He presents himself with only limited information about his motivations, and his ambition to finish off his master piece and careful manipulation of Fortunato indicates the care with which he has planned his execution. However, we again have a classic case of Poe's unreliable narrator, whose guilt and occasional irrationality prevents him from presenting himself truthfully to the reader. However, we can see that Montresor shows a particularly black sense of humor, with which he amuses both himself and the horrified reader as he leads Fortunato into his trap. He informs the audience of his intentions before he begins the story of his encounter with Fortunato, and Poe employs both verbal and dramatic irony to convey the darkness of the story. A very good example of black humor can be found at the very beginning of the story itself: Montresor’s had "vowed revenge" against Fortunato, but he decided to mask his real feelings by outwardly appearing friendly towards him.
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.
Therefore, I try to dig out every clue that causes his motives to kill people and every detail that built up his personalities so that it would help me understand why a genius becomes a villain. “Understanding the mindset of a psychopath is very important in order to understand why a criminal would not feel the need to justify his or her transgressions; psychopaths do not believe that they are doing anything abnormal or morally inept” (Siler 3). In this research paper, Freudian psychoanalysis will be applied to explore the protagonist’s mental journey and explain the motives of his crimes. Tom Ripley is a fictional character in a series of novels composed by Patricia Highsmith, including The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley's Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley, Ripley Under Water. This research paper is expected to focus on Highsmith’s first book about Tom Ripley and try to dig out any Freudian imagery of Ripley’s personalities.
Edgar Allen Poe and Flannery O’Conner’s horrid view of the human experience makes them both well known. In Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” and O’Conner’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” two cold-blooded murders commit horrific crimes. The 16th century killer Montresor and the modern day serial killer, The Misfit, both share similarities and differences in the motivation for the crimes they commit, their choice of victims, and the degree of their remorse. Though both Montresor and The Misfit are considered cold-blooded murders, the motivation for their crimes shows a discrepancy to a certain extent. The beginning of Poe’s story opens with Montresor’s revelation about the nature
The Cask of Amontillado vs. A Rose for Emily Revenge is a very intricate action. It suggests that someone has been deeply wronged. It also asks a question: What is it that drives a person to vengeance? When comparing “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, an interesting theme is shared by the two stories. Both authors use enticing writing styles and literary devices to unfold tales of premeditated murder.
More importantly, it must offer some insight into the social, political and moral climate of its era. Crime stories often use many different forms of the previous forms of crime fiction. The development, adaptations and re-evaluations of crime novels from comedy to tragedy, from depictions of our society to the exploration of an individual; the crime genre is now a genre that incorporates many other genres. Philip Marlowe from ˜The Big Sleep' written by Raymond Chandler, film directed by Howard Hawks has been used to show the corrupt world of his time decayed with drugs, sex, blackmail, gamblers, murders and pornographers. He is portrayed as an honest detective in a corrupt world.
Buried Alive Edgar Allan Poe is methodical in creating a gothic darkness and evil storyline provoking sympathy anger, and back to understanding the actions of evil that Montressor inflicted without impunity. Poe creates fantasy and reality, “his fiction often made fun of what he wrought best: terror tales”, (Fisher xv) with The Cask of Amontillado, leaving the reader to question self on how far would you go to avenge your pride, and your honor. The Cask of Amontillado, Montressor narrates a sinister plot to punish and bury Fortunato alive is implausible, however, understanding how antagonistic Fortunato was towards Montressor and the mass of insults delivered may change the readers mind. Poe uses two unusual settings to create the atmosphere in the story, a carnival at night which initially reads as fun, festive, and happiness and however, if you look beyond that carnivals also create an environment of madness, and chaos which releases Montressor freedom to implement his plan of revenge and his high level of evil in which Montressor lures Fortunato into the family catacombs to die. The first setting in the story of jovial, happiness, and jubilant behavior amongst the crowd allows a sense of freedom for Montressor to move and execute his plan without suspicion from Fortunato.
A critic from the Literature Network said “Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" consists of a monologue in which an accused murderer protests his sanity rather than his innocence. The point of view is the criminal's, but the tone is ironic in that his protestation of sanity produces an opposite effect upon the reader. From these two premises stem multiple levels of action in the story. The criminal, for example, appears obsessed with defending his psychic self at whatever cost, but actually his drive is self-destructive since successful defense upon either implied charge— of murder or of criminal insanity— automatically involves admission of guilt upon the other (1).” In summary, when Poe creates two personalities within one character, one part of the character will blame the other part of the character. Eventually on part of the character will give in and accept everything.
While the Poe stories are different in several ways, the similarities of the text are greater. Let’s begin with a similarity of murder, not only do they both commit[->0] [->1]murder[->2], but they also suffer endless turmoil and escape eternal punishment. Poe's characters in both The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado consist of murder by
False assumptions and lack of proof have led to horrific death of the innocent. The craving for revenge has always been a strong motive. In the short story “Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allan Poe exposes the reader to the dark emotions of revenge through his use of diction, imagery, and plot in the story. Edgar Allan Poe used diction to present the reader with a broader view of revenge and clues on why Montresor wanted his revenge against Fortunato. Poe uses a grand choice of diction throughout the entire story, but there are some main points that need to be observed with a closer perspective to perhaps reveal and understand a deeper meaning.