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analysis of the destructors by graham greene
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To be jealous is to be overwhelmed and furious at the thought of lacking achievements, advantages, and possessions they desire, specifically (not limited to) of another person. Gary Allan wisely stated, “You can be the moon and still be jealous of the stars.” In other words, jealousy can overtake somebody in various ways, no matter how preposterous. It can range from an inane, eye twitching feeling a student may have for receiving a dreadful grade to a more momentous, overbearing, gut-wrenching feeling like a man losing his wife to another man. “The Destructors” by Graham Greene, “The Rocking-Horse Winner” by T.H Lawrence, and “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe are all phenomenal short stories that include conflicts, all of which …show more content…
After countless injuries that Fortunato presents to Montressor, he still endures them all. However, Montressor’s jealousy eventually gets to the best of him when he relentlessly describes, “When he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat. At length, I would be avenged…he did not perceive at the time that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation” (Poe 3). Although it is not directly stated, it is clear he is jealous of Fortunato’s rights of insulting him and desires to relinquish this insult, whatever it might be. In addition, Montressor’s actions display what jealousy can psychologically do to a person and the bizarre and incredible lengths people would go to to overtake this jealousy. Likewise, Fortunato is also affected by jealousy because it is used to trick him into his own decease by Montressor. They talk about his fresh wine, debating whether it is real or simply a cheap brand as Montressor reassures him by saying, “As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi. If any one has a critical turn, it is he. He will tell me” (4). Astonished, Fortunato replies, “Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from sherry…Come, let us go…To your vaults” (4). Inevitably, he grows jealous upon …show more content…
The way jealousy is portrayed throughout this story is through greed as the characters all agree, “Although they lived in style, they felt always an anxiety in the house. There was never enough money” (Lawrence 1223). As a whole, the lack of money causes the entire family to be jealous of other families and ultimately cause unexpected actions. For instance, when Oscar discovers his nephew always gambles and wins on horse races, he is skeptical of the idea of gambling at first, but eventually the narrator states, “He became a partner. And when the Leger was coming on, Paul was sure about Lively Spark, which was quite an inconsiderable horse…Paul had made ten thousand…Even Oscar Cresswell had cleared two thousand” (1230). This explains how Oscar’s covetousness for money causes his mindset to change for not punishing his nephew for deliberately sneaking out to gamble, continues to let him do so, and begins to participate in this outrageous activity himself. This imparts readers that being desirous can cause irresponsibly, but more importantly, cause a mental mindset to change. In the same way, Paul is resentful of the absence of money in the family, riding his magic rocking horse for as long as humanly possible. One day, he is trying to discern the next winner to the race after losing when his mom sees him yelling, “’It’s
Jealousy, whatever it may be driven by, can produce many different actions in a person depending on their desires. Othello craftly examines a few examples of these with highly contrasting characters driven by vastly different things. The different manifestations of jealousy in said characters can be analysed through the characters of Roderigo, Othello, and Iago, while also proving how jealousy can sometimes be a front for more cynister feelings.
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
Montresor takes full advantage of the fact that Fortunato has a soft spot for fine wines. Montresor seeing that the only opportunity that he would have to exert revenge would be when wine is to be drunk in surplus decides to wait until the Carnival Season. We are told of one evening during the season when Montresor invites Fortunato over to his place. The major reason for the invite is to have Fortunato taste a sample of sherry that he had acquired to ascertain if the s...
The Sanity within The Cask of Amontillado Is Montressor sane? In the story by Edgar Allen Poe, "The Cask of Amontillado," the narrator, Montressor premeditates the murder of Fortunato from vowing revenge to having the tools in the catacombs ready and waiting. When Montressor and Fortunato reach the end of the catacombs, Montressor continues with his plan and walls Fortunato into the catacombs returning the previous skeleton to its rightful place. At the end of the story, Montressor feels guilty as he tells the story of what happened fifty years prior and tells Fortunato to rest in peace.
Fortunato exhibits extreme narcissism upon himself and fails to see the bigger picture going on around him. Montresor expended a great amount of time in thinking of a way to defeat his prey in his own world. His target had a weakness of lust for wine, in fact he, prided himself in his connoisseurship. Consequently, too much pride can be harmful according to Jessica Tracy, “hubristic pride is related to narcissistic traits like entitlement, arrogance, and egotism” all which Fortunato exemplified (Oprah). Montresor baited Fortunato into his pleasure “As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi” though we never meet Luchesi his character is of lesser rank when it comes to wine connoisseurship (Poe). Montresor was very clever in this quiet deed; he even took the time to provide many outs for Fortunato whether it was concern for his prey’s health or warnings of harsh conditions ahead. Drunk and prideful he could care less about his health during the cold trot through the vaults “The cold is merely nothing… and as for Luchesi, he cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado” thus his narcissistic ways are even selfish to his own temple (Poe). Fortunato ignores his plethora of coughs and implies to move forward while Montresor ensures him that his health is too precious but again triggers him saying Luchesi is in a
He did not show even by words that he is going to kill. Also, he did not let Fortunato to know that he intended any grudge against him “..neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will... He did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation (8-10).” One night while Fortunato was drunk, Montresor told him that he bought a barrel of wine called Amontillado “But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts (25).” He understood that Fortunato “prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine (12).” He attracted him to going to his house to check the drink by saying that he might invite Luchresi to do it, a seeming rival of Fortunato 's, instead “As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchresi. If any one has a critical turn it is he. He will tell me (37-38).” When they left, Montresor put on a mask and quickly took the way to his property. He was sure nobody could see them together on Fortunato 's last night. Moreover, Montresor completely knew Fortunato and used the knowledge versus him. He planned his deed carefully and carried it out slowly. It seems that Montresor anticipated his revenge with joy. While they traveled down the cavern, Montresor gives Fortunato many opportunities to leave. Fortunato looks weak against the niter, which is growing on the walls, and repeatedly coughs. Montresor commented on Fortunato 's health and asked
A main theme presented in “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is that Montresor shows obsession with the murder of fortunato. This is exemplified by Montresor’s precise planning, carefulness and slowness of speed in the process.
