Guilt can take over after an immoral act, or it can leave the person completely unaffected. An example of this is shown in “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe where he writes a story of a man, Montresor, who is terribly offended by Fortunato. While the readers don't know what Fortunato did to offend, they do know that Montresor wishes to seek revenge. He kills Fortunato and feels no guilt in the end. Likewise in “Killings” by Andre Dubus where he writes of a man, Frank, who was killed because he was having an affair with another man’s, Richard, ex-wife. The father and a friend seek revenge and kill Richard. The reader sees in the end that Frank’s father, Matt, feels very guilty about his immoral act. In Edgar Allen Poe's "The Cask …show more content…
Montresor is an example of one who did not feel guilt after seeking revenge and committing an immoral act. Poe writes, “A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser.” (“The Cask of Amontillado”). This quote shows that Montresor was planning his revenge and felt that it was completely justified. He didn’t feel guilty about planning the murder and didn’t feel guilty after the fact. It’s ironic how the readers know what will happen to Fortunato, but he himself doesn’t know. One who seeks revenge doesn’t always feel guilty after the fact because they feel it is …show more content…
Similar to Poe, Dubus uses foreshadowing as well to show how guilt can be felt if one seeks revenge. Dubus writes, “Steve, turned to him as the family left the grave and walked between their friends, and said: ‘I should kill him.’” This quote is very straight forward in the way that it foreshadows to the readers. It is mentioned that Strout should be killed very early on in the story, and that ends up being his fate. Considering they were just leaving the grave of Frank, grief and sadness was among the family and probably things such as this that wasn’t necessarily meant to happen. This was the same as when Matt and Willis committed the murder. They didn’t think about how this would affect them, the people surrounding them, or the situation. After the murder, Matt realized he made things worse than they were before and felt extremely guilty. Intense emotional situations can cause people to feel regretful and guilty after seeking revenge. Irony, symbolism, and foreshadowing are used to convey how guilt is sometimes and sometimes not felt after seeking revenge. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” it’s ironic how the reader knows Montresor’s intentions and knows Forunato’s fate, but Fortunato doesn’t know what his future will turn out to look
It is constantly seen that people take revenge on each other in the real world so it comes to no surprise that Montresor is taking revenge on Fortunato. Specifically in this story Montresor will feel better if he “not only punish but punish with impunity” (108 Poe). But further on what I found to even more realistic was that this wasn’t normal revenge, this was pure mastermind torture. Montresor knew that Fortunato was sick with Montresor saying “…but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted”(109 Poe) regarding that he didn’t want Fortunato to come down to his vaults, but Montresor true intentions were wanting Fortunato to fight Montresor request of not coming, and it worked. Montresor also knew how well Fortunato was at differencing wine “I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter” (109 Poe). By Montresor exploiting Fortunato’s sickness and skill of wines, Montresor knew that he could get Fortunato in the vaults where he could execute his revenge. At a first glance this may not seem lifelike because there’s an assumption to be made that people aren’t this immoral. But the truth is that the revenge that Montresor conducted is seen constantly in our culture. It’s undeniably real of the monstrosity that was made by Montresor when comparing it to the wicked
Montresor is a man who feels pride in himself and in his family, so when Fortunato—an acquaintance of Montresor— “venture[s] upon insult,” Montresor “vow[s] revenge” against him (1). Montresor hastily decides that he must kill Fortunato, even though his use of the word “venture” implies that Fortunato had not yet insulted him, but nearly did. Montresor’s impulsive need for revenge causes him to formulate a plan to murder his acquaintance. He keeps Fortunato intoxicated by “presenting him…[with] wine,” he “fetter[s] him to the granite,” and he “plaster[s] up… [a wall of] new masonry” to trap Fortunato in the catacombs (39, 71, 89). All of these acts are signs that the need for revenge has made Fortunato insane. A person who has any sense of morals would not commit crimes such as Montresor’s. His impetuous decision to exact revenge caused him to lose his
No matter how well executed, a crime of this magnitude will leave scars on the conscience, thus marring it’s perfection. Conflicting psychological emotions and actions plague the journey causing inner conflict ranging between pity and revulsion by the time the narrator concludes. Notwithstanding the shortage of information on Montresor’s life in the ensuing fifty years since Fortunato’s death; it can be surmised from the events leading to the murder that Montresor does, in fact, have a conscience and that it builds upon itself as the action
When they arrive at the Montresor estate, Montresor leads Fortunato down the stairs into the catacombs. Down here is where the Amontillado Fortunato is going to taste and where the revenge of Montresor is going to take place. As he get closer and closer, the narrator opens up more and more to how he is going to kill his "friend". It sound like it is a premeditated murder. Montresor seems so inconspicuous that he acts like he cares about Fortunato which is still a part of his plan.
Montresor is filled with regret that he took revenge so cruelly, “My heart grew sick,” (Poe 548). He was manipulated by his own pride and became the fool in the end, rather than Fortunato. Poe displays the Fortunato as a proud man at first, however Montresor’s pride is shown when he feels the first pangs of guilt but refuses to release Fortunato. He regretted his decision to kill Fortunato, however Montresor’s pride wouldn’t allow him to stop. Poe used these moments to subtly reveal Montresor’s
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini has many references of guilt in it, the book it reveals in order to keep a clean conscience you must do the right thing.
