Pride In The Cask Of Amontillado

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” deals with the inebriation and, ultimately, the live burial of the antagonist, Fortunato. The most prominent motifs in the story are revenge and pride, conveyed through Poe’s use of irony and symbolism, both of which are also used to show that one cannot truly “punish with impunity” as the protagonist, Montresor, so claims to do, thus tying in the nature of guilt as a theme. “The Cask of Amontillado” allows the reader to enter the mind of a murderer, as the story is largely told from the point of view of Montresor, who wants to exact revenge against Fortunato because “he ventured upon insult,” which Montresor views as a slight against him. Therefore, the revenge Montresor so desires is also a point of pride; his pride has been wounded, so Montresor feels that by avenging the

Because of it, Montresor believes that if he does not make his role in Fortunato’s fate known to the man himself, then his revenge will have been for nothing. Montresor’s pride is symbolized in the way he describes his family’s coat of arms as a shield with a “huge human foot” that appears “in a field azure” while crushing a serpent “whose fangs are embedded in the heel” as well as in his family’s motto, “nemo me impune lacessit.” The individual details of the coat of arms are also symbolic of Fortunato (represented by the serpent) and Montresor (represented by the foot). The “field azure” as well juxtaposes the dark, gloomy catacombs the story takes place in. The phrase that Montresor claims to be his family’s motto, which translates to “no one attacks me with impunity,” implies that the coat of arms Montresor describes is not real, and is simply Montresor’s fantasy of what he wants to happen, as well as acting as a dramatic irony, given that it is an obvious hint of Montresor’s plan that Fortunato