Villains In Poe's The Cask Of Amontillado

In “The Cask of Amontillado” Poe creates suspense through foreshadowing with words with strong connotations which creates anticipation in the reader. Within the short story there are multiple examples of foreshadowing throughout. The narrator “vowed revenge”(1) on Fortunato,but then further emphasizes his point by stating, “I must not only punish, but punish with impunity” (1). One understands the speaker’s intensity to fulfill his desire, while being unaware of the process. Poe creates a very dark and heavy tone using words with strong connotation. It expresses the passion and commitment within Montresor to complete the deed. From this quotation one can understood that the speaker will release his revenge intensely as the quotation also represents

Poe’s style of distress and madness evokes distrust of the narrator, Montresor is unreliable due to his questionable mental state. The narrator deluded Fortunato by luring him into the catacombs with evil intentions, which only makes the audience question: if he can deceive Fortunato, he might also be deceiving the audience. Montresor has no remorse/empathy, when he effused,“As I said this I lifted the last stone from the ground.‘Montresor! For the love of God!’ ‘Yes. For the love of God!’ I heard no answer. ‘Fortunato!’ I cried... I heard only a soft, low sound, a half-cry of fear. My heart grew sick; it must have been the cold. I hurried to force the last stone into its position. And I put the old bones again in a pile against the wall. For

Montresor has held this grudge against his friend who according to him had given him “thousands of injuries.” This grudge he has makes him vindictive as he seeks revenge against Fortunato for his insult against him. His family’s motto is “Nemo me impune lacessit" meaning “No one attacks me with impunity”. The motto implies that the entire Montresor family history is filled with acts of revenge. Montresor becomes obsessed with his vengeance and when he has Fortunato chained to the wall he mocks at his cries and moaning, “I replied to the yells of him who clamored. I re-echoed, I aided, I surpassed them in volume and in strength.” Montrosor never mentions what the insulting act was which can tell us that the actual act wasn’t as important as him just getting some sort of revenge.

Montresor is hurt from what Fortunato caused him and that is pain due to the things he has done to lead up to the events. It states “ THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat.”(Poe 1).  Montresor has hatred towards Fortunato, who caused damage inside him mentally making him want a form of revenge back at him. The mood of the story starts off with hatred, but now as Montresor and Fortunato are the catacombs causing the scene go to spooky. It says “Its walls had been lined with human remains piled to the vaults overhead in the fashion of the great catacombs of  Paris.”(Poe 5). Catacombs is a very odd place to look for wine because of what’s stored inside of it. One can see from this that Montresor and Fortunato have arrived to the catacombs which causes the mood of the story to change due to dead bodies surrounding them. Edgar Allan Poe expressed every detail and helped the readers envision the events with his mood changes.

“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is a story full of irony. Irony is defined as a literary technique in which what appears differs radically from what is actually the case. In addition, irony can be divided into three groups: dramatic, verbal, and situational. Dramatic irony is when the readers notice something before the characters do. Verbal irony is when the characters say something that differs significantly from what they really mean. Situational irony is when the actual result is different from what was initially expected. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Poe combines all of these ironies to tell the story and to construct the personalities of the characters in an entertaining way.

In the story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe a guy named Montresor is seeking revenge on Fortunato because he insulted him. In my opinion Montresor is taking this way to far when he says he wants to kill him just because he said something bad about him. When he says this I can easily see that the narrator is very violent and has a sick mind.

In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Poe depicts Montresor as someone who acts on behalf of his family’s honor and pride rather than someone acting on personal vendetta. In the beginning, Montresor is narrating his own story of how he enacted his revenge by killing Fortunato. According to Montresor, his retaliation against Fortunato seems to be because of previous transgressions on Montresor or his family even though we have no indication of any of Fortunato's actual transgressions against Montresor and his family (White 552). Poe never provides a complete explanation of what Fortunato did to Montresor to warrant his own death, but according to Professor Mustafa, “The exact nature of the ‘insult’ Fortunato has supposedly inflicted upon Montresor remains unclear to us, though it appears that the former has somehow hurt the latter's family or family honor.” Mustafa’s point makes sense because of the many things that Poe uses to hint at the disrespect that Fortunato has shown the Montresor family. One instance that supports Montresor’s actions as being for revenge rather than murder is when Montresor tells Fortunato about his noble ancestry. Fortunato replies saying, “I forgot your arms,” implying that Fortunato believes that Montresor’s family is not worth remembering (Stewart 81). Since Fortunato

