Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” and Browning’s “My Last Duchess” both revolve around revenge. We are introduced to men who swear vengeance on other characters. Yet, the mindsets of these men are, in some aspects, very different. To truly comprehend a story, we have to understand why authors make their characters behave the way they do in addition to the message being presented. In the case of “The Cask of Amontillado” and “My Last Duchess,” why do both narrators believe murder is totally necessary? To fully recognize underlying meanings, we need to analyze characters from a narrative and scientific perspective. For example, there is actually scientific reasoning to classify narrators of these stories as “psychopaths.” It is very likely that the narrators of these two stories suffer from several mental disorders, which fully give reason to the events of the stories. To see the true perspective of how both stories handle murder, revenge, and the mental health of the narrators, we need to look at why the narrator of “My Last Duchess” feels offended, why the narrators choose murder, and how the narrator of “The Cask of Amontillado” carries out the murder.
There are many forms of revenge and there are many views on whether it is right or wrong and whether or not it can make someone feel better. In the article “Revenge: Will You Feel Better?”, Karyn Hall Ph.D. explains how no matter how powerful urge is to get revenge on someone because they have wronged you, the outcome usually only makes both subjects involved feel much worse. She explains how all revenge is rooted in anger and sadness. Hall makes the conclusion that “Maybe the purpose of revenge is in preventing certain hostile actions....”, meaning that if one gets revenge on another, it is possible that he or she has just intimidated the other enough to not repeat the same action that made him get revenge in the first place. Hall also believes
The author uses revenge as a clear theme, specifically in the ending of the book The Roundhouse. Joe takes revenge on his mother's attacker by killing him with the help of his best friend Cappy. Although revenge was accomplished in Joe’s mind, it did not make the characters, such as Joe and Cappy, feel any better about their situation. However, after he and Cappy, had committed the deed, they did not feel happy, it wasn't a sweet revenge at all as they both had haunting nightmares of his mother's attacker in their dreams. They are both afraid and insecure after their kill and felt nervous around almost everyone. They also almost fell into the path of loneliness that Joe's mother had gone through because of this revenge that they were seeking. The author was trying to show the reader that gaining revenge isn’t always as good as it sounds.
Irony may appear in difference ways within literature. Irony changes our expectations of what might happen. It can create the unexpected twist at the end of a story or anecdote that gets people laughing or crying. Verbal irony is intended to be a humorous type of irony. Situational irony can be either funny or tragic. Dramatic irony is usually an over the top, tragic form of irony. Both Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” and Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” are great examples of an ironic situation. Every expresses the common theme in their own way. Although both of these literally pieces provide us with the theme of irony, Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" gives the reader a sense of suspense with the irony that proves to be more effective.
What is the mental state of a man who is going to kill people? How do people feel when they see the last moment of their friend? “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is the story of a man who vowed revenge because of humiliation. When the night of the carnival, Montresor came up with a terrible plan. Fortunato whom he hates is a fool for wine. Amontillado is a kind of sherry. Montresor lured Fortunato to the vaults and made revenge with an exceptionally hideous way. In this story, Poe describes the mental state of Montresor and his character almost like a devil because of his cruelty during revenge. Montresor accomplishes the revenge because he has a strong violent vengefulness to Fortunato, is a very careful and intelligent person, and feels pleasure to kill people.
Vengeance has been an ongoing problem for many centuries. In the long run, with the new generation, they have been following the same pattern to get revenge, without knowing the reasons why. If no one is willing to stop and think it over, to evaluate if it’s worth the risk, then the act of vengeance will be ongoing at the cost of many lives. Many people do not realize that having to avenge the death of a loved one will take so much time and patience in their lives. In the short story, “An Act of Vengeance,” by Isabel Allende, the issue involves a young girl who gets raped by Tadeo Cespedes, whom also killed her father on the same day. She has lived her life with the burden of having to avenge her father’s death for 30 years. However, in the film, “Act of Vengeance,” directed by Isaac Florentine, pertains to a lawyer who considers his work more important than his family until it was too late. His wife and daughter were murdered and dumped in a hole at the train yard. Therefore, he starts to train himself for the mission of vengeance for his family deaths. There are several similarities between a short story and a film that are about an act of vengeance the theme also differences in characterization, setting, style, and irony.
