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Themes in the cask of Amontillado
Themes in the cask of Amontillado
The cask of amontillado symbolism and theme
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Montresor Is Insane
In Edgar Allen Poe's “ The Cask Of Amontillado”, Montresor, the narrator is insane. “The Cask Of Amontillado” is a story of revenge. Montresor is mad at Fortunato because he said an insult about Montresor. He got so mad that he plotted an extremely good plan to kill Fortunato. At the end of the story Montresor did eventually go to the catacombs and kill him, but nobody has found out that he is dead and it has been 50 years ago. Montresor is insane because he is pleased by the sound of other people's misfortune and suffering and he wants revenge over an insult.
Montresor is insane because he is pleased by the sound of other people's misfortune, he says “ …. And then i heard the furious vibrations of the chain. The
In Edgar Allen Poe’s story The Cask of Amontillado the main character Montresor tricks his friend Fortunato into his catacombs and buries him alive. Edgar Allen Poe’s character commits this deed out of a need for revenge because of some hurt that was committed against him. Poe conveys this need for revenge through his attention to the small details within his story.
When reading any of Edgar Allen Poe’s works, the reader can almost expect a reoccurring theme that focuses on the questionable sanity of the narrator and the overwhelming presence of death that drives the story to its resolve. The two stories being compared are no exception to this theme as both are built upon the thought driven narrative of a seemingly mad man with a fervor for revenge. In both stories the reader is told of the main character, “The Cask of Amontillado” gives us Montresor and “The Tell-Tale Heart” is simply the narrator of the story, who seek out a character to murder for vague reasons not fully explained to the reader in a way that builds a picture of the way their mind works. As both dictate how and why they plan to commit their crimes, the inner monologue that is provided by a first person narrative paints a picture of the unstable emotional state and irrational thought process that gives the reader insight to how unreliable their account of the story actually is. This unreliable narrative leaves the story open to interpretation on whether or not the act of murder was committed righteously, or simply just the misguided actions of two insane characters.
Montresor is portrayed as a man that turns on his former friend, leaving him to die showing little to no remorse for his deed. The reader can use these clues to believe he is insane, or possibly just a heartless person. The reader knows that the two characters had a previous dispute that created tension between the two. Fortunato seems to not be bothered by this previous argument, but Montresor appears to be a holding a grudge to no end. After he had almost sealed Fortunato’s death, he says “My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so.” (169-170) That statement shows the reader that it is not the man he just killed that is making his heart sick, but it is the atmosphere he was standing in. Any man in his right mind, would feel guilty for these actions, but Poe showed through Fortunato, that no guilt was shown whatsoever. The reader does not know if she can trust the narrator because he is obviously a little
Most readers would agree that Montressor, the protagonist in Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado", is mad to at least some degree. Is Montressor merely a twisted individual bent upon revenge or a man who lacks a superego? Assuming the latter is true, Fortunato was perhaps doomed for no reason discernable to someone possessing an ordered subconscious in which the superego assists the ego in policing the id. The injuries and insults visited by him upon Montressor might have been based on something so trivial as to confound the average man, or perhaps they existed only in the mind of the madman.
Montresor does have some disconnect or mental problem. He wishes to kill Fortunato for insulting him, but he never specifies what insult it was. He also states he has borne a thousand injuries. This is an exaggeration- Montresor only says this because he needs a reason to kill Fortunato. If Fortunato has done anything to deserve a painful death, he would certainly know, but Montresor does not let fortunato know what he has done and states "neither by word nor deed had [Montresor] given Fortunato cause to doubt [his] goodwill." Montresor's madness is also made clear by his method of killing Fortunato; he suffocates him in a wall built in f...
If someone commits murder, but they are mentally ill, should they still be charged for murder? In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, the main character, Montresor, kills his unsuspecting enemy, Fortunato. Montresor clearly has some sort of mental illness, so does that make him innocent by insanity or guilty of murder? He is guilty of murder because even though Montresor was insane, he was sane enough to plan and execute the murder of Fortunato.
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 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
He shows absolutely no remorse or any true interest in the effect that his actions will have. Even to go as far to make jokes at the expense of the future murder of his so called “friend.” Like Dr. Stout said, sociopaths can lead people to their impaling doom with much ease. The sheer ease of his master plan of revenge unfolding. His use of reverse psychology on people to have them ultimately do his true bidding. Playing with Fortunado’s trust to his own satisfaction and gain. He exhibits many traits of a sociopath throughout the story. Edgar Allan Poe is well known for doing this in many of his works as seen in classic works like The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart. The protagonists of these stories are also sociopathic, insane, vengeful and blood thirsty people who in reality are in fact the true antagonists. In each of their minds they believe they’re rightfully exacting justice and don’t see any error in their actions or just simply don’t care. They’re also cold, unfeeling, persuasive, and sinister murders who escalate small issues out of proportion. A sinister character is a recurring theme in Poe’s work and Montresor is surely no exception to this
‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ focuses on insanity as a state of consciousness. The story begins with the unreliable narrator, a running theme throughout Poe’s stories, who insists that while he is not mad the ‘disease’ from which he is suffering ‘had sharpened his senses’ (English 92F Course Guide 20). The actions which follow this declaration completely juxtapose the narrator’s claim of sanity, and lead readers to deem that the man is totally consumed by madness and obsession due to nothing but the look of an old man’s eye, which he refers to as the ‘vulture eye’ (English 92F Course Guide 20). From the beginning of ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ it is clear that the effect that Poe is trying to create on the reader is that of terror and imminent death. The action of the story takes place in the ‘extensive vaults’ of the Montresor family (English 92F Course Guide 23). The dark and dingy setting of the story clearly foreshadows the nature of Montresor’s plans. At the climax of the narrative, readers are left with the disturbing image of a man having been buried alive in the catacombs beneath Montresor’s house and also the shock that ‘for half of a century’ that is where the Fortunato’s body has remained (English 92F Course Guide
In “The Cask of Amontillado” Fortunato meets his untimely death in the hands of Montresor. Some may argue that Montresor is insane for why he murdered his friend, but it can be argued that he fits the build of being sane. Sanity is defined as “the condition of being based on reason or good judgement” (“sanity”). A sane murderer Montresor in “The Cask of Amontillado” models the characteristics of a sane murderer by portraying a motive, plan, and conscience.
One of the most respected psychologists, Edward Thorndike, defined psychology as, “the science of the intellects, characters and behavior of animals including man.” When critiquing literary works from a psychological perspective, the author’s life is linked with the behavior and motivations of the characters in the literary work being critiqued. In the short story, “The Cask of Amontillado”, the author is Edgar Allan Poe, who portrays himself and his state of mind within the story. Montresor is a reflection of Poe 's character in the sense that he experiences Poe 's misery and depression as well as the emotional detachment from his victim. His tragic life is by some means connected to his writings, in which he portrays himself through the
Murder is a risk. But Alice Sebold once said: “Murderers are not monsters, they’re men. And that’s the most frightening thing about them.” This perfectly describes the murderer in “The Cask of Amontillado”. In this story, Poe Edgar describes a perfectly executed murder by Montresor. Montresor is a smart, manipulative man and a good liar who wants revenge on Fortunado. Using his skills he can lead him into the deepness of his cave and make him drunk. Combined with his emotions, this makes him to a perfect murderer.
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.