Cask Of The Amontillado, By Edgar Allan Poe - 1373 Words

In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story Cask of the Amontillado, the main character Fortunato undergoes being buried alive, essentially, in the wine cellar in his own estate. The person responsible for this death is a man named Montresor. The theme in this tale is that of revenge. Montresor, the main antagonist and murderer, claims his vengeance is justified and that while he is committing a crime he is doing so justifiably. Raymond Struckhart of Berlin University, in Germany also concurs my position; by also claiming Montresor is to blame. The argument in this paper is that Montresor is not only delusional to his claims of justification, but also that his crime of killing Fortunato is not justified; and that in fact it is out right murder. Therefore to reiterate the thesis of this paper is, the killing of Fortunato by the hands of Montresor, despite his claims of justification, is just an excuse for murder and not justified by any means. The paper examines the work of Raymond Stuckh art, Elizabeth Dowager, and Barbara Cane as proof to my claims. The paper begins by identifying what â€Å"injury† Fortunato enacted upon Montresor and its justifiability. Next the paper examines the correlation between pure revenge and Montresor s warped sense of morality and justice. With this in mind, one can deduce the guilty nature of Montresor and lack of justification. Keywords: murder, justification, revenge Justifiable Revenge: An excuse for what is plain murder. In the short story, CaskShow MoreRelatedThe Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe888 Words   |  4 PagesThe Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe In ?The Cask of Amontillado?, Edgar Allan Poe takes us on a trip into the mind of a mad man. Poe uses certain elements to convey an emotional impact. He utilizes irony, descriptive detail of setting, and dark character traits to create the search of sinful deceit. Poe also uses first person, where the narrator is the protagonist who is deeply involved. The purpose is to get the reader to no longer be the observer. He wants them to see with MontressorRead MoreThe Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe836 Words   |  3 Pagesqualities in the story. In the story many things are used as symbols such as the actual cask of amontillado, the trowel, the jester costume and the setting in which there is two in the story. Another literary technique used significantly in the story is irony. Irony is the expression of ones meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite. In the short story â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado,† Montresor a very troubled man who plans to seek revenge on another man named FortunatoRead MoreEdgar Allan Poe And The Cask Of Amontillado1384 Words   |  6 PagesWhat makes Edgar Allan Poe work unique? Other than being a strange individual, Poe has become a remarkable literature writer. 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Later, heRead MoreThe Cask Of Amontillado By Edgar Allan Poe920 Words   |  4 Pageswhen that trust no longer exists? In â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† written by Edgar Allan Poe, Fortunato is about to find the answer to this question. On the surface, Montresor seems friendly with Fortunato, but deep down he feels nothing but hate for him. Could this hatred have an irrationality that only Montresor understands? In different ways, both of these men are proud and affluent, yet both have downfalls that will l ead to a tragic ending. Edgar Allan Poe’s use of language contributes to the understandingRead MoreThe Cask Of Amontillado By Edgar Allan Poe1555 Words   |  7 PagesIn his writing, Edgar Allan Poe has multiple uses of direct and indirect characterization. In The Cask of Amontillado, Montresor had rules such as â€Å"I must not only punish but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong† (Poe, 2). Poe used indirect characterization to show the reader that Montresor is an unreliable narrator because he justified hisRead MoreThe Cask Of Amontillado By Edgar Allan Poe1303 Words   |  6 PagesIn Edgar Allan Poe’s â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado,† the narrator recalls an extremely significant time in his life, and takes the reader along with him. Throughout the story, one experiences a perfectly planned murder which took place over fifty years ago, and still no one has discovered what truly happened to poor Fortunato as he was chained to a wall in a room that was then closed off, and torched to death due to all the nitre in the walls. As the story goes on, the reader can see some of Poe’s unfortunateRead MoreThe Cask Of Amontillado By Edgar Allan Poe1076 Words   |  5 PagesThe short story, The Cask of Amontillado, written by Edgar Allan Poe is a story of terror and betrayal. Like many of Poe’s literary works, the story has a dark undertone with a theme of terror and depression. More than half a century ago, Marshall McLuhan argued that though Poe was fascinated by evil, the evil that he had in mind was not that of Calvinism, but that of the split man and the split civilization. In general, McLuhan was right, but in this instance Calvinism, and its God, provided a darkRead MoreThe Cask Of Amontillado By Edgar Allan Poe707 Words   |  3 PagesIn the short story of The Ca sk of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe writes in first person point of view from the perspective of Montresor who seeks revenge against Fortunato. Montresor began to develop the perfect plan for revenge. During the carnival season, Montresor meets with Fortunato and decides to implement his plan carefully through irony. Poe s story describes the murderer s mind which has lived as a memory of Fortunato s death for fifty years. Poe uses different types of irony and symbolismRead MoreThe Cask Of Amontillado By Edgar Allan Poe985 Words   |  4 PagesEdgar Allen Poe is a well known author of short stories and poetry from the 19th century. He is known especially for his stories of horror and suspense. The Cask of Amontillado is one of his more famous pieces. The story follows the narrator, Montresor, as he exacts revenge on Fortunato. Montressor draws Fortunato into the wine cellar where eventually he chains Fortunato to the wall and encloses him inside it. Throughout the story the narrator continually proves that he is not the most reliable source