Many people believe that flaws are a bad thing; especially in stories. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Flaws define a person, gives them character and sets them apart from others. In a story, if a character was perfect they would be flat and boring. A perfect protagonist leaves no room for development, because they would have no flaws to develop. This makes flawed major characters integral to any story due to the conflicts their flaws create. The main characters of “Cask of Amontillado”, “Poison”, and “The Scarlet Ibis” each develop the plot because of the conflicts caused by their flaws of vanity. The main character, Harry, in the short story “Poison” by Roald Dahl is flawed. In the story, Timber comes home to the bungalow and finds Harry lying awake and still on his cot. When Timber asked about what was wrong, Harry quietly told him a poisonous snake was asleep on his stomach. Timber called a doctor, and after several precautions, (Such as giving Harry the antidote and covering the snake …show more content…
In the story, Montresor claims “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could..” and after insult, he must enact his revenge. He then baits Fortunato into his cellar with the promise of a rare wine, there he chains him to a wall in an alcove, then seals him inside. As Montresor built the wall, Fortunato tried pleading with him for his release, “‘But is it not getting late? Will not they be awaiting us at the palazzo, the Lady Fortunato and the rest? Let us be gone.’ ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘let us be gone.’ ‘For the love of God, Montresor!’ ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘for the love of God!’” (Poe). Later, Montresor recalled that, “[His] heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so.” (Poe). Montresor was so caught up in himself that he had failed to realize the impact of his actions, and that he even felt remorse for killing
Christopher McCandless is the ideal tragic hero because he had everything in the world but he gave it up to go on a two year trip into the wild and through his own actions he paid the ultimate price. McCandless had a goal to achieve in the wilderness but as Aristotle said “The tragic hero's powerful wish to achieve some goal inevitably encounters limits, usually those of human frailty.(Aristotle #2)”Although McCandless met his fate at the end of his journey the fact that he attempted this grand adventure makes him a hero rather than an imbecile.
Though, the conclusion that White makes that is arguable is the fact that, “…we, the gentle reader, might similarly welcome Montresor back into the human community with our horror-stricken hearts” (White 555). This is debatable because even though humans want to defend their units, whether that be family or country, not everyone is exempted for the guilt that comes with murder. All in all, the act of taking the life from another human, still is rarely —if ever— justifiable, especially to the torturous extents that Montresor takes the action. So not everyone would forgive Montresor in this manner, this can bring valuable insight to us as a humanity, and how if we feel extensive discomfort over Montresor’s assassination of his rival, then perhaps we should feel the same way about the annihilation of our countries own
Fortunato “takes possession” of Montresor’s arm, for which he suffers (716) in order to carry out his plan. Poe’s use of possession and suffer give the impression that Montresor is being afflicted again by Fortunato. Once Montresor reveals this meeting at this evening is no coincidence by divulging he made sure none of his attendants would be home. By giving the direct orders to be home. Poe shows us that Montresor was not respected or feared by his servants’ actions. The servants’ leaving after being given a direct order to stay does give credence to the fact that Montresor must be very methodical and unyielding to his schedule. Only once Fortunato to the catacombs does he betray his own premise. Montresor refers to Fortunato as his “poor friend” (716). At this point Poe has depicted this instigator of a “thousand injuries” as a drunken jester that can barely catch his breath at this point in the story. Now Montresor is showing some sympathy towards him. At this point the transition is complete. Where the two men stopped at the entrance to Fortunato’s tomb, this is the moment that leaves no doubt that Montresor is the villain and Fortunato is the
Meanwhile as Fortunato was concocting his plan beneath the earth, Montressor was heading back to his house feeling slightly guilty about what he had done. “He insulted me, he made me to be less that I am, he had it coming.”, Montressor told himself reassuringly. But that did not erase the ominous tone he now felt in the vaults. Something was not quite right since he pushed that last brick into place in Fortunato’s tomb. Shaking the feeling off as best as he could he reached the top of the catacombs and entered his home with a taste for the barrel of wine that he knew was Amontillado all along. After his drink he returned to his bedroom for the night and before he fell asleep he heard a small voice in his head saying that Fortunato was still alive and that he was coming for him.
Continually drawing Fortunato’s attention to the nitre on the walls, seems a symbolic manifestation of the web of lies Montresor must weave throughout the journey. He uses Fortunato’s vanity as a weapon against him, "Come," I said, with decision, "we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter” (Poe).
