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What is the theme statement of the cask of amontillado
The cask of amontillado summary
The cask of amontillado summary
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The most immediate effect of the betrayal of trust is in the emotional impact on the person betrayed. When a person feels they have been betrayed, they may seek some form of justice by making something right that is wrong. When one person betrays another it is highly unlikely that trust will be easy between the two again. Many would argue that betrayal is a common action that happens on a daily basis between friends and family, but actually betrayal has varying degrees and is not only inevitable but harmful as well. In Stromberg’s film, Maleficent, betrayal is a repetitive action seen throughout the whole film. Betrayal is first visible when Maleficent’s, so-called friend, King Stefan cuts off her wings and takes them from her. Her angelic wings symbolize her freedom, innocence, and purity, and after she has them stolen from her she is devastated and wants revenge. This huge act of betrayal …show more content…
By saying, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” the first thing noticed is that Montresor wants revenge not just for his injuries, but also for the insult. By using the word “ventured”, Poe literally means “to undertake an action with knowledge that there is risk involved.” This quote suggests that Montresor thinks Fortunato knew what he was risking, but chose to betray him anyway. Betrayal drives the action in The Cask of Amontillado and one character's betrayal sets off a bad chain of retribution. Without trust, there can be no betrayal therefore an inference can be made that Montresor and Fortunato had once trusted each other. The story has much to do with how far human beings will go to feel better when they are betrayed. The tragedy comes when those lengths end in murderous
In Edger Allen Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado the narrator, Montresor, seeks revenge against his friend Fortunato who he claims had cause him many injuries. The story takes place during carnival time and many are celebrating even Fortunato who was dressed as a clown and wore a colorful hat with bells. Fortunato had been drinking which made him even less aware of any sort of plot against him. Montresor lures him into his wine vaults and easily chains him to a wall deep inside a small crypt. Fortunato is too drunk to even comprehend what is happening or even resist. Finally Montresor builds a stone wall confining Fortunato inside to die. In the story we can distinguish many notable characteristics of Montresor. He may be perceived as heatless or even bit psychotic. We can learn about his personality through his motives and actions as the story progresses.
Set in an unspecified Italian city and an unidentified year, the Cask of Amontillado is a short story that majorly revolves on revenge. Written by the much-celebrated literary expert Edgar Allan Poe, the short story is centered on the narrator who is hell bent exerting revenge on a friend who caused him great pain.
“The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (Poe 173) is how the story begins. Straight to the point and certain, it is clear to see that Montresor has an unstable state of mind. Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado” shows this through Montresor’s perseverance, his plan of retribution, and his verbal statements.
In the essay “How to Be Dead and Not Care”, Thomas Nagel replies to Rosenbaum and Epicurus by bring up an example of being betrayed by a friend. For example: let’s say your best friend sleeps with your husband and you die not knowing that they did that behind your back when you were living. Thomas Nagel would say it harms you even if you never found out. However, Epicurus, Rosenbaum and I believe it doesn’t harm you, because you never experience the
Why is Montresor seeking revenge on Fortunato? In the story, Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor had been hurt by Fortunato, more like insulted. The narrator(Montresor) leads Fortunato deep into the catacomb; getting him more drunk along the way. The entire trip, Fortunato is talking about the Amontillado; eventually the narrator chains Fortunato to the wall and closes the man sized hole with bricks while torturing him mentally until he begs for mercy. Montresor leaves him there to die and nobody ever finds out because the whole thing happened fifty years ago. Montresor accomplishes getting vengeance on Fortunato because he is sneaky, unforgiving, and insane.
“The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge”(Par. 1 Poe). Montresor alludes to the fact that Fortunato has done too many wrongs against him and that finally Fortunato’s actions deeply insulted Montresor. This creates the desire within the reader to want to continue to read and learn more about Montresor’s motives. However, its not only the motive for revenge that pleases the reader but the revenge itself provides the thrill the reader seeks. Also, the narrator never expands on Fortunato’s wrongdoings and refers to him as a friend throughout the rest of the story. At the end of the story, the narrator reveals that his revenge against Fortunato happened fifty years ago, making the accuracy of Montresor account of the story less reliable. The fact that it happened fifty years ago also creates more mystery behind the vagueness of Montresor’s
Montresor, the main character in Edgar Allen Poe's well-known short story Cask of Amontillado, is only one of this author's many deeply disturbed and sadistic protagonists in his famous literary works. In this story, Poe focuses on the raw emotions and traits that Montresor exhibits throughout the tale. Although, it is never clearly discussed why Montresor seeks revenge upon Fortunato, he bitterly recounts how Fortunato had insulted him for no apparent reason. Montresor's plan for revenge is to murder Fortunato in a slow, sadistic, and inescapable manner. In the end, Montresor accomplishes his goal of making Fortunato pay for his offensive words and behaviors, thereby demonstrating his lack of empathy, psychopathic tendencies, and persuasiveness.
