Meeting Fortunato At The Carnival Montresor example essay topic

Revenge is sweet and guilt it torture. Montresor decides to dabble between revenge and guilt and ultimately learns that revenge has consumed him. This can be seen when Montresor is aware of the suffering that Fortunato is feeling as he begins killing him. The compassion that Montresor feels is coupled with guilt from the murder he committed. These feelings make Montresor's perfect plan of revenge lead to a lifetime of guilt.

Revenge has a thin line which can easily be crossed when the revenge no longer fits the crime. Montresor speaks of this during the first paragraph when he states "I must not only punish, but punish with impunity" (Poe 141). He wants to be exempt from harm as well as from guilt. This would make the revenge sweet, or satisfying.

Montresor comments on a satisfying revenge at the end of the first paragraph by saying "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' (141). Montresor means that revenge must be satisfying, but can not consume himself. He can not step over this line and commit a crime himself.

This act will cause guilt upon the avenger and eliminate any satisfying feeling that he might have received from the revenge. Montresor begins to be overtaken by his retribution almost immediately. His fascination with deception is his weak point. Montresor plans a revenge that would satisfy him for the insults that have been committed against him.

While doing so he wants to be stealthy and states "it must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will" (141) He continues to deceive Fortunato by lying to him about the pipe of Amontillado and playing on his nature of a wine connoisseurship. Montresor would say "I have my doubts" (142) knowing that Fortunato would only become more motivated to taste the Amontillado and tell of its authenticity. It is this deception that he becomes carried away with. This becomes a game for Montresor. He uses Fortunato as a pawn, and plays each move very carefully.

While Montresor has become fatally involved in his plan of revenge he still has not forgotten that Fortunato is a friend. When they are ready to go to the vaults, Montresor shows concern for Fortunato's health. This I believe is a genuine concern. Montresor says "it is not the engagement, but the severe cold with which I perceive you afflicted" (142). It can be argued that Montresor is just making another move in his fatal game of revenge, but why would he care so much about Fortunato.

When meeting Fortunato at the carnival Montresor says "I was so pleased to see him... ". (142) this statement was not a mean one at all. Montresor at this point is speaking freely to the audience. It is this same audience that Montresor confides in while carrying out the final steps of his carefully plotted plan of revenge. Montresor at this point has lured Fortunato to the vaults and has allowed him to consume enough wine to make anyone have impaired judgment.

Once Fortunato was secured on the vault wall by chains Montresor began to lay the masonry wall to entomb Fortunato within forever. As the intoxication wears off of Fortunato, and possibly Montresor, the cries that are heard emotionally touch Montresor. "For a brief moment I hesitated - I trembled" (145) stated Montresor. Then Montresor shows how emotionally attached he is when he tells the audience "a low laugh... erected the hairs upon my head" (145).

Montresor has become too involved in revenge to turn back. He has chained and almost completely entombed his friend Fortunato in the vaults of his house. He has come to the last of the masonry blocks and it is time to complete the task. Montresor thrusts a torch within. From which the only sound was the jingling of bells from Fortunato's costume. Montresor again confides in the audience by saying "my heart grew sick...

". (146) and then he tries to blame the sick feeling "on account of the dampness of the catacombs" (146). Montresor has now committed the ultimate sin, betrayed a friend, and has broken the unwritten rules of revenge by having retribution over take him. In his own words "the wrong is un redressed" because he has not given an eye for an eye.

He is no longer immune, because he has exceeded the original crime. At the end of his narration he states that he "hastened to make an end of my labor" because he could no longer stand to be there. The guilt has grown very strong by this point. Unfortunately there is no way of repenting for this crime.

The guilt is there until Montresor's death. Montresor has gone in over his head. He has exceeded an eye for an eye and he is completely aware of this by the end of the story. Guilt has set in to torture him for the rest of his life. The last sentence Montresor says, "In pace requiescat" (146). This translates to "May he rest in peace".

This can be interpreted many ways. The most common meaning is Fortunato rest in peace. This could be said to try to relieve the pain that Montresor is feeling at the time. This pain would cause Montresor to not be able to live in peace. Poe, Edgar Allan. 'The Cask of Amontillado.

' 1846..