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Recommended: Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado

The struggle with revenge is centuries old, thought to be as normal as the rising sun. But what if the idea of revenge being self-destructive? Seeming to be one of the innermost instincts mankind has. Poe’s story illustrates the idea that revenge can drive a man so mad to the point of illogical behavior.
The narrator starts out with a confusing sentence. “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge”. This sentence marks the speaker as a forma land educated man. The speaker is meant to be from a respectable family, probably in Italy. And his voice allows us to realize that he is a man of stature. Fortunato has insulted him repetitively; in little ways that bothered him and escalated. To the point that Fortunato insulted him one more time and Montresor took it so personal that he vows revenge. Just from the one sentence Montresor shows he has a bias for how the story happened and played out.
He plans to get back at Fortunato for his insults, but as we go on we find that Montresor is quite easy to insult. Perhaps Fortunato insulted Montresor about wine knowledge. We don’t know what kind of insult it was, but he says it got to be so offensive to his honor the he vowed his revenge. He goes on to say he wants revenge with impunity, so he wants to get away with his revenge, whatever it may be. Throughout the story Montressor talks of what he has done to Fortunado with little to no remorse in his voice.
Once it is realized that Montresor wants to kill Fortunato, he says “A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser”. He thinks he is the redresser, he’s the one who is going to bring justice. And if he gets arrested of punished by the law, he’s justic...

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... He eventually starts yelling and screaming no longer doubting he’ll be killed. The last brick is going to be put into place, Montresor throws in the torch only hearing a few bells. Which might mean Fortunato is already dead or passed out.
Sealing the wall Montresor goes on his way, revealing to the reader that this happened 50 years ago. Either a boast or confession, in 50 years no one has found this man and he has gotten away with it. But getting away with it wasn’t enough; needing to tell that he got his revenge is a way for him to show off. Also bewildering because now that he’s told, maybe he would be arrested.

Works Cited

Poe, E. (1846). The Cask of Amontillado. Mankato, Minn.: Creative Education, 1980 Print.

Shmoop Editorial Team. (November 11, 2008).Cask of Amontillado. Retrieved March 13, 2014, from http://www.shmoop.com/Cask-of-Amontillado-Poe

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