Evil means “profoundly immoral and malevolent” (Merriam- Webster dictionary). When I see the word malevolent a name comes to mind, now many people know this name or know of this name. Maleficent, not going to lie about this as a kid she used to scare me, I mean come on who would ever want to hurt a pretty princess. However, as I grew older, I learned that she did what she did out of anger and just wanted revenge. In the story the evil witch Maleficent was filled with jealousy, she curses Aurora to die on her sixteenth birthday. Her guardian fairies helped to prevent this by putting her into a deep sleep instead only to be reversed by true love’s kiss. Now what Maleficent has nothing to do with either General Zaroff nor Montresor, but Maleficent …show more content…
The story starts off with Sanger Rainsford an accomplished hunter talking to his dear friend Whitney, Rainsford and Whitney are having a conversation about the jaguars they will be hunting can’t feel anything- except fear. “The fear of pain and the fear of death” (Whitney24). When Rainsford falls overboard of the yacht he swims up to the jagged shoreline of the ship- trap island, where once there he finds General Zaroff’s palatial chateau. The island itself has a dreary feel with jagged rocks, mangled trees, with the name ship-trap island. He does not exact revenge on someone, however, he plays a cruel game. The prisoners of his island get three days if in those three days he kills them they lose, but if they survive they are allowed off the island. No one has ever made it off the island. Zaroff does this because he believes he is a superior hunter, able to hunt any animal in the world because they can’t reason to escape or show any emotion of being hunted (Rainsford24). Hunting people give him a thrill like no other, they can reason and problem solve, most likely out of fear but reason nonetheless. Rainsford is the only person to ever outsmart General Zaroff and escape the island. What General Zaroff does is malicious and is not condoned but he is upfront and not afraid to admit what he does to Rainsford. General Zaroff does not have anything planned out, what happens is just …show more content…
Montresor said that he “must not only punish, but punish with impunity” (Montresor57). His plan is premeditated, he has everything planned down to the bone. From his staff being gone for the carnival, to the type of wine but also using reverse psychology to lure Fortunato down into the caverns. When they reach the caverns he has also already removed the old bones from the niche in the wall where he plans to keep fortunato for eternity. Montresor was so keen on destroying Fortunato he removed his ancestors from their resting place in the wall to keep Fortunato. Fortunato has no idea what is happening until it’s actually happening which is all a part of Montresor’s plan, to keep him intoxicated enough not to care about anything except for the
Since we do not have suffice information on how Fortunato insulted him, Montresor may be exaggerating on a few parts and wants to be the hero of his own story. This may have led to the reason why Montresor tells his story years later; Guilt built up because the way he was supposed to kill Fortunato did not end up the way he wanted. He is not satisfied because Fortunato did not suffer when he was supposed to be plastered up without food or water in the catacombs for days before his death, yet he died quicker than Montresor expected (par. 89). When a person seeks revenge, they want to savor every part of it and see the person suffer, but not die…quick. Apart from Fortunato not suffering, Montresor was backing up from his own plan to get his revenge. Montresor was slowed down every time he would ask Fortunato if he wanted to go back. Occasionally, Montresor would command Fortunato, “Come, we will go back; your health is precious (par. 35).” According to his own words, Montresor hesitated whether he wanted to go through with his revenge, and that was against one of the three features that he considered essential for it to be a
Montresor is an evil person because he killed a man. In the story Montresor says ¨There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honor of the time. I had told them that I should not return until the morning, and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house.¨ (Poe, 210) Montresor did not decide to kill Fortunato in the moment. He knew that he would kill him before he did it. This is revealed in the story, when Montresor orders his servants to leave his home, so there would be no witnesses to his plan. Another example to prove this is that Montresor brought a trowel with him into catacombs so that he could seal Fortunato into the wall with bricks and the trowel is used to spread mortar onto the bricks. People
Some people believe that Fortunato should have seen Montresor’s evil plan coming, and that he deserved this fate. At the very beginning of the story, Montresor “The thousand
Fortunato,” ‘I should like your opinion. But if you are too busy, I will get Luchesi’s advice. If anyone is a good judge, he is’”(Poe 68). The citation shows Montresor's deceitfulness since he is trying to guilt Fortunato to come with him. By saying he would like Fortunato's advice, it’s guilting Fortunato to come into the catacombs; only a brilliant and deceitful man could come up with this proposal. I can deduce that without Montresor's deviance, he would’ve never been able to trick Fortunato into the catacombs and to his death. Montresor's deceitfulness also fooled Fortunato to help him in carrying out his own death. Montresor tricks Fortunato into drinking for his cough, intoxicating him more and more with each sip. “I do not wish to alarm you-but you should take care of yourself. A drink of this Medoc will defend you from the damp”( Poe 69). This cite reveals how Montresor is tricking Fortunato into killing himself practically, and helping Montresor succeed. I can summarize that Montresor planned from the beginning to fool Fortunato into helping him by
Montresor is trying to lure Fortunato to his vaults by telling him that Luchresi can just come and taste the Amontillado because he knows best. He knows Fortunato will freak out by this statement, and then show Montresor that he is wrong in saying that. Indeed, this leads Fortunato down into the catacombs, just so he can prove Montresor wrong. That 's when Montresor will take his final step in his plan to end Fortunato. This event leads to the most suspenseful part in the short story. The reader doesn’t know what Montresor’s next step is going to be in his plan, along with what stupid move is Fortunato going to take to leading himself closer to his death.
