Murder in "The Cask of Amontillado" and "A Rose for Emily"

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The act of murder can be viewed as the manifestation of an in-adherence and veering from an established societal set of laws and ethics. An analytical juxtaposition of Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" and Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" provides a ratiocinative interpretation of varying forms of murder, as well as posing moralistic, principled standpoints on the matter. Edgar Allan Poe is renowned for presenting murder in its fundamental sense that succeeds all aspects of the definition of the act in that it is an unlawful act that requires premeditated malice. In the instance of "The Cask of Amontillado" the premeditation is one based on revenge. Retribution becomes the honing medium for the calculated response of Montresor to Fortunato's insults. Poe highlights a pivotal aspect in the short story to prescribe the aforementioned revenge in that the murderer becomes an advocate of metaphorical merging of houses of Parliament in that Montresor becomes the judge, juror, and prosecution. This is portrayed through the black veiled mask that signifies the shift of the law to Montresor's own hands as they descend further down away from the constructs of society. Poe fittingly emphasises the act of murder spurred by revenge in Montresor's coat of arms that adheres to a teaching of crushing the serpent thus enacting a rightful revenge. This is furthered by the original, above ground setting of the story, in that the occurrence of the carnival runs parallel to that of the murder as both create a shift from order to chaos where the law is a dispensable tool that flatters in the face of the injustice of murder. The murder that took place in "The Cask of Amontillado" is one that is straightforward with regards to the nature of the murder in itself as it fits the simple definition put forth by Sir Blackstone in that it is the premeditated, unlawful killing with malice. The

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