Abner And Montresor's Motivation For Revenge

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.

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

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