Theme Of Revenge In The Cask Of Amontillado

His superego is telling him all the things that could go wrong, but his ego is telling Montresor to go through with getting revenge by murdering Fortunato. Kevin J. Hayes states in his book The Annotated Poe, that the motivation for Montresor to murder Fortunato was Poe’s own desire to get revenge on a former friend, Thomas Dunn English (Hayes 351). Montresor, like Edgar Allan Poe, felt like he has been wronged and needed to punish that person. Fortunato shows up wearing a motley, similar to a joker’s attire. Scott Peoples says in the book “Social and psychological Disorder in the Works of Edgar Allan Poe” that his belief is that Montresor is committing this murder out of an act of jealousy.

The story begins with Montresor’s monologue, explaining why he wants to take revenge on Fortunado, actually a friend of him. “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge”. Although the writer doesn’t give the detail explanation of what, on earth, Fortunato did by the “thousand injuries”, we can still feel the anger of Montresor, burning in his mind. He wants to revenge, using his own way. “It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will.

Edgar Allen Poe's The Cask of Amontillado Edgar Allen Poe's brings us a twisted tale of vengeance and horror in "The Cask of Amontillado." Poe's character, Montresor, acts as our guide and narrator through this story. He grabs a hold of the reader as he tells the story from his own apathetic and deceptive mind to gain vengeance from the weak and dismal Fortunato. Montresor's mentality is disturbing as he uses his clever, humor, ironic symbolism, and darkness to accomplish this. At the beginning of the story, Montresor tells us that he has vowed vengeance on Fortunato.

Verbal irony can be found at the very beginning when Montresor says, “ At length I would be avenged” (Baym 714-715). This passage is referring to the perceived insult that was caused by Fortunato on Montresor and the revenge, which Montresor plans on taking out on him. The “length” as referred to in the passage, is, I

Othello is a famous literal work of Shakespeare. In most of his literal writings he addresses the ideas and concepts of human behavior, varying from love, to hate, to revenge and many other aspects. In Othello, he presents yet another masterpiece which talks about the tragedy of noble hero who is brought down and destroyed by a human flaw which is jealousy. Othello is a domestic tragedy and encompasses various timeless themes that include; love, revenge, hate, jealousy and trust (Feather, p. 244). This essay concentrates on the theme of revenge and how the various characters exhibit revenge in their actions.

One’s pride can either lead to justice or to revenge depending on the morals of the actions taken. In Edgar Allan Poe’s terrifying fictional short story “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor murders the narcissistic Fortunato to at first repair and then avenge his family’s honor and is solidified by renowned scholar Elena V. Baraban’s “The Motive for Murder in ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ by Edgar Allan Poe.” Throughout the story Poe navigates the paths of justice and revenge through restoring honor to the noble Montresor family name. Every wrong must be corrected, because justice is a show of morality. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Poe illustrates justice through Montresor restoring his family’s honor by putting Fortunato in his place after he insults Montresor’s pride when he pompously said that he forgot Montresor’s coat of arms (Poe 5) right after Montresor stated that “the Montresors were a great…family” (Poe 5). Montresor’s past tense use of “were” in reference to the Montresor family greatness implies a falling out that was most likely caused by Fortunato because of his slur against the Montresor family symbol during a time when family status meant everything.

Fortunato, a respected and feared man, is a proud connoisseur of fine wine, and, at least on the night of the story, he clouds his senses and judgment by drinking too much of it. What ever Fortunato had done to Montresor or his family must have been so unforgivable to make Montresor do such an evil deed. I believe that Poe is using the old saying keep your friends close but your enemies closer My conclusion to the story “the cask of amontillado” is that Poe creates a story that makes you want to read on find out if Montressor will succeed in his crime and will he get away with it?. The writer uses very good atmosphere to captivate the reader and make the scene feel chilling and scary. Poe creates a nightmare, guaranteed to give the reader a sleepless night.

These characteristics are first seen when Montresor vows revenge on his rival, Fortunato for a simple insult. Of course, this revenge is the murder of his rival. However, before proceeding any further, an important note should be made, that is, the beginning of Montresor’s descent into insanity as a result of these uncontrollable emotions. This idea is apparent when Montresor goes about plotting the perfect revenge (murder). The narrator, Montresor wants to not only get away with killing his rival, but he wants to do so in a way that prevents the man from knowing of the narrator’s cruel ... ... middle of paper ... ...the points mentioned if one was to go back to the question is there a deeper, darker meaning to Poe’s fiction “The Cask of Amontillado”?

One who is full of wrath towards a “friend” and is seeking revenge, another who is prideful and has gluttony over wine. Fortunato knows his wine as far as the year, the fragrance it has and the different qualities of the wine. He is always insulting Montresor saying he knew nothing about wine like he does. Montresor wants to plan revenge against Fortunato for every insult he has said to him and it being carnival time he sees it’s the perfect time to do so. He must be smart and have a well thought out plan.

Edgar Allan Poe’s stories are credited for having horror-filled endings. Usually darkness is considered to be a good representative of evil, so the setting in “The Cask of Amontillado” is at night-time. This story deals with the jealousy, revenge and, more importantly, wounded family honor. A man named Montresor, whose name is not discovered till the end of story, is seeking vengeance on Fortunato, who has irreparably insulted him. The very first sentence: “THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge”, supports the theme of revenge (Poe 161).