In the short story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor has murdered his former friend, Fortunato. One might think that Montresor has given Fortunato what he rightfully deserves, or that Montresor has been following his family motto. However, Montresor never clearly explains what Fortunato has done to him and does not provide any reason to his actions. Montresor doesn’t say what specifically happened -it could have been something significant or something minor -so one can’t tell if he had a motive in murdering Fortunato. Montresor’s actions could be seen as enigmatic and malevolent, but still loyal to his family motto.
The story “The Cask of Amontillado" is the nature of insult that evoked revenge which ends in horrible murder. There is ironic viewpoint continues on every set of the story. Firstly, when Montresor met Fortunato, he smiled at Fortunato. No one can think that the smile of kindness and friendliness, in reality, is the evil smile. In addition, Montresor's first words to him were "you are luckily met" (Poe 209). This sentence ironically reveal is true that in a short time of period, Fortunato will be bury alive. Firstly, the setting is placed during Venice’s Carnival where the characters meet. Carnival is supposed to be a time of celebration and happiness for everybody. However, in the story, it is a time for revenge and death.The carnival setting ironically suggests a time for crime in the flesh.
“The Cask of Amontillado” is a powerful tale of revenge. Montresor, the menacing narrator of this tale, initiates revenge upon Fortunato for an insult. Montresor aims to seek vengeance in support of his family motto: “Nemo me impune lacessit.” (“No one assails me with impunity”) Montresor grew fond of revenge on Fortunato and aimed to seize him and end the torture and pain that he has been giving him, but his sensation of guilt and wretched pain has stopped him from achieving his goal. Montresor got terrible revenge on Fortunato, but felt the sensation of guilt that overtook him for his previous actions of revenge and he thought about how there was nothing he could do to take his revenge plot back. This is now an intellect of foreshadowing throughout this short story.
In the Cask of Amontillado, our narrator’s situation is one he is quite happy being in. Our narrator is Montresor, an Italian man rich with pride, and you quickly learn through his narration that he is intelligent, conniving, and extremely sinister. Throughout the story, everything Montresor does is motivated by one thing, his own thirst for vengeance. Montresor explains his actions are a result of Fortunato constantly abusing him and finally going too far, but he never explains anything Fortunato has done to insult him. When we meet Fortunato, he is extremely friendly towards Montresor, albeit a little intoxicated, so much that he makes Montresor’s story of “a thousand injuries” seem unbelievable (Cask 1). Compared to Gilman’s narrator whose spiral out of control was triggered by her forced seclusion from the outside world, it seems that Montresor’s insanity come from inside his own head. There is no evidence that suggest any attempts by Fortunato to belittle or insult Montresor in any way. I believe that Montresor may have been jealous of Fortunato’s success in life, and that is what drove him to vengeance. For example, on their way to the catacombs Fortunato makes a hand gesture of the Masons, a secret brotherhood, which Montresor doesn’t understand. Fortunato ask if Montresor is a Mason and for him to prove it, and Montresor lies and shows his trowel (Cask 5). This proves that
In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" Montresor's unstable mental state can be recognized through the unhealthy obsession he has with revenge. He will stop at nothing to satisfy his obsession, even if it means murder. Montresor's revenge stems from a simple insult that Fortunato directes towards him. Once it is obvious that Montresor loathes Fortunato because of this insult, his insanity becomes apparent. It is also undeniable that Montresor does not take disrespect lightly and will kill a person if that disrespect is directed towards him. It does not matter the relation they may have to him; his demented mind craves revenge. Montresor's insanity is demonstrated through his manipulative ways, need for revenge, and the skeletons scattered
Is there anyone or anything that the reader has ever been loyal to? Has that someone or something ever done the reader wrong, yet the reader had stayed loyal? Being loyal can be a hard decision depending on who or what one is loyal to. Being loyal to someone can be a bad choice, yet it can also be a smart choice. Sometimes there’s no way to tell until it’s too late.
They felt betrayed while they tried to manage their own emotions against a difficult situation.
The major characteristics of the narrator and main character, Montresor, are anger, hatred, and revenge. In the story, he is angry with Fortunato because he believes that Fortunato has wronged and insulted him many times by saying, “thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could…he ventured upon insult…” (Poe). In addition, Montresor’s hatred for Fortunato goes so far that he believes he must kill Fortunato. He mentions this in the story as, “[y]ou, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat” (Poe). He seems to say that his soul is made of hatred and goes on to say he must give Fortunato the utmost punishment: death. Montresor even shows traits of revenge when he says, “…but when [Fortunato] ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” and “...I would be avenged…” (Poe). He is saying that he will get revenge on Fortunato, whom he is angry with and hates for being insulted by.