering Fortunato has inflicted upon him. He must punish without ill repercussions. Although, Montresor succeeds in outwitting and entombing Fortunato, Montresor still pays an ultimate price: the loss of his soul and suffering the uncertainty of a guilty conscience. Poe demonstrates through Montresor 's actions that it is impossible to seek revenge without negative consequences .
The story begins with Montresor confessing his actions to someone he
Montresor’s conscience revealed itself through his heart growing sick. Montresor “…hastened to make an end of (his) labour.” Through, outwitting and entombing Fortunato, Montresor released himself from the chains of obsession but condemned his soul to the forever uncertainty of his conscience. Although Fortunato died “half a century” ago, Montresor has lived with the guilt.
In "The Cask of Amontillado" Edgar Allen Poe plunges deep into the mind of deranged man hellbent on revenge and reveals the lasting consequence of a freeing oneself from the mental chains of intense hatred. The act of retribution may seem sweet and promising when stewing in anger and hate but as Poe reminds us, it always comes with a price. Montresor and Fortunato both suffered due to their egos and their inability to change when faced with critical decisions caused dire
“The Cask of Amontillado” starts out with the narrator, later discovered to be Montresor, positioning himself as a victim of Fortunato. In the opening line, he states, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could” (714). Instantaneously one feels sympathetic towards a person that has withstood a thousand inflictions. Montresor goes on to tell a parable of sorts about vengeance, and “when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong” (715) he has lost. In this instance Poe has set Montresor apart from being at the least an unsuspecting
Montresor is a man who feels pride in himself and in his family, so when Fortunato—an acquaintance of Montresor— “venture[s] upon insult,” Montresor “vow[s] revenge” against him (1). Montresor hastily decides that he must kill Fortunato, even though his use of the word “venture” implies that Fortunato had not yet insulted him, but nearly did. Montresor’s impulsive need for revenge causes him to formulate a plan to murder his acquaintance. He keeps Fortunato intoxicated by “presenting him…[with] wine,” he “fetter[s] him to the granite,” and he “plaster[s] up… [a wall of] new masonry” to trap Fortunato in the catacombs (39, 71, 89). All of these acts are signs that the need for revenge has made Fortunato insane. A person who has any sense of morals would not commit crimes such as Montresor’s. His impetuous decision to exact revenge caused him to lose his
In The Cask of Amontillado, the theme of revenge is established at the start of the story, when the narrator states that he suffered irreversible insult by his associate, Fortunato, thus he vowed to avenge this action. This is evident in the following statement in the opening paragraph of the story, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (Poe 7). Therefore, it is apparent to the reader from the onset of the story that revenge is a major driving force for Montresor for him to dreadfully murder his acquaintance,...
“The Cask of Amontillado” is a dark piece, much like other works of Edgar Allan Poe, and features the classic unreliable narrator, identified by himself only as Montresor. This sinister central character is a cold ruthless killer that is particularly fearsome because he views murder as a necessity and kills without remorse. Montresor is a character who personifies wickedness. Poe uses this character and his morally wrong thoughts and actions to help the reader identify with aspects of the extreme personage, allowing them to examine the less savory aspects of their own. The character of Montresor detailing the glorious murder he committed is a means of communicating to the reader that vengeance and pride are moral motivators that lead to treacherous deeds and dark thoughts.
A main theme presented in “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is that Montresor shows obsession with the murder of fortunato. This is exemplified by Montresor’s precise planning, carefulness and slowness of speed in the process.
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.
In his article “On Memory Forgetting, and Complicity in “the Cask of Amontillado”” Raymond DiSanza suggests that an act of wrongdoing is always at the heart of good horror stories. (194) DiSanza’s article on “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe describes Poe’s writing in a way I didn’t think of myself. DiSanza finds Poe’s language in this story to “taste like amontillado: smooth, slightly sweet, and appropriately chilled”. (DiSanza 195) Throughout his article he mostly talks about what possibly could have been Montresor’s motive to kill Fortunato? And why did Montresor wait fifty years to tell the story?
These imply Montresor’s the whole family is filled with acts of revenge. These also illustrate self-esteem or pride hold a critical role in the family that they do not accept anyone try to injure them. If someone does so, they will use their own method to punish their wrongdoings, which they at least find a way to release their discontented against such behavior. Montresor also considers this action as an insult because he perceives that he is not being respect and look down by Fortunato. This is because Montresor is a poor man compared to Fortunato who can afford to buy the entire shipment of Amontilado. Therefore, Montresor says, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (331). This shows Montresor family’s coat of arms and motto can be the key that leads him wants revenge for being insulted by Fortunato. Since no one is able to clear up the internal injuries that have been in his heart for a while, he deems he should take the risk and punishes Fortunato by himself. In some way, he may think that he helps the society to cut weeds and eliminate the roots by killing all the loose end or
The perfect revenge is an action so many scorned have attempted and what so many more have lusted after. Apt punishment for the offender, success without being discovered and fulfillment without regret are all elements for satisfactory vengeance. All were present in "The Cask of Amontillado." However, despite Montresor's actions seeming to be perfect, he does not fulfill the criteria for flawless revenge. Poe doesn't quite allow readers to feel convinced of his main character's peace of mind. Subtle indications are strewn throughout the story that suggest otherwise. Though Montresor intended to cleanse his honor of Fortunato's insults, it may very well be that he only succeeded in creating, for himself, a guilty conscience, forever depriving himself of the sweetness of revenge.
?The Cask of Amontillado? raises a question pertaining to the multiple character of the self (Davidson 202); Can harmony of one's self be restored once primal impulses have been acted upon? This question proposes the fantasy of crime without consequence (Stepp 60). Edgar Allan Poe uses first person point of view, vivid symbolism and situational irony to show that because of man's inner self, revenge is ultimately not possible.
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.”
Edgar Allen Poe’s tale of murder and revenge, “The Cask of Amontillado”, offers a unique perspective into the mind of a deranged murderer. The effectiveness of the story is largely due to its first person point of view, which allows the reader a deeper involvement into the thoughts and motivations of the protagonist, Montresor. The first person narration results in an unbalanced viewpoint on the central conflict of the story, man versus man, because the reader knows very little about the thoughts of the antagonist, Fortunato. The setting of “The Cask of Amontillado”, in the dark catacombs of Montresor’s wine cellar, contributes to the story’s theme that some people will go to great lengths to fanatically defend their honor.
The first indirect factor that could contribute to Montresor’s vengeful act, and thus the story’s theme of revenge, is the character of Montresor. Montresor tends to harbor feelings of resentment and has a hard time not taking things out of context (Womack). He also plans the murder of Fortunato in advance and devises it in such a way that he will not be caught. In killing Fortunato, Montreso...
Poe starts out with a man, by the name of Montresor, wanting revenge on another man, named Fortunato. Most of the story takes place deep in the Montresor family catacombs. As Montresor lures Fortunato into the catacombs, he chains Fortunato up to a small hole in a wall, bricks it over, and leaves Fortunato to die. Even through the traits of anger, hatred, and revenge, as the story progresses on, Montresor, the main character in “The Cask of Amontillado”, starts to show signs of feeling guilty for wanting to murder Fortunato.