Theme Of Pride In The Cask Of Amontillado

An important element in any story is setting. Authors use setting to convey certain feelings brought on by the character’s surroundings. It also subliminally serves to illustrate the character’s intentions. In “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allen Poe uses the dark, imposing setting to do just that, communicate the underlying theme of the story, being death, revenge and deception.

Feuds and arguments between individuals who may disagree with or dislike one another are a common occurrence in everyday life, often varying in degrees of intensity, but rarely reaching a point of extremity. However, in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado”, This threshold of extremity is reached by the narrator of the story, Montresor, who explains that his acquaintance, Fortunato, has repeatedly and irreparably insulted him over the course of years, and uses it as justification to take justice into his own hands and seek retribution through murder, despite there being no proof of Fortunato's guilt other than Montresor’s claims. His motive for murdering Fortunato can be attributed to his state of mind, as Montresor’s lack of guilt, empathy, or remorse highlights him as a character with psychopathic tendencies. As the story progresses, Montresor’s cold and calculating nature leaves the audience full of dread and suspense while he lures the oblivious Fortunato towards his inevitable demise. The employment of rhetorical devices such as irony, theme, and structure builds the suspense for the ultimate climax of Poe’s gothic masterpiece.

Some of the irony used on this story can be seen when Montresor asks Fortunato about how he's feeling with the nitre and Montresor warns him by saying "we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, and beloved. You are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill and I cannot be responsible." This phrases show all the irony necessary for a story to be ironic: first, Montresor saying that Fortunato's health is precious; second, when he says that Fortunato is a man to be missed; but after that, saying that to him it doesn't matter if he dies; and finally, saying that he will not be responsible.

Edgar Allen Poe tells his macabre story “The Cask of Amontillado” through the eyes of a man so obsessed with family pride that he turns his back on acceptable society and gets swept away by his thoughts of revenge and murder. The reader watches as Montresor leads his victim, Fortunato, deeper into the catacombs of his family home to exact his murderous vengeance. However, it is not madness that led Montresor, a noble aristocrat, to murder, nor is it passionate love or hate. It is pride that led to Montresor’s murder of Fortunato, but not just Montresor’s pride in his family. A combination of Fortunato’s foolish self-pride and Montresor’s deadly pride in his family lead to Fortunato’s untimely death. The central theme of Poe’s story is deadly pride, as represented through Fortunato’s actions, Montresor’s actions, and how, eventually, it leads to their downfall.

The deadly sin of pride has been a plague on humanity for generations. It is the poison that brings out people’s innate sense of superiority from within them. Writers often reflect this part of human nature in their works. In Edgar Allan Poe’s “Cask of Amontillado,” (1846) Fortunato tries to prove his ability to judge wine which directly leads to his death, while in Kate Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby,” (1892) Armand Aubigny’s total disregard for his wife and son leads to their death and a shocking revelation about himself. While society often encourages confidence, an overabundance of confidence can lead to hubris. By using tragic flaw, irony, and characterization, Poe and Chopin show that pride can lead to one’s downfall.

In The Cask Of Amontillado, author Edgar Allen Poes use of the words “I” and “Fortunado” are to be read symbolically. The “I” character, who doubles the part as the narrator, takes on a persona of psychotic, revenge filled thoughts.

Edgar Allen Poe tells his macabre story “The Cask of Amontillado” through the eyes of a man so obsessed with family pride that he turns his back on acceptable society and allows himself to be swept away with his thoughts of revenge and murder. The reader watches as Montresor leads his victim, Fortunato, deeper into the catacombs of his family home to exact his murderous vengeance. However, it is not madness that led Montresor, a noble aristocrat, to murder, nor is it passionate love or hate. It is pride that led to Montresor’s murder of Fortunato, but not just Montresor’s pride in his family. A combination of Fortunato’s foolish self-pride and Montresor’s deadly pride in his family that lead to Fortunato’s untimely death. The central theme of Poe’s story is deadly pride, as represented through Fortunato’s actions, Montresor’s actions, and how, eventually, it is their pride that leads to their downfall.

Edward Allan Poe the writer of “The Cask of Amontillado,” has successfully created an image of pride can lead two great man to their downfall. A person with a pride of a former noble. A wine merchant with a pride of the best judgment in wine. An epic war to be remember. Poe has created a whole new meaning for the word itself. He has describe pride as vengeance, desire, and loss.

The inception of the story starts with Montresor, stating his secret hatred of the man known as Fortunato “... neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good-will” (Poe 209). By doing this, this gives the story irony. The audience knows Montresor has a devious plan for his revenge “I vowed revenge,” (Poe 209) and Fortunato has but a lie set in his mind. The author gives details that are important later on.

This is ironic because it plays back to Fortunato poking fun at Montresor and embarrassing him and then Montresor getting revenge by luring Fortunato in with a lie and killing him. I thought that the way Poe used foreshadowing and ironic elements progressed the story because it kept me intrigued as to what would happen

How far would you go to make your adversary pay for what he or she has done to you? In the novel, it is already pointing out the disagreement between the two main characters in the first few lines. The disagreement includes the antagonist (Fortunado) being very physical towards the protagonist (Amontillado) but when the antagonist ventures into insult, the protagonist becomes imprudent and jumps right into what type of revenge he will do to make him pay. Is the protagonist within reason or just plain delirious?

Literature makes good use of the theme of vengeance. Vengeance is often used to depict complex stories in which a character will attempt to retaliate by causing harm or humiliation to those who have inflicted harm to them. So is the case in short horror story The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe, which is built around the main character Montresor plotting and achieving vengeance against Fortunato, who apparently made the mistake of humiliating Montresor in the past. In the story The Cask of Amontillado, the elements of characterization, exposition, and setting show how vengeance is developed through the story.

Along with foreshadowing Poe also uses verbal irony, to portray how revenge has made Montresor go crazy. While Montresor and Fortunato walk into the cave Fortunato starts coughing: “,We will go back; your health is precious” (214). Montresor’s intentions are to kill Fortunato so clearly Fortunato’s health really means nothing to him. When Montresor says “your health is precious” he really meant the complete opposite, he doesn’t care whatsoever. Montresor is pretending to be comforting to Fortunato, when just shortly will be killing him. The fact that he is pretending to be all kind, when he is about to

     In 'The Cask of the Amontillado'; Edgar Allan Poe uses symbolism, imagery, and the atmosphere to help fully explore the sinful nature of pride and its serious consequences within the short story. The character of Fortunato is the main capsule for the explanation of the dangers of being prideful of ones self. By examining Poe's use of symbolism, images, and effective backdrops around Fortunato the reader may begin to understand the importance of the deadly sin of pride.

While pride possesses the potential to be beneficial, it additionally demonstrates through much humility its ability to be detrimental. Pride can cause unfortunate consequences when the amount of pride a person has becomes excessive. In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story,“The Cask of Amontillado”, Poe provides an account of his fictional character Montresor who is a clever and vengeful man and seeks lethal retribution against his acquaintance Fortunato for causing him many injuries. On the other hand, author E. M. Forster relates the story of a fictional young boy, the protagonist of Forster’s novella “The Celestial Omnibus”, who attempts to share his newfound awareness of literature with Mr. Bons, someone the boy holds high in respect with regard to wisdom and knowledge. This awareness soon proves to be incomprehensible to Mr.Bons and precipitates his fall from Heaven. Inevitably, Mr. Bons’s and Fortunato’s pride leads to their downfall. “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe and “The Celestial Omnibus” by E. M. Forster both utilize characterization, irony, symbolism, and foreshadowing to convey the notion that excessive pride in knowledge causes fatal mistakes.