Self-annihilation in The Cask of Amontillado
It is now generally common that Poe’s writings draw on his personal problems. William Bittner, the author of Poe: A Biography even suggests that Montresor and Fortunato in the Cask of Amontillado "are two sides of the same man—Edgar Poe" (218). There exist countless interpretations of the story, resulting from Poe’s ability to puzzle his readers and make them rack their brains over the often-ambiguous lines. Disregarding the many explanations that already exist, I will try to point to passages in the story, which could be considered relevant in proving the theory that by killing Fortunato in so monstrous a fashion, Montresor has annihilated his own soul.
Since Poe uses an unreliable narrator, who does not go into detail when it comes to his motive for killing Fortunato, I found it rather difficult to try to reconstruct and arrive at the motivation for his crime. If we consider the theory of self-annihilation true, we need to start looking for some relevant explanation. We learn that Fortunato has done Montresor harm by a thousand injuries, crowned by an insult, which shall be punished with impunity. A man so proud will not let anyone offend his ancestry. Is that, however, the only motive he may have for murdering the man? He says: "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), giving us a complete list of traits he lacks in his own character. Hence, Montresor is Fortunato’s mirror image. The characteristics that assemble in Fortunato are the ones that Montresor despises and wants to lock away and leave to die. One may wonder, whether these traits are not the very part of himself. In Retapping Poe’s “...
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...raves retribution, a murder transforms into a partial suicide. We are only humans and we cope with some of our issues with help of defense mechanisms. Repression resulting in self-annihilation is possible. I must admit that I have not reached a clear conclusion in the question of Montresor’s real motivation. However, I believe that leaving the door open for imagination to come in is what makes some stories last.
Works Cited
Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Cask of Amontillado". Poestories.com, an exploration of stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Web 23 Nov 2013
Bittner, William. "Poe: A Biography", Boston: Little, Brown, 1962., questia.com, Web. 23 Nov 2013
Charles A. Sweet, Jr., "Retapping Poe’s ‘Cask of Amontillado’", eapoe.org, Poe Studies, June 1975, Vol. VIII, No. 1, 8:10-12. Web. 23 Nov 2013
"What Is Schizophrenia?", National Institute of Mental Health. Web. 23 Nov 2013
Poe describes a change in Montresor, a dynamic character’s attitude, toward Fortunato, where in the beginning of the short story, “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor thought of Fortunato as a living thing but near the end he no longer had this thought. In the beginning of the short story, the author described Montresor’s point of view toward Fortunato as acquaintances, which makes the reader think Montresor wasn’t impacted deeply by the incident between him and his “friend”. According to Poe, my dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day!” (Poe, 2). In this quote, Poe conveys the relationship between Montresor and Fortunato. Montresor is considering Fortunato as a friend and greeting him. He also shows his underhandedness because later in the story his feelings change. By the end of the story Montresor’s point of view changed and had gone from compassionate to heartless. For example, after Montresor buried Fortunato alive he mimicked his “friends” screams. “I reechoed -- I aided -- I surpassed them in volume and in strength” (Poe, 6). Montresor had changed his attitude toward Fortunato by this point in the story, he was now only considering the man as nothing more than a sound in the wind.
In "Cask of Amontillado", Montresor is the narrator. "The thousand of injuries of Fortunato he has borne as he best could; but when he ventures upon insult, Montresor vows revenge" (Poe 528). As the story unfolds, "Montresor's idea of perfect revenge" is "characteristically precise and logical in detail" as to how he commits his crime (Delaney 1).
In Edgar Allan Poe’s, “The Cask of Amontillado,” the main character and narrator, Montresor begins the story by expressing how he has put up with many insults from a man named Fortunato and that he has had enough and vows revenge against him. Montresor lures Fortunato into the catacombs to taste the Amontillado so as to kill him secretly. Montresor portrays in the beginning of the story that he is going to be lying to Fortunato’s face, acting one way while really thinking another. This fact indicates that Montresor is an unreliable narrator for telling the story because he lies to people he knows, gives hints that he is jealous of Fortunato, does not offer an explanation for wanting to murder Fortunato and his tone of narrating the story.
Poe, Allan Edgar. “The Cask of Amontillado.” The Norton Introduction to Literature: The Shorter Eleventh Edition. Ed. Spencer Richardson-Jones. New York: Norton, 2013. 164-170. Print.
Edgar Allan Poe has a style that is dark and morbid. His tone is very gloomy and obscure. The tone of “The Cask of Amontillado” is almost tame compared to the tone of “The Black Cat”, his other work we covered. The tone of that work is almost maddening. “The Cask of Amontillado” tone is very sinister and methodic. Whereas “The Black Cat”, has a pulse to a cadence and rhythm though no clear pattern is established. Poe’s style of writing seems so personal, as a reader I had to remind myself this was fiction. His first-person style of writing is so detailed and intricate it is very easy to become invested in the world he creates. “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Black Cat” both have themes of revenge where the supposed victim is untimely
Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Cask of Amontillado." In An Introduction to Literature, by Sylvan Barnet, William Burto and William E. Cain, 180-185. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006.
Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Cask of Amontillado." Literature for Composition. Sylvan Barnet, et al, eds. 4th ed. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. 153-57.
Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Cask of Amontillado." Reading and Writing about Literature. Phillip Sipiora. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2002. 240-244.
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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.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “ The Cask Of Amontillado.” Heritage Of American Literature .Ed. james E. Miller.Vol.2.Austin:Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,1991.20.Print.
Edgar Allen Poe’s gruesomely fascinating tale of vengeance and murder, “The Cask of Amontillado”, achieves its effect only through its usage of the first person point of view. This unusual perspective enables the reader to view the characters and conflicts through the eyes of the narrator, as he first discusses and justifies, and eventually, carries out his plans for the ruthless murder of his friend. The eerie tone and disorienting and materialistically-related setting of the story contribute to its theme of defending one’s honor and name and avenging all wrongdoings, even something so small as an insult.
Womack, Martha. “Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado.’” The Poe Decoder. Christoffer Nilsson, 1997. n.pag. Web. 6 Nov. 2011 .
Poe, Edgar Allan. “That Cask of Amontillado.” Ibiblio. U of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.d.