Cask of Amontillado
"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." With these ferverous words from the introductory paragraph of Edgar Allan Poe's Cask of Amontillado, the story of Montresor's revenge begins. Poe repeatedly stresses the need for revenge due to bitterness and resentment in Montresor's character towards Fortunato, but more importantly, stress is placed on revenge by which the victim realizes their injustice towards the redresser. Unfortunately, it seems that Montresor is denied this pure and encompassing revenge when his victim, Fortunato, during his last few minutes with Montresor, believes that his actions are a huge charade, and not the actions of a man scorned and seeking revenge. Although in burying Fortunato alive, Montresor is able to physically accomplish what he ultimately desired, he is left with an air of insatisfaction judging by his own definition of true and justified revenge. Poe shows the resentment Montresor feels towards Fortunato from the very first sentence of the story with, "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I c
ould; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge." It is never specified what this injury was to Montresor, but it was so obviously so heinous that Fortunato was not to be spared. Later in the story, Montresor implores Fortunato half-heartedly, "Come, we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was." once again showing strong resentment towards the unsuspecting Fortunato, whom he clearly blames for his present lower status. We soon see foreshadowing of Fortunato's impending doom when the issue of Montresor's shield of Revenge, although executed exactly as Montresor planned, still eluded him by falling short of his own expectations. Physically, Montresor had won this match, but Fortunato had ultimately taken away the sweetness of this victory that Montresor so eagerly yearned. Montresor, although successful in his settling of the score with Fortunato, falls short of what he had said and hoped his act of revenge would be. He achieved his revenge, but at a cost to him, the "redresser". He is left with such a guilty conscience that he is forced to confess to his crime 50 years later. As the "avenger", Montresor also feels he fails to make Fortunato realize that he is exacting revenge upon him, as shown by his frustration wh
Some common words found in the essay are:
Unfortunately Montresor, Montresor Fortunato, Noble Fortunato, Cask Amontillado, , Fortunato Revenge, Physically Montresor, Fortunato Montresor, shrill screams, family honor, revenge victim, fortunato realize, montresor feels, towards fortunato, fortunato noble, noble fortunato,
Approximate Word count = 878
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
