Sunday, April 14, 2013

The Cask Of Amontillado

This eery short story by Edgar Allen Poe completely revolves around revenge. I read this story when I was younger, but I did not really understand the meaning. Montresor felt that he was insulted by Fortunado, he describes it as "a thousand injuries" And even though it is never mentioned exactly what he was insulted about, I always thought it was about his family, or the wine. But I did some research to conclude that it is explained at the end when Fortunado begs for his life saying "For the love of God" (like saying Come On) and Montressor replies, "Yes. for the love of God." Montresor kills Fortunado in the name of his religion (Catholic) Because Fortunado was a Mason, and back then Mason's were against the Catholic church. So the vengeance is kind of geared toward an insult of Montresor's family because they obviously were religious. It's so ironic that he is leading Fortunado through the Catacombs and "helping" him along the way because he is drunk and allergic to the Nitre. So he is pretty much trusting him throughout the walk in the catacombs to lead him to his death. Also, the fact that Montresor seems to give Fortunado many chances to leave if he is too drunk and should perhaps want to turn back, but he always denies these chances to escape and rather drinks the wine over keeping his life. After a while, it is evident that Montresor has bad intentions for the drunk man. The appropriate revenge that Montresor wants is a tricky and elaborate plan to kill Fortunado, and he definitely succeeds.

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