Essay on The Cask of Amontillado

1. Essay on The Cask of Amontillado
The Cask of Amontillado
"I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution
overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such
to him who has done the wrong." With these ferverous words from the introductory paragraph
of Edgar Allan Poe's Cask of Amontillado, the story of Montresor's revenge begins. Poe repeatedly
stresses the need for revenge due to bitterness and resentment in Montresor's character towards
Fortunato, but more importantly, stress is placed on revenge by which the victim realizes their
injustice towards the redresser. Unfortunately, it seems that Montresor is denied this pure and
encompassing revenge when his victim,...show more content...
We soon see foreshadowing of Fortunato's impending doom when the issue of Montresor's shield of
arms is brought into the conversation as "A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot
crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.". Even more appropriate is
Montresor's family motto, translated as, "No one wounds me with impunity". Such a
visual depiction and mental conviction due to family honor and history creates all the more impetus
in Montresor to carry out the punishment that Fortunato deserves for wronging him, and more likely
the family honor. When Montresor finally captures Fortunato in the catacombs, the climax of his
precisely calculated deed, he revels in the sound of Fortunato's chains rattling, and "that I might
hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labors and sat down upon the bones".
However, his satisfaction soon turns to apprehension when suddenly "a succession of loud and
shrill screams, bursting from the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me violently
back". He hesitates at this moment, when his revenge is sweetest, when he should bask in the
suffering of his "enemy", and finds himself contemplating the shrill screams of his
captive! He does eventually compose
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