To begin with, Montresor taking revenge on Fortunato is quite evil. When Montresor trick Fortunato down to the cellar by using Fortunato’s ego and taste in wine it is very cool and calculating. In the text Montresor says, “ As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi. If anyone has a critical turn, it is he. He will tell me--.” (Montresor 58) This plays off of Fortunato ego saying somebody else had a better taste in wine then he did. In like manner, Montresor was very happy and excited to see Fortunato during carnival. Which is just an act to lure Fortunato to the catacombs. Montresor says in his head, “ I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation.” (Montresor57) Furthermore, Montresor offers many times for Fortunato to turn back because of the cold or of his health. The short story states, “ Come sais Montresor, we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was.” This is cruel because once Fortunato gets to the bottom of the catacombs he will never get to turn back.
In my opinion, Montresor is a very clever man. He not only seek revenge, but he also was able to get this man boozed up and murder him. Montresor continuously asked Fortunato if he wanted to have a glass of wine and his reply was always “yes.” He was an intelligent man and knew how to get Fortunato to say yes. “At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the
From the very beginning of the story, one can obviously see that Montresor thinks that he has been wronged by Fortunato. His plan for vengeance is easily seen through his actions and his thoughts. "He had a weak
It is indicated that in the past that Fortunato has hurt Montresor many times, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.” However, there were never any insults or unkind acts actually mentioned in the story. It is exactly the opposite. Fortunato was friendly and helpful towards Montresor. From the very beginning of the story, one can obviously see that Montresor thinks that Fortunato has wronged him. “He had a weak point-this Fortunato-although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared.” This line shows that Montresor’s plan was well thought out. There is not any indication of what Fortunato thinks about Montresor. It can only be assumed that he trusts him do to the fact that he follows Montresor into the catacombs. It is up until the last moment, before the last brick is laid, that Fortunato believes this is all a joke. “Ha! Ha! Ha! – He! He! He! – a very good joke, indeed-an excellent jest.” Montresor is successful in his plan for vengeance. He succeeds in having Fortunato follow him into the catacombs and with great ease, had him up against the wall and shackled. Then tier-by-tier, Montresor constructed Fortunato’s tomb of bricks around him. When Montresor called out to him, he heard nothing and thus his plan was a success. “In pace requiescat!”
Montresor used years of trust between Fortunato's and himself to visit the catacombs underneath Montresor’s mansion while Fortunato was intoxicated. In the ghoulish catacombs, where no one could apprehend them. once they got to the deepest parts of the catacombs, shackles were on Fortunato’s wrists before he could blink. Under the bones of the past, revealed cement and bricks, sealing Fortunato’s fate. Montresor sealed him away in a place that one day he would resemble; skeletons and dust. Montresor will never be caught, and Fortunato will never be found.
Montresor antagonizes Fortunado through the whole story with the allure of the Amontillado. There are at least three occasions that Montresor talks of finding Lushesi instead of Fortunado to try the wine to authenticate it. Montresor obviously knew that it irritated Fortunado when he spoke of having Luchesi come to authenticate the wine. This was almost like a slap in the face for Fortunado and made him want to come to the tombs even more. This move by Montressor shows how desperate he is to keep Fortunado interested in coming to the tombs. It shows how he has calculated his plan of revenge and is trying to execute his master plan.
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
The weak will die off and the strong will hunt and persevere. “The Most Dangerous Game”, a short story by Richard Connell, suggests Sanger Rainsford’s innocence in the murder of General Zaroff. On the day of January 17, 1932, Mr. Rainsford tragically find himself upon Ship-Trap Island. On this island Rainsford find himself stuck in a life or death web where he must kill to survive to be killed in the process. It is crystal clear that Sanger Rainsford in indeed innocent due to his ironic touchdown on Ship-Trap Island, acting only in self-defense, and being involuntarily placed into the playing field of this most dangerous game.
In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell a man named Rainsford fell off of a ship and had to swim to an island nearby. When he arrived on the island a man named general Zaroff was there to meet him. Zaroff soon reveals the fact that he hunts humans on his island to Rainsford. The only way for Rainsford to escape the is to survive three days of being hunted by Zaroff. In the end of the book Rainsford outwits Zaroff and beats Zaroff.
Due to the tension Montresor has obtained throughout the years, his judgment is clouded by his dark mindset, and he makes an extreme decision. Tension and desire drove Montresor to kill his friend, and trap his body in the catacombs. Even with Fortunato’s begging, Montresor could not think clearly about what actions he was taking due to the extreme tension that has built over the years. If Montresor confronted Fortunato about his issue of the insults he had received from him, he would not have gotten to a state of mind in which he became a puppet of the Id. Since Montresor failed to satisfy the desires he had at the particular moments, he became an animalistic person that had to satisfy their needs in the most irrational way