Evil In The Cask Of Amontillado

What is evil, how do you see evil. Do you see it as something that people develop or a characteristic that someone is born with. One may define evil as, an action that disregards the moral of other sentient beings; however, others might define it as causing the hurting of living organism. Though the actions of someone might not be inherently evil, it is up to a society to decide what they think of a character's actions. Thus, we have been tasked to be the deciding factor on who is more evil. General Zaroff from “The Most Dangerous Game”, or Montresor from “The Cask of Amontillado”.

More importantly, instead of jumping to conclusions, it would be of the utmost importance to introduce our characters and their conditions before we place the title of the “most evil” upon them. Hence, I

introduce General Zaroff, a highly skilled big-game hunter, has hunted some of the most dangerous animals on this planet, which are sent to his private island and set loose. Unfortunately, he has the feeling of unrest as his prey becomes easier and easier to track down, therefore, he sees his last option for fun hunting the more resourceful humans for sport. Giving them 3 days to try and survive against his pursuit, usually ending up in the demise of said people. Though, most of the people he hunts are petty criminals and thieves. Unsurprisingly, he also does many things that can greatly affect the mentality of his hunties, like offering the illusion of choice, and toying with them after he’s already “won” the game.

While, on the other hand, we have Montresor.

In the story which Montresor is involved, he tells his close friend of the downfall and murder of Fortunato, who has supposedly caused the falling in status of his family name. This drives our main character to decide to murder him under the means of revenge. Though this leads us into our conflict, “Who’s more evil?”, there had been some issues with the murder of Fortunato. A large example is the lack of reason for his murder, as stated in the beginning of the story, "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", though this ends up not being followed through, as Fortunato is completely clueless to his “friends” motive, as Montresor only mocks Fortunato's cries for help, not even dispelling his possible motives. Not the mention the way that Fortunato fell into death, as he was locked in a damp cell in the dark where he was restricted, this could lead to things such as starvation and dying from thirst, or his wrists could start to rot from lack of blood flow and the shackles constantly rubbing against his

hands.

Consequently, I think that this has settled the question of who is more evil. Due to the lack of no clear motivation and causing the extended suffering, possibly up to 20 days, of Fortunato. I personally believe that Montresor is the most evil. Though others might feel differently, it simply comes down to how someone evaluates a position. As one could argue that since General Zaroff had taken more lives, though his is legally justifiable in the sense that those people were trespassing, that he was the more evil one. Yet, I personally believe that it’s how those people will feel in their last moments, while General Zaroff's victims might be scarred for 3 days at most, those who went through Montresor would be put in a situation where they couldn't move for weeks and would most likely die from either an infection, starvation, or dehydration. All of which, to me, would be worse than death by Gunshot.