Compare And Contrast The Cask Of Amontillado By Sandra Cisneros

“Revenge only engenders violence, not clarity and true peace. I think liberation must come from within” Sandra Cisneros. Cisneros is saying that with revenge only comes violence; it won’t free people from anything. Only acceptance and moving on will unshackle someone from what revenge would only lock them into. Simply put, revenge creates a prison in one’s own mind seeking out that revenge will not lead to freedom. In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” and Kurt Wimmer’s Law Abiding Citizen both storylines reflect on this idea that when a person seeks revenge he or she is really building a prison of guilt. Similarities are best found between the setting and the plot whereas the characters differ throughout each story.

The settings from both stories share the idea that revenge creates a prison in a person’s mind. Not only is the prison from Law Abiding

Citizen and the catacombs from “The Cask of Amontillado” physical places where they seek out their revenge, but are also places where Clyde and Montresor develop the idea that revenge is not only created physically but mentally as well. This is best shown in “The Cask of Amontillado” when Montresor says, “I had finished a portion of the last and the eleventh; there remained but a single stone to be fitted and plastered in. I struggled with its weight; I placed it partially in its destined position.” (Poe 214) The stones that Montresor places together represent the prison that is both built physically and mentally. This idea is similarly shown when Clyde expresses his hate towards his cell in prison. He states, “I want one of those really nice beds. I just…I can’t think straight without a nice sleep. The bed in my cell is just so lumpy.” Irony is shown while Clyde is in prison because he hates his cell, but it was all part of his plan from the beginning to go to prison. By going to prison, Clyde starts to develop the so called prison inside his head. As a result, the setting in both stories create what leads to the idea that revenge builds a mental prison. Similarities are not only shown in setting, but also in the plot of the stories.
Both plots relate to each other due to the significance of revenge.

Characters from each story are wronged and seek revenge but come to find out that revenge is not always the right answer. For example, in “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor says at the end of the story, “Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them.” (Poe 214) This simply expresses that he sought out his revenge but eventually was unable to keep it a secret hence why he is sharing this story out of guilt fifty years later. This idea is also expressed in Law Abiding Citizen when Clyde states, “I’m just getting started. I’m gonna pull the whole thing down. I gonna bring the whole diseased corrupt temple down on your heads. It’s gonna be Biblical.” At this point in the movie, Clyde is perceived to be driven crazy with the idea of revenge. This is a perfect example of the idea that people have the ability to develop a mental prison while seeking revenge. However, the characters in both stories reflect differences in their idea of

revenge.
The character, Montresor, from the “The Cask of Amontillado” and Clyde Shelton, the character from Law Abiding Citizen, have similar ideas of revenge but both have their own ways of seeking it. For example, Montresor is secretly planning revenge against Fortunato while Clyde is openly arranging revenge against people that did him wrong. The quote by Clyde Shelton, “Well, justice should be harsh Nick…especially for those who denied it to others,” expresses Clyde’s strong views on his open revenge against those who mistreated him and his family. On the contrary, the passage “There were no attendants at home…I had told them that I should not return until the morning, and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house. These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappearance, one and all, as soon as my back was turned”, (Poe 210) from “The Cask of Amontillado,” explains the secrecy behind Montresor’s plot of revenge. Nevertheless, both characters are essentially seeking revenge but both use different methods to accomplish their vengeance.
In conclusion, the idea that revenge does not lead to freedom, but rather captivates a person’s mind, is best shown through the plot and setting of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” and Kurt Wimmer’s Law Abiding Citizen. The methods of revenge differ between characters of both stories. The method of secrecy is Montresor’s way of seeking revenge while Clyde openly pursues his revenge. Unknowingly, both characters are driven crazy by their choice of revenge which strengthens the idea that revenge will essentially never lead to freedom.