By vowing revenge, methodically planning and following through with such a meticulous plan, and the feelings of guilt and remorse fifty years after the fact, Montressor shows that he planned the murder step by step, and proves that he is sane. Montressor premeditates the murder from vowing revenge to having the tools in the catacombs ready and waiting. Montressor vows revenge, but not just revenge, he vows that at length he will be avenged. Montressor states, "That neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good-will (Poe 563). " Montressor shows with this statement that he has the capability of knowing what he has premeditated is wrong.
This source takes a look at the possible motives that Montresor would have for murdering Fortunato in “The Cask of Amontillado” and argues that he feels no remorse. Baraban starts by stating that, Montresor never directly gives a motive for the murder of Fortunato and that he is just a man taking pleasure in the fact that he committed a murder and did not get caught. She incorporates other writers quoted phrases as examples of there being no evidence of empathy towards the victim,
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a sociopath as someone who behaves in a dangerous or violent way towards other people and does not feel guilty about such behavior. Sociopaths lack a conscience that allows people to decipher between right and wrong. In A Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe, the narrator, Montresor, is believed to be a sociopath by many. He kills his friend, Fortunado, after he literally adds insult to a thousand of injuries. Though what the insult was and the previous injuries were never revealed to the reader, it could be assumed that Montresor probably overreacted to the Fortunado’s insult. But in order to answer this question the evaluation upon his motivation, strategy, and Montresor’s feeling and emotion towards
Paul Babiak addresses, “If psychopaths commit a homicide, their killing likely will be planned and purposeful, not the result of a loss of emotional control; their motive more commonly will involve sadistic gratification” (Psychopathy 7). The revenge Montresor is planning to implant on Fortunato was not by chance. He sought out his plot to manipulate, pathologically lie, and send Fortunato onto his death. Afterward, Montresor felt no sense of guilt or remorse. Montresor didn’t show a lack of empathy towards the situation. He admits, “There was then a long and obstinate silence. I laid the second tier, […]; and then I heard the furious vibrations of the chain. The noise lasted for several minutes, […], that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction” (Poe 9). His satisfaction of the furious vibrations of the noise that he stays concentrating on is merely an act of feeling no sense of remorse, guilt, or empathy towards the suffering he is causing Fortunato (Poe
“The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had Borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” (Poe, 1108) Right away Montresor states this and as a reader, we start to feel sympathy for Montresor, he is the first character we are introduced to and because of this we naturally take his side. Of course at this point we don’t know what “revenge” really means, but by the end when we find out what his “revenge” entails our opinion of him most likely changes. His “revenge” of course is murdering Fortunato. He could no longer put up with the injuries he had borne and wanted to put an end to his own humiliation from being “insulted” by Fortunato. . Before he proceeds with the killing of his once friend Montresor thinks to himself, “It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as was my won 't, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation” (Poe, 1108). This text is so haunting and terrible how one could smile at the thought of a person’s immolation. We can also see in this text that the murder of his friend has been pre-determined and well thought out. This almost makes what he does worse because he knows how horrible of a murder he is going to commit. Although we
The perfect revenge is an action so many scorned have attempted and what so many more have lusted after. Apt punishment for the offender, success without being discovered and fulfillment without regret are all elements for satisfactory vengeance. All were present in "The Cask of Amontillado." However, despite Montresor's actions seeming to be perfect, he does not fulfill the criteria for flawless revenge. Poe doesn't quite allow readers to feel convinced of his main character's peace of mind. Subtle indications are strewn throughout the story that suggest otherwise. Though Montresor intended to cleanse his honor of Fortunato's insults, it may very well be that he only succeeded in creating, for himself, a guilty conscience, forever depriving himself of the sweetness of revenge.
How simple, indeed--at least until we examine a group of irreconcilable paradoxes in the story. To begin with, the names Montresor and Fortunato are synonymous. (Hoffman 223) Secondly, we find that the motive for the crime was some unnamed insult. Motives for killing someone should be important enough to detail. Why does Poe have Montresor gloss over the motives? One view is that Montresor relates the details of the murder not to justify his actions, but as a form of confession. But if this be confession, where is the regret? Again, Poe leaves his readers mystified concerning the time and location for issuance of the narrative voice. If Montresor still lives, he must be a very old man. If so, the phantasms of his deed may have horrified him all of his life. Then why does he not seem horrified? If this be confession, then why does he seem not penitent?
The first indirect factor that could contribute to Montresor’s vengeful act, and thus the story’s theme of revenge, is the character of Montresor. Montresor tends to harbor feelings of resentment and has a hard time not taking things out of context (Womack). He also plans the murder of Fortunato in advance and devises it in such a way that he will not be caught. In killing Fortunato, Montreso...
This immediate familiarity helps the reader to see inside the calculating mind of Montresor, whom we later learn is a killer. When talking about the past insults of Fortunato, he takes on a cold, determined tone: “At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitively settled […] 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” (Poe, 618).