Friday, 18 January 2013

Does Montresor's revenge meet the criteria of impunity in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

At the
beginning of Poe's classic short story "," Montresor mentions that he vowed to get
revenge on Fortunato for causing him a "thousand injuries." Montresor then proceeds to
elaborate on his specific criteria for revenge by saying that he must not only punish but
"punish with impunity." Montresor is essentially saying that, in order to get revenge,
one must punish their enemy without being caught or suffering the consequences of their actions.
Montresor also mentions that Fortunato must be aware that he is committing the act of
retaliation.

As the story continues, Montresor describes how he cleverly
manipulates Fortunato into following him down into his family's catacombs, where he manages to
shackle Fortunato to the back wall and proceeds to bury him alive by building a wall around his
body. At the end of the story, Montresor tells the audience that, for half a century, nobody has
disturbed Fortunato's remains. Montresor is saying that he has successfully gotten away with
murder for the last fifty years and has never suffered the consequences of his
actions.

According to Montresor's own criteria for the perfect revenge, he
has met the stipulations. Montresor has successfully punished Fortunato with impunity because he
has not been charged with murder or been punished for his evil deed. Fortunato was also aware
that Montresor was responsible for the retaliation.

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