The Alluring Amontillado

The Alluring Amontillado

Revenge is the act of retaliation for an offense or injury caused to a person by another. The act of revenge can become an overpowering and consuming emotion that involves every part of someone’s existence. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” revenge is the theme that runs throughout the story and drives the motive for murder. The character, Montresor, uses revenge as his motive for killing Fortunato. Fortunato is reminiscent of a fatherly character, which elicits painful memories for Montresor. In eliminating Fortunato, Montresor assumes the role that places him closest to the affections of a motherly figure. Edgar Allan Poe’s life is reflective of the motivations of Montresor’s actions and how the Oedipus complex is featured in this short story.

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1809 to parents who were actors at the local theatre. He never knew his father, David Poe, who died in 1810 after abandoning Poe’s mother shortly after Poe was born. His mother, who suffered from consumption, died in Richmond, Virginia in late 1811, orphaning Edgar, his older brother William Henry, and half-sister Rosalie. Soon after their mother’s death, the children were separated and sent to relatives or other families to be raised. Edgar had very little contact with his siblings after their mother’s death.

A planter and his wife, who lived in Richmond Virginia, accepted Poe into their family, but never formally adopted him. From the childless wife of Mr. John Allan, Edgar received extensive affection, but it was improbable that she was ever able to give all the affection that he craved from his deceased birth mother. Mr. Allan regarded Edgar with mute affection and mostly offered money in place of any physi...

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... who was forever searching for that one elusive person who could give him the validation he so wanted. He appears to have placed so much value on the affections of a mother who would forever be absent. Montresor, in Poe’s fictional story, was successful in committing the revengeful deed he sought. Fortunato, from his grave, forever haunted the lonesome soul of Montresor.

Works Cited

May, Charles E. Edgar Allan Poe: A Study of the Short Fiction. Boston: Twayne, 1991. Print.

Poe, Edgar. “The Cask of Amontillado.” The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. 533-537. Print.

Pruette, Lorine. "A Psycho-Analytical Study of Edgar Allan Poe." The American Journal of Psychology 31.4 (1920): 370-402. JSTOR. Web. 31 Mar. 2012. .