Pride’s Revenge
Both characters pride leads to some sort of destructive action during the story. Pride can be the reason someone is either over confident or, if a person’s pride is insulted or questioned, can lead to retaliation or revenge against that person. Throughout Edgar Allen Poe’s story “The Cask of Amontillado” there is an underlying motif of pride in which Montressor’s family arms are used to foreshadow the revenge that will be imparted upon Fortunato later on in Poe’s story and Fortunato’s pride leading him right into Montressor’s trap.
Every family has a unique coat of arms. The coat of arms consists of a family crest and motto. Fortunato asks Montressor what his family arms are. He says, “A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel”(Poe 110). After he explains his family crest Fortunato asks him what his family motto is. He answers with, “Nemo me impune lacessit” (Poe 110). “[This] motto is also the motto of Scotland and the Order of the Thistle”(Cervo 155).
At the beginning of the story Montressor says, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge”(Poe 108). This means that Fortunato had said something that insulted him and Montressor’s pride is driving him to feel the need not to retaliate immediately but to plan out a revenge that will ultimately lead to him killing Fortunato. It is not told in the story what Fortunato said to insult Montressor in order for him to justify his revenge against Fortunato. Instead of Montressor simply forgiving Fortunato for what he said he decided to take the easier route and sought out his revenge. As Author Ellis Cose said, “[Revenge] is so...
... middle of paper ...
...ford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print.
Booth, Alison, and Kelly J. Mays. The Norton Introduction to Literature. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print.
Cervo, Nathan. "Poe's The Cask Of Amontillado." Explicator 51.3 (1993): 155. Literary Reference Center. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
Cose, Ellis. Bone to Pick: Of Forgiveness, Reconciliation, Reparation, and Revenge. New York: Atria, 2004. Print.
Hoffman, Daniel. Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1972. Print.
Stepp, Walter. "The Ironic Double In Poe's 'The Cask Of Amontillado'." Studies In Short Fiction 13.4 (1976): 447. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Apr. 2014
Weidman, Aaron C., and Jessica L. Tracy. "Saleem, Shiva, And Status: Authentic And Hubristic Pride Personified In Midnight's Children." Interdisciplinary Humanities 30.1 (2013): 5-29. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
Baraban, Elena V. The Motive for Murder in "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe, Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature, Washington: Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association , Vol. 58, No. 2 (2004), pp. 47-62
“The Cask of Amontillado” is a dark piece, much like other works of Edgar Allan Poe, and features the classic unreliable narrator, identified by himself only as Montresor. This sinister central character is a cold ruthless killer that is particularly fearsome because he views murder as a necessity and kills without remorse. Montresor is a character who personifies wickedness. Poe uses this character and his morally wrong thoughts and actions to help the reader identify with aspects of the extreme personage, allowing them to examine the less savory aspects of their own. The character of Montresor detailing the glorious murder he committed is a means of communicating to the reader that vengeance and pride are moral motivators that lead to treacherous deeds and dark thoughts.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “ The Cask Of Amontillado.” Heritage Of American Literature .Ed. james E. Miller.Vol.2.Austin:Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,1991.20.Print.
Within this plot of revenge, Poe uses irony and symbolism to develop his theme of a man who tries to gain absolution for the sin he is about to commit. Irony in "The Cask of Amontillado" Poe
"The Cask of Amontillado" is one of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest stories. In this story Poe introduces two central characters and unfolds a tale of horror and perversion. Montresor, the narrator, and Fortunato, one of Montresor's friends, are doomed to the fate of their actions and will pay the price for their pride and jealousy. One pays the price with his life and the other pays the price with living with regret for the rest of his life. Poe uses mystery, irony, and imagery to create a horrifying, deceptive, and perverse story.
Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Cask of Amontillado." In An Introduction to Literature, by Sylvan Barnet, William Burto and William E. Cain, 180-185. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006.
These imply Montresor’s the whole family is filled with acts of revenge. These also illustrate self-esteem or pride hold a critical role in the family that they do not accept anyone try to injure them. If someone does so, they will use their own method to punish their wrongdoings, which they at least find a way to release their discontented against such behavior. Montresor also considers this action as an insult because he perceives that he is not being respect and look down by Fortunato. This is because Montresor is a poor man compared to Fortunato who can afford to buy the entire shipment of Amontilado. Therefore, Montresor says, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (331). This shows Montresor family’s coat of arms and motto can be the key that leads him wants revenge for being insulted by Fortunato. Since no one is able to clear up the internal injuries that have been in his heart for a while, he deems he should take the risk and punishes Fortunato by himself. In some way, he may think that he helps the society to cut weeds and eliminate the roots by killing all the loose end or
In her article, Renee utters that when the thought of vengeance build up in an individual’s brain, it coerces him insane and does not tolerate him to present it a second thought. The first sentence of the story, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge,” clearly describes the whole theme of the story as a deeply enrooted revenge in Montresor’s mind” which is an absolute portrayal of retribution that occurs due to arrogance and jealousy. Author sees himself as a superior individual and was victimized by a superiority complex which is quite visible through the phrases which he wrote in the story that Montressor expresses superiority as showed his victim as a foolish person by attributing weird physical appearance and dress appearance in which he described his dress code of “tight fitting parti striped dress and head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.”
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.
Edgar Allen Poe uses irony and poetic justice all throughout “The Cask of the Amontillado”. The places where irony and poetic justice hold the most significance are the scenes where, Montresor speaks of the wronging done to him by Fortunato, where Montresor and fortunato speak of the coat of arms, and where at the very end when Montresor traps Fortunato in the catacombs and leaves him to die. These scenes clearly show the use of these two tools that Poe used to tell the story of Montresor and
Poe, E. A. “The Raven.” Bedford introduction to literature: Reading, thinking, writing. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford Bks St Martin’s. 2013. 789-791. Print.
The first literary device used by Poe in his short story “The Cask of Amontillado,”
Womack, Martha. “Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado.’” The Poe Decoder. Christoffer Nilsson, 1997. n.pag. Web. 6 Nov. 2011 .
Edgar Allan Poe is a famous writer in writing detective stories and horror stories. One of his horror stories, “The Cask of Amontillado” was talking about how a man took his revenge to his friend. However, to look deeply in this story, I found that this story was not just simply a horror tale about how a man gets his revenge in the safest way. Instead, it also demonstrates much irony in several areas: the title, the event, the season, the costume, the environment, the characters’ personalities, a man’s dignity and cockiness and at the end, the public order. he are
Poe, Edgar Allan. “That Cask of Amontillado.” Ibiblio. U of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.d.