V. Comparison of New Criticism and New Historicism

B. Text's view contrasts with Critic's

"Nemo me impune lacessit" (Poe 21), Latin meaning no one assails me with impunity. In this one line Poe characterizes The Cask of Amontillado. It is a story of the perfect revenge and why it is unattainable. The main character, Montresor, executes a plan, which he hopes will "punish [Fortunato, the wrongdoer,] with impunity" (18). The short story discloses that the act of revenge is not successful if "retribution overtakes its redresser" and if "the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong" (18). This story revolves around those requirements. The idea of revenge has played a major role in history and even today influences our cul

The setting for the majority of the storyline is in the catacombs under the house of the Montresor family. The catacombs are a very dark long tunnel and can be seen as a symbol of the womb from a Freudian perspective. By entering the catacombs with his father figure and slaying him there, Marie Bonaparte believes that Poe is fighting for his mother figure's affection and destroying his rival for that affection (224-25). During Poe's life he lost his real mother at an early age and then lost his foster mother eleven years later. It is easy to see how in Poe's mind that a link between death and the love of his mother could be formed. The catacombs being a place of death are the yonic symbol for his mothers, which are dead. This coupled with the phallic symbol of the puncheons, which support the catacombs, gives way to the idea that the story represents Poe's innermost desires for revenge against his fathers and the love of his dead mothers. This Psychoanalytical reading differs from that of the New Criticism.

ture. Through Psychoanalytic Criticism the ramifications of revenge will be explored, through New Criticism the story's viewpoint on revenge will be revealed, through New Historicism history's view of revenge will be discussed with a comparison to that of the text, and through Reader Response the critic's reactions to the story will be expounded.

Through four types of analysis the central issue of The Cask of Amontillado is seen to be the act of perfect revenge. What that revenge symbolizes in each analysis differs, yet the results are all the same. It does not matter what we are pursuing we always fall short of perfection. It is no wonder why Montresor failed. Failure is a harsh reality. It has been known to make some men stronger, but for others it breaks them and plagues their mind. He set his goals too high, so he must confess to ease his torment. Whether we are talking about Montresor or Poe it really does not matter. The same holds true for all human kind.

Does Montresor succeed or is he undone by his empathy towards his victim? This is what causes the second response to the story. Throughout the descent to Fortunato's tomb, Montresor inquires about his health stating, "how long have you had that cough!" "We will go back; your health is precious" (20). It is understood that here Montresor is using foreshadowing with irony to help gull his victim. Once Fortunato starts to sober up, he will realize that his pride caused his demise because he passed up his opportunities to escape. Or so this is what we see upon first re-inspection. What if Fortunato had taken Montresor up on the offer to return to the house? We get the idea that killing Fortunato with his own pride is the most important thing to Montresor. If Fortunato would not let his pride get in the way I believe Montresor might have pulled out the rapier and killed him outright. This plays a key role in the last scene. Why does Fortunato no longer answer Montresor's taunts?

The storyline for The Cask of Amontillado is presented as a memory. Montresor is recalling a dark secret, which has been hidden for half a century, and is confessing his crime to an unknown, silent listener. The crime is the taking of a man's life in an act of revenge. The vividness of the storyline shows the importance of the memory to Montresor, for even after fifty years he still recalls such minor details as Fortunato's eyes being "two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication." This memory embodies Montresor's desires, which looking from a Freudian perspective could be the removal of the father and the taking of the mother. Fortunato could be seen as

Some common words found in the essay are:
Cask Amontillado, Fortunato Montresor, Eye Eye, John Allan, Fortunato Answer, Marie Bonaparte, Fortunato Italian, Montresor Fortunato, Agreeing Montresor, Reader Response, cask amontillado, act revenge, perfect revenge, fortunato answer, john allan, confessing crime, revenge 1, fortunato montresor, half century, type irony, nemo impune lacessit, thrust torch remaining, answer thrust torch, remaining aperture fall, fall forth return,
Approximate Word count = 2469
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)