Jealousy In The Cask Of Amontillado

To be jealous is to be overwhelmed and furious at the thought of lacking achievements, advantages, and possessions they desire, specifically (not limited to) of another person. Gary Allan wisely stated, “You can be the moon and still be jealous of the stars.” In other words, jealousy can overtake somebody in various ways, no matter how preposterous. It can range from an inane, eye twitching feeling a student may have for receiving a dreadful grade to a more momentous, overbearing, gut-wrenching feeling like a man losing his wife to another man. “The Destructors” by Graham Greene, “The Rocking-Horse Winner” by T.H Lawrence, and “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe are all phenomenal short stories that include conflicts, all of which

After countless injuries that Fortunato presents to Montressor, he still endures them all. However, Montressor’s jealousy eventually gets to the best of him when he relentlessly describes, “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. At length, I would be avenged…he did not perceive at the time that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation” (Poe 3). Although it is not directly stated, it is clear he is jealous of Fortunato’s rights of insulting him and desires to relinquish this insult, whatever it might be. In addition, Montressor’s actions display what jealousy can psychologically do to a person and the bizarre and incredible lengths people would go to to overtake this jealousy. Likewise, Fortunato is also affected by jealousy because it is used to trick him into his own decease by Montressor. They talk about his fresh wine, debating whether it is real or simply a cheap brand as Montressor reassures him by saying, “As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi. If any one has a critical turn, it is he. He will tell me” (4). Astonished, Fortunato replies, “Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from sherry…Come, let us go…To your vaults” (4). Inevitably, he grows jealous upon

The way jealousy is portrayed throughout this story is through greed as the characters all agree, “Although they lived in style, they felt always an anxiety in the house. There was never enough money” (Lawrence 1223). As a whole, the lack of money causes the entire family to be jealous of other families and ultimately cause unexpected actions. For instance, when Oscar discovers his nephew always gambles and wins on horse races, he is skeptical of the idea of gambling at first, but eventually the narrator states, “He became a partner. And when the Leger was coming on, Paul was sure about Lively Spark, which was quite an inconsiderable horse…Paul had made ten thousand…Even Oscar Cresswell had cleared two thousand” (1230). This explains how Oscar’s covetousness for money causes his mindset to change for not punishing his nephew for deliberately sneaking out to gamble, continues to let him do so, and begins to participate in this outrageous activity himself. This imparts readers that being desirous can cause irresponsibly, but more importantly, cause a mental mindset to change. In the same way, Paul is resentful of the absence of money in the family, riding his magic rocking horse for as long as humanly possible. One day, he is trying to discern the next winner to the race after losing when his mom sees him yelling, “’It’s