With a premeditated motive to commit such an act, the culprit, Montressor, thinks, constructs and orchestrates a presumed murder against his insulter, Fortunado. “Poe begins by describing, in characteristically precise and logical detail, Montresor’s (and Poe’s) idea of perfect revenge. At the same time, he needed to end his story by telling how his revenge had affected him. When Fortunatosays, “For the love of god, Montresor!” and Montresor repeats, “Yes, for the love of God,” Poe is indicating that Montresor is already experiencing the closure he sought”(Delaney 39) Unbeknownst why he wants retribution, or what it is that his victim has done to compel Montressor to kill him. What is given is a recount of the night under discussion.
Edger Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado” talks about how Montressor feels like he was insulted by his friend Fortunato. Also Montressor’s family motto is “Nemo me impune lacessit.”(Allan Poe 362), which means “No one insults me with impunity.”, and Montressor doesn’t want to let his family motto down so he uses it as a reason and make his revenge on Fortunato as a goal that has to be accomplished. Montressor tricks his friend Fortunato which was drunk at the moment, by asking him to follow him to his house and to check an expensive wine that he just purchased to be sure that he didn’t get tricked. Fortunato follows Montressor to his house and went down to the down stairs of Montressor’s house. When they get to the catacombs, Montressor chains up Fortunato and places him in a niche in the wall, and started to build a brick wall leaving him sealed inside to die in the catacombs.
In many works of Literature, a character comes forth as a hero, only to die because of a character trait known as a tragic flaw; Hamlet from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Okonkwo from Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, and Winston Smith from Orwell’s 1984 all exhibit that single trait, which leads, in one way or another, to their deaths. These three tragic heroes are both similar and different in many ways: the way they die, their tragic flaws, and what they learn. All three characters strongly exhibit the traits needed to be classified as a tragic hero.
By definition, a tragic hero is a protagonist that due to some tragic flaw loses everything he has. Throughout history, literature has always been filled with main characters possessing some tragic flaw. In Macbeth, Macbeth’s tragic flaw is his enormous ambition to become king. In Hamlet, Hamlet’s tragic flaw is his need for revenge for the death of his father at the hands of his uncle. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh’s tragic flaw is his need to be remembered. In the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, Beowulf also has a tragic flaw, excessive pride and the search for fame, which ultimately leads to his demise.
A tragic hero is a protagonist with a fatal flaw which eventually leads to a character's downfall. The tragic hero is often introduced as happy, powerful and privileged, and ends up dying or suffering immensely due to their own faulty action. John Proctor’s, the protagonist in the play, flaw that lead to his “downfall” was his inability to accept his fate and his pride in which he holds in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. John Proctor had displayed the four characteristics of a tragic hero goodness, superiority, a tragic flaw, and has an eventual realization
own destructive downfall. A tragic hero can be described as a great or virtuous character in a
When they arrive at the Montresor estate, Montresor leads Fortunato down the stairs into the catacombs. Down here is where the Amontillado Fortunato is going to taste and where the revenge of Montresor is going to take place. As he get closer and closer, the narrator opens up more and more to how he is going to kill his "friend". It sound like it is a premeditated murder. Montresor seems so inconspicuous that he acts like he cares about Fortunato which is still a part of his plan.
Poe begins setting the tone of the story by describing the gloomy and threatening vaults beneath Montressor’s home. The first description of the Montressor home, as well as the reader’s first hint that something is amiss, is the description of the time off Montressor had required his employees to take. This alone lets us know that some of his intentions are less than virtuous. He describes the vaults as extensive, having many rooms, and being insufferably damp. This description of Montressor’s vaults strikes a feeling of uneasiness and fear in the reader, as well as a fear of malevolent things to come. References to the bodies laid to rest in the ca...
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.
For a time, the main characters in a story, poem, or narrative were easily classified as either being a hero or a villain. A hero would be easy to identify by the traits he'd possess, such as bravery, honesty, selflessness, trustworthiness, courage, leadership, and more. The villain would be easy to identify as well, possessing traits such as maliciousness, deceitfulness, immorality, dark, wishing harm upon others, and more. But what if the character lacked the natural heroic qualities but wasn't a villain either? What if the person displayed personality flaws that would traditionally be associated with a villain, but has heroic intentions? These questions were finally answered with the emergence of the anti-hero in literature.