Psychoanalytic Of The Cask Of Amontillado Analysis

Psychoanalysis of “The Cask of Amontillado”

Edgar Allan Poe is known for his murderous stories. All of them are psychoanalyses of his life. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor struggles with his ego and superego just as Poe did throughout his life. The story starts off with the murderer telling what he did with satisfaction. The murderer’s name is Montresor, and he has a brilliant, devious plan to murder Fortunato. He tells his plan step by step of how he commits this dexterous murder. How far will someone go to seek revenge?

“The Cask of Amontillado” is a good psychoanalysis of Edgar Allan Poe himself. E. L. Doctorow states that Edgar Allan Poe’s life was an “unremitting disaster. He was orphaned when he was only two, married to his thirteen

His superego is telling him all the things that could go wrong, but his ego is telling Montresor to go through with getting revenge by murdering Fortunato. Kevin J. Hayes states in his book The Annotated Poe, that the motivation for Montresor to murder Fortunato was Poe’s own desire to get revenge on a former friend, Thomas Dunn English (Hayes 351). Montresor, like Edgar Allan Poe, felt like he has been wronged and needed to punish that person. Fortunato shows up wearing a motley, similar to a joker’s attire. Scott Peoples says in the book “Social and psychological Disorder in the Works of Edgar Allan Poe” that his belief is that Montresor is committing this murder out of an act of jealousy. Also, Montresor has created an enemy to place all of his disappointments and failures upon (40). According to Montresor it is accurate because the joke is on Fortunato. Fortunato does not have a clue what is about to happen to him in the catacombs. He thinks he is just showing Montresor the difference between Spanish sherry and Amontillado; he is too drunk to even consider that this is a death trap. After seeing Fortunato’s attire, Montresor decides to go ahead with the murder plan. Montresor is dressed in all black and fits the attire of the carnival, but his clothes have another meaning. Criminals dress in black to blend in with the night. To avoid the victim’s

He really means that he could not believe that he had just buried an innocent man alive in the catacombs, and when he heard the bells he had wished that he would not have committed a vicious murder. Montresor feels regret and maybe wishes that he did not commit murder or he thinks that he should be the one who is dead and not Fortunato. This is called displacement, where you want to take something horrible that you did and replace with something