Montresor plans his revenge exhaustively, so that he can punish with impunity. A sinister mood was created when the author states,”THE thousand of injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.”(1). This quote shows how Montresor's obsession of revenge began When he had the right to take punishment into his own hands. This creates a sinister mood because it is at this moment that Montresor begins his plot of revenge. Edgar Allan Poe reinforces the eerie mood when he says,”AT LENGTH I would be avenged; this was a point definitively settled -- But the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk.”(1). In this quote, it explicitly states, Montresor knows he must be avenged without being caught. This shows importance because Montresor has think about how to get away with his revenge and that adds a whole layer of suspense to the story. It is also important because it shows how Montresor thinks in a evil way. Both of these reasons create an eerie mood for the reader. In both of these quotes, the creepy

In “The Cask”, the perspective we are given on the story is limited; which allows for an open interpretation of what his true motives for revenge are. As Baraban states “Montresor elaborates a sophisticated philosophy of revenge: "I must not only punish, but punish with impunity” (48) presenting the reader with a vibrant view of what he intends to do. The question one begs is, for what reason? Most readers would finish this story and assert that mentally, Montresor is insane. As Baraban states, “Poe's intriguing silence about the nature of the insult that made Montresor murder Fortunato has given rise to explanations of Montresor's deed through insanity. Richard M. Fletcher, for example, maintains that Montresor's actions are irrational and that therefore he is mad.” (50) Montresor states at the opening of the story, “you,who so well know the nature of my soul”( are words likely said on his death bed to his confessor; being that he committed this deed fifty years prior, it would make sense that he is finally coming clean. Moreover, since he is commenting on the nature of his soul, it is plausible to assume that Montresor has been deemed crazy

The story begins with Montresor explaining to the reader as a narrator that a man named Fortunato has insulted and hurt him for a great deal of time. Montresor never explains what exactly Fortunato did to him, but considering how they interact with one another at the start of the story, it is very possible Poe knew about how real killers through history have been mentally disturbed in a way that warps how they view reality, such as taking great

One component of  human nature is revenge. In the book “The Cask of Amontillado”, Fortunato insulted Montresor in a way that Montresor wanted him to be hurt like he was hurt. Montresor states “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could”(Poe 3). Montresor was mad at Fortunato for these insults. He later states “At length I would be avenged”(Poe).  Fortunato, however,  wasn’t aware of this plot though. Fortunato, a very prideful man, was tricked into tasting some wine that Montresor said wasn’t what he thought it was.  Fortunato was then dragged down into the catacombs below Montresor’s house to taste the wine, but what Fortunato didn’t know was what Montresor really wanted. He went to a place where there was a door, Fortunato was shackled to the inside and Montresor put bricks to close it up while Fortunato slowly and painfully died of what nobody knows, it could have been dehydration, starvation, it will be forever unknown. Montresor felt that because of what Fortunato did to him, he needed to die. Montresor was driven by revenge to kill Fortunato.

In the text montresor says”my heart grew sick on account of the dampness of the catacombs”(poe 67). Montresor is saying he feels bad for what he is doing and he feels sick in his heart To where he doesn't want to go through with it. But he thinks to the fact that he has made fun of him. In that case he continued down the catacombs and on with the murder. He thinks he is going to bring justice to himself but he loves the fact that he is taking Fortunato to his death. James F. Cooney says “ He seems to be unaware but the reader is not ,of the gleeful tone of his confession”(Cooney 15 ). At first Montresor acts as though he does not know what he is doing wrong. Suddenly he feels sick and knows he is wrong but thinks to when fortunato mad fun of him and feels no longer

An FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin contends, “Psychopathy is the most dangerous of the personality disorders. To understand it, one must know some fundamental principles about personality. Individuals' personalities represent who they are; they result from genetics and upbringing and reflect how persons view the world and think the world views them. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Poe directs attention to Montresor who is a man that is tormented by Fortunato sick pranks. Little to be know is that in fact Montresor is a psychopath that will get his revenge. Psychopathy is a mental illness that could possibly be hereditary through genetics. Montresor’s family motto is, “Nemo me impune lacessit” (Poe 6). According to Encyclopedia Britannica Online

A wise man once said, “ Destroy what destroys you.” destroying what destroys you is a common theme of revenge. When it comes to revenge, The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe is the story to go to. The whole story and plot itself revolve around one word. Revenge. The story is based on Montresor wanting revenge for the one who wronged him, Fortunato. Therefore, the theme of The Cask of Amontillado is revenge. The author Edgar Allen Poe uses different literary elements to create this theme. The literary elements Poe uses include: foreshadowing, suspense, and irony.

First, the theme of revenge is shown exceptionally clear by the very first line of the story, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato, I had borne the best I could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” (Poe 236). This line clearly shows that Montresor takes significant pride in not only himself but his family as well. Due to this great pride, he refuses for his family name to be belittled in any way, shape, or form. As mentioned by Elena Baraban, “Montresor elaborates a sophisticated philosophy of revenge.” (Baraban 164). This