Comparing Violence In Thank You, M Am And Harrison Bergeron

In “The Cask of Amontillado,” by Edgar Allen Poe, Montresor displayed the image of a connoisseur as he artfully played with Fortunato to gain revenge.  First of all, Montresor used Fortunato’s intoxication to his advantage to entice him into the depths of the vaults.  Montresor perceived it would be much easier to manipulate Fortunato if he had been drinking all night long, so he implemented his plan after Fortunato had several drinks.   As the story recited, “‘Drink,’ I said, presenting him the wine,” Montresor kept Fortunato’s drinking persistent even as they entered the damp, eerie vaults.

In the short story “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allan Poe uses many techniques to create and heighten the suspense of the story. In the article "Poe and the Gothic of the Normal: Thinking 'Inside the Box'" written by Elaine Hartnell-Mottram says, “this tale is told by an unhelpful first-person narrator, who is also the protagonist, to an addressee who is not directly involved in the action of the narrative and about whom we can deduce nothing with any certainty”. Nothing is certain in this short story. Poe uses many sources of irony and foreshadowing during the short story as well. As the story begins, there is suspense built up between the two main characters, Montresor and Fortunato.

In “The Cask of Amontillado” there are two characters who show strong character traits. Each character has his own way of showing these traits. Montresor shows his through how he deals with Fortunato’s insults. Fortunato shows his through how easily Montresor manipulates him. Throughout the story Montresor and Fortunato show that they are both very clever, but one of them becomes far more clever than the other.

Despite having gotten away with murder, Montresor from The Cask of Admontillado is not perfect. Montresor has some pretty bad character traits. For example, Montresor has some very bad anger issues and cannot control his temper easily. However, he is very manipulative and can trick people very easily. Although Montresor has some pretty bad traits, he is not the only one with them in the short story.

Everybody will eventually want revenge on an old friend or just someone they know. Montressor, similar to many people in the world, wants revenge on one of his old friends, Fortunato. The story opens with, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (Poe 212). In this statement, Montressor tells the reader what the cause of his revenge against Fortunato is. “The Cask of Amontillado”, written by Edgar Allen Poe, tells the story of how Montressor brings Fortunato into the catacombs to bury him alive.

Zaroff and Montresor are two characters in the short stories ‘’ The Most Dangerous Game’’ by Richard Connell and ‘’The Cask of Amontillado’’ by Edgar Allen Poe. Montresor and Zaroff are both wealthy characters who are the antagonist in their respective stories and murder other characters. The motivation behind the killing is what makes them apart from each other. Both of these characters are considered crazy but Montresor seems saner than Zaroff. Do they both have an exceptional excuse for what they did?

The lack of mental stability, homicidal tendencies, and the large gap in time, it is safely said that Montresor is not a reliable narrator. It is apparent to the reader that he does not have all his marbles. In what society would someone who is not all mentally there be seen as a reliable source? The fact that he is able to pick up on Fortunato’s weakness and exploits them proves how unreliable he is.

The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe is about a vengeful, manipulative person named Montresor who is plotting to take the life of his friend Fortunato. This story is good for different reasons, one being the plot construction that hooks the reader from the beginning. Another is the three different types of irony he uses: verbal irony, dramatic irony, and situational irony. Edgar Allan Poe has a way of writing that pulls the reader in from the beginning. The first few lines of the story “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed my revenge.”

Human behavior will determine the success of our world. Humans can destroy themselves if they are malicious like shown in the short stories The Cask of Amontillado, The Veldt, and The Lottery. Human nature is slowly decreasing in value in the world. Characters in those short stories prove to be the wrong answer to healing the wounds of the world today, like the injustice, and overall ignorance the world carries on its back. Although humans can be kind and selfless people, sacrificing loved ones, hurting innocent bystanders, and plotting revenge can reveal the dark side of human nature.

If you’ve read Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Cask of Amontillado, you know how evil the protagonist, Montresor, is. He expertly carried out a disturbing scheme that left a man buried alive in the deepest part of the Montresor catacombs to die and rot, all for the sake of revenge. We know that Montresor is a very dark and disturbing character, as his own personality was based off of Poe’s. There is no doubt that Montresor committed a heinous crime of which would not be excused in today’s world. However, there are several quotes and pieces of textual evidence to suggest that Montresor might have done the people a favor by killing the not-so-fortunate “fortunate one.”