Montresor begins to be overtaken by his retribution almost immediately. His fascination with deception is his weak point. Montresor plans a revenge that would satisfy him for the insults that have been committed against him. While doing so he wants to be stealthy and states “it must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will” (141) He continues to deceive Fortunato by lying to him about the pipe of Amontillado and playing on his nature of a wine connoisseurship. Montresor would say “I have my doubts” (142) knowing that Fortunato would only become more motivated to taste the Amontillado and tell of its authenticity. It is this deception that he becomes carried away with. This becomes a game for Montresor. He uses Fortunato as a pawn, and plays each move very carefully.
Fortunato is depicted from the outset of the tale as arrogant and egotistical. Montressor begins his narration by saying, "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge" (240). Though the exact nature of the insult is not made known, there are numerous examples of subtle slights by Fortunato throughout the narrative. Perhaps Fortunato is unaware that his comments are frequently demeaning but his remarks make him seem arrogant and uncaring. Early in the story, he indicates his belief that Montressor is not a true connoiss...
Edgar Allan Poe is one of greatest American authors and poets. He is well-known as a master of using irony in his story. “The Cask of Amontillado” is a horror story about revenge of Montresor upon Fortunato. Fortunato believes Montresor is his good friend, but he ends up with being chained and walled in to the catacombs. There are three types of irony used in this short story: verbal irony, dramatic irony, and situational irony. Using these ironies, Poe wants the readers to understand about Montresor’s “friendship” with Fortunato.
In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” the main character, Montresor, leads his enemy, Fortunato, into his catacombs, and there buries him alive by bricking him up in a niche in the wall; Poe gives no actual reason for this except to say that Montresor has been “insulted” in some way. In his Science Fiction work “Usher II,” Ray Bradbury adopts many of Poe’s works in creating his story—including pieces from “TCoA.” What separates Bradbury’s work from other authors who borrow works and re-imagine them (Gregory Maguire’s Wicked, Geraldine Brooks’s March, and Peter Carrey’s Jack Maggs, for instance), is that “Usher II,” in its imaginative way, is trying to be one with its predecessor. Bradbury seeks to retain Poe’s love of the double and the secretive (Gothic mentalities where the reader is meant to be a bit uncertain about what they’re reading and what’s going on) while adding, most notably regarding “TCoA,” the things Poe never had much care for: a beginning, an end, and reason—thus making “Usher II” not only an homage to Poe’s work, but a companion piece whose beating heart lies within the original work.
“People are often vain of their most criminal passions; but envy is one passion so mean and low that nobody will admit it” Francois de la Rochefoucauld(1613-1680), a French philosopher, once stated and that statement summarizes the undertone of A Separate Piece by John Knowles. The story is set at a highly competitive boy’s school on the East Coast that sets the perfect stage to develop the storyline. Gene’s insecurity, which led to jealousy of Finny, is the cause of the overall conflict.
This man, Montresor is cunning and manipulative, as he'll get what he wants through trickery or deception. Montresor is sly because he notes that Fortunato is proud for being such a renowned wine connoisseur; therefore he utilizes this exploit to lure him into his trap. And so, Montresor appealed to his confidence of wine expertise by saying, “'As you're engaged I am on the way to Luchesi.' ”(133) This stirs up Fortunato's pride and makes him offer to check Montresor's amontillado instead of Luchesi, his supposed rival in wine expertise. Additionally, he plans the date of his murder on the carnival so Fortunato would be drunk as well as being inconspicuous to wear a mask and a costume so nobody would be able to identify the person that went off with Fortunato. When Fortunato arrives at the vault he makes a scene where he seems genuinely caring and toasts him, “'And I to your long life.' ”(135) The irony is that Fortunato won't have to wait long before his demise and that Montresor only said it to advert suspicion from Fortunato. He managed to trick Fortunato until the very end which proves how clever he is.
In response to “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, revenge can get the best of everyone. Like most individuals, I too have found myself once glaring from the sidelines annoyed. It takes a lot to make a calm person like myself resentful, but similar to Montresor, it is possible to become so aggravated that a revengeful plot begins to form.
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is a frightening and entertaining short story about the severe consequences that result from persistent mockery and an unforgiving heart. Poe’s excellent use of Gothicism within the story sets the perfect tone for a dark and sinister plot of murder to unfold. “The Cask of Amontillado” simply overflows with various themes and other literary elements that result from Poe’s Gothic style of writing. Of these various themes, one that tends to dominant the story as a whole is the theme of revenge, which Poe supports with his sophisticated use of direct and indirect factors, irony, and symbolism.