Catacombs Of The Montresor example essay topic

Battle of Impunity Insults often serve as a catalyst for revenge. Yet, revenge never comes without consequences. These consequences can stay in a person's subconscious for the remainder of their life. Through the clever short story "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor suffers from being insulted, seeking revenge and living with guilt.

Montresor is unsuccessful in punishing Fortunato with impunity. The obsession to confess is a killer. Montresor starts the evil revenge plot with a smile on his face. "It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. 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". Montresor believes that he will feel free and better about himself, for he will be completing his mission of impunity.

With one brick remaining, "My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so". He thinks he will feel free, but throughout his life his freedom to do otherwise stands chained in the dank vault with Fortunato. He to is dead to the world, immobile, chained to the rock of his one guilt-ridden act of aggression. The sickness he feels isn't the dampness of the catacombs, but the first feeling of remorse. He is killing a well "respected and even feared" man. Now confessing, there is no way to change the past and his guilty conscience still remains.

Through all the trouble Montresor goes through to kill the one person he truly despises, he benefits nothing. He thinks he will be happy. He even smiles at the sight of Fortunato in the beginning. Once he completes the task, the only thing left to do is live his life leaving Fortunato behind physically and mentally. Montresor can be better off leaving Fortunato alone, but instead he takes the unchristian way out and ends Fortunato's life.

He doesn't gain anything from doing this, except a guilty conscience and a dead body. "A wrong is un redressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally un redressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong". Montresor doesn't gain anything positive from the revenge.

With every experience one learns a lesson. Montresor lets the insulting Fortunato go straight to his head. He over reacts and cleverly tricks Fortunato into "the catacombs of the Montresor". With revenge on his mind he makes a choice. When the last brick is put into place the decision is made and Fortunato is left to slowly rot in the catacombs. This type of revenge doesn't happen very often.

The lesson to be learned is that this doesn't solve anything. Montresor can't bury every last person who insults him. This type of revenge gets him nowhere and teaches him nothing. "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 risk".

It is the horrible truth that he doesn't learn until he has experienced this lesson. Montresor wants to punish with impunity, but guilt takes over his subconscious. The guilty conscience he experiences defeats the expected outcome of impunity. Looking back on his one night of revenge, he doesn't benefit anything except his guilty conscience and a dead body. Once it is all over and he has dealt with guilt, he learns he is being punished. Montresor's finishing touch on the wall finishes up his happy life too.