The cask of amontillado Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The cask of amontillado - Essay Example Jealousy and pride are two of the most basic human traits that it oftentimes drives a person to murder as an act of revenge upon the person whom one feels has bested him, as in the case of Montresor and the unfortunately named Fortunato. As indicated in the opening statement of the story â€Å"The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.† (Poe 743). Within the context of the story, we can see that Montresor feels that Fortunato has made a fool of him many times and has thus, hurt his pride often. Reaching his tipping point, he then vows to exact revenge upon Fortunato, though he is unsure of whether his desire to kill the other is based upon jealousy or revenge. Montresor proves to be a master of mind games as he successfully uses reverse psychology in order to continue to entice Fortunato towards the deep catacombs where his death awaited him. He appealed to the vanity and pride of Fortunato in order to ensure the success of his plans. This leads the reader to conclude that Montresor has a perverse mind that simply wanted to do Fortunato fatal harm even though he had not done anything within the storyline to deserve such a fate. Yet towards the end, we see that Montresor still has some control over his mental faculties as he senses guilt and remorse over what he has done to Fortunato. A man whom he knows truly has not done anything wrong to him except to be better than him in certain ways. Thus we see a man, psychologically conflicted and unable to deal with the results of his actions in his