In the play The Crucible, character such as Abigail and Thomas Putnam seek revenge from others, so much so that it becomes and recurring theme throughout the play. The theme of revenge can best be shown through the characters Abigail Williams, Thomas Putnam, and Giles Corey.
Revenge lies within us all, Revenge is an instinctive human characteristic. These emotions and actions associated are neither preventable nor controllable. Everybody has felt and taken action on the emotion of revenge, whether it 's your sibling, friend, or enemy. Revenge can bring justice but as well bring pain to someone else. Vengeance is an extremely popular emotion in today 's life whether it is terrorism or a dispute between family and friends. Revenge can be a horrible emotion; it can sometimes lead people to do horrible things. By definition, Revenge means to get retribution for a wrongdoing done to you. In my opinion, revenge is mostly caused by fear and the overwhelming feeling of payback
Have you ever been wronged by someone so badly that you felt as though revenge was needed? Perhaps your best friend stole the woman you loved, so you felt that you needed to act and do something to get back at him. Maybe you destroy his life by starting a false rumor about him, or you get in a fight with him and humiliate him. This is just one common example of “revenge” in our everyday lives. In the play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, there are much more serious things going on, involving death, murder, and wars between nations. Fortinbras wants his revenge on Denmark for ruining his country’s honor and killing his father, Claudius wants revenge on Hamlet for embarrassing him and ruining his rule as king, Laertes wants revenge on
Edgar Allan Poe is most famous for the gothic themes he presents in his writings, this was no exception for Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”. Several important ideas are brought up about the story’s central theme of revenge. These ideas can be broken down into 3 parts: the incentive, the extent, and the reaction of the person partaking in revenge. It is essential to consider these ideas while reading Poe’s story, in order to comprehend his views on revenge. It also provides the reader the ability to question their own views on revenge as well as compare it with Poe’s. However, with most readers having no major revenge experiences such as the one in the story or some extreme cases in general, it is somewhat hard for the average reader to relate
In Dostoevsky novel, Notes from Underground, it involves the tormenting thoughts of a bitter antisocial man living in St.Petersburg, Russia. The Underground Man writes down his contradictory thoughts to describe his isolation from society. In his moments of solitude and isolation, he becomes corrupted by the power of spite. He does not give much thought how being spiteful will affect his life because he is an intelligent man. The act of being intelligent does not satisfy him, rather he uses his intelligence as a mechanism to make others feel as though they are incompetent to him. The Underground Man strives to have a role of authority over other individuals, however, his low insignificant position in society detains him from even feeling socially
Some people see humans as a bright and inspiring species while some see the human
In his novel Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes several allegories throughout the story. Allegory is a literary technique that Hawthorne uses to connect the characters with symbolic presences. It gradually builds up the tension between characters, and also arouses curiosity of readers. Furthermore, allegory strongly reveals the defect of the Puritan society and imperfection of all human beings by exposing abysmal agonies of each allegorical character coming from their intrinsic limits. Roger Chillingworth, the husband of Hester Prynne, is a good example of an allegorical character that shows the corruption
Mary Shelley shows the endless amount of revenge and that it is driven by pure hatred and rage. The monster was not created to be vengeful, he was kind hearted but when he was poorly treated by Victor and then by the Delacey family, he turned cold. In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley displays the immorality and destructive effects that revenge can have through Frankenstein and his pursuit of the creature.
As long as people have existed, they have wronged one another. They find different ways to harm others. Those who have been wronged tend to seek revenge no matter the situation. They feel as though they must revenge. Because humans almost always seek revenge, William Shakespeare’s statement, “If you wrong us, shall we not revenge?” holds significant truth. It is the basis of revenge as a whole. Other authors, who have a focus on revenge, also agree with Shakespeare’s comments.