A Cask of Amontillado

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“A Cask of Amontillado” Villainy Essay Edgar Allen Poe acknowledges, “Men have called me mad, but the question is not yet settled whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence—whether much that is glorious—whether all that is profound—does not spring from disease of thought, from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect.” In Edgar Allen Poe’s, “A Cask of Amontillado,” craziness possesses a man to plot the killing of a man that has insulted him in a way the reader is unaware of. Montresor, the antagonist, loses his mind while luring Fortunado, the other main character, to his unknown death. Montresor, throughout the story, get crazier and crazier. At first, Montrosor smiles at Fortunado thinking about the way he is going to kill him. Fortunado takes the smile as Montresor being happy to see him. Later on, while Montresor is walling a closet-sized room up, Montresor sits down and enjoys the sreams and shreiks Fortunado gives while being trapped inside the closet-sized room. Montresor’s craziness reaches its peak as he and Fortunado conversed, “For the love of God, Montresor!” “Yes,” I said, “for the love of God!” Montresor’s reply conveys that he has now gone fully insane. There is absolutely no possible way God would be on Montresor’s side concerning the death of Fortunado. Montresor’s unstable state of mind begins after Fortunado insult him. Although, the gravity of the insult is not disclosed to the reader. At the beginning of the story, Montresor expresses, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely, settled-but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of

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