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Arthur Jiang

Professor Martin

English 111

29 February 2012

The Darkness of Vengeance

Deep in some people’s hearts, vengeance can be sweet and tasty. Almost everyone will

feel frustrated after they are thwarted, and this might be the beginning his revenge. In the short

story “The Cask of Amontillado” written by Edgar Allan Poe, the main character Montresor

takes revenge on Fortunato by burying Fortunato alive in his vaults after careful planning. The

speaker of the story is Montresor himself. According to Montresor, Fortunato insults him too

much and Montresor himself is a person that will punish people who hurt him. In this short story,

Poe uses symbolism to show the characteristics of murderers like Montresor who are arrogant,

deceitful and consumed by vengeance.

First of all, almost every person that takes revenge on people is arrogant enough. Just like

Montresor in the story who thinks that he is smart enough, so he has the power to control the

victim’s fate and the victim is just a fool. In the story, Montresor invites Fortunato to come to his

house and to participate in the carnival. Therefore, people need to be dressed up in exaggerated

costumes. Fortunato has “on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress , a and his head [is] surmounted by

the conical cap and bells” (par 4). Fortunato is wearing a jester costume when he meets

Montresor. This symbolizes what Montresor truly thinks of Fortunato, which that he is a fool.

Down deep in Montresor’s heart, he believes whatever Fortunato does is an act of stupidity

including the behaviors by insulting him. Therefore, Montresor plans to bring doom on Fortunato

since Montresor thinks the act of insulting him is very stupid. Also, Montresor says Fortunato
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has “a weak point --this Fortunato --although in other regards he [is] a man to be respected and

even feared. He [prides] himself on his connoisseurship in wine” (par 3). Montresor is describing

Fortunato’s strength as a weak point, and this sounds like Montresor can make everything go

against Fortunato even though it is Fortunato’s advantage. This mindset symbolizes the pride of

murderers when they try to kill the victim. The murderers believe they are smarter than the

victim and even everyone else. At the end of the story, after Montresor buries Fortunato alive,

Montresor says, “In pace requiescat!” (par 89). This sentence means “may he rest in peace” in

English. Montresor says this to Fortunato arrogantly like he is a God himself. Montresor sounds

like he has the power to control Fortunato’s fate and allow him to leave the world. This behavior

symbolizes the relationship before the victim dies. All the victims can do is beg and wait for the

death sentence that the murderer might give to him. Murderers that plan revenge are like

Montresor; they are arrogant and believe they are smarter than the victims, and the victims are

foolish sheep that are waiting for the slaughter.

In addition, the author uses symbolism in the story to show the deceit of murderers like

Montresor. In the carnival, Montresor putting “on a mask of black silk, and drawing a roquelaire

closely about [his] person” (par 23). The costume of Montresor looks creepy and his face is

hidden behind the black mask. Similarly, the movement of drawing the cloak closer to his body

is also a symbol of hiding secrets from Fortunato. In order for Montresor to lead Fortunato to his

vault, he tells Fortunato that he has “received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado” (par 5).

Montresor is hiding his true intention in the name of a cask of tasty wine. Montresor lures

Fortunato to go into his own grave. The Amontillado is symbolizing the deceptiveness that

murderers create for the victims. Furthermore, at the beginning of the story, Montresor talks

about his reason for the murdering: “The thousand injuries of Fortunato [Montresor has] borne as
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[Montresor] best could, but when [Fortunato ventures] upon insult [Montresor vows] revenge”

(par 1). However, the speaker of the story is Montresor himself, so no one else knows if

Fortunato really insults Montresor or not. This is just a justified excuse of Montresor of killing

Fortunato. This is a symbol of the murderers’ lying. Murderers tend to give themselves an excuse

so they feel less guilty. They believe this happens because of the victim’s fault. Those murderers

use many excuses to hide their evil and sick desire of killing. The murderers lie to the victims

before and during the process, and they also lie to themselves after they have done it so they can

feel better inside. This furthers their ability for deceit.

Finally, Poe shows the readers that revenge does a lot of harm to the murderer as well as

Montresor by using symbolism. Before Montresor tries to start his plan of leading Fortunato into

his vault, Montresor has told his attendants that he “should not return until the morning, and

[has] given them explicit orders not to stir from the house. These orders were sufficient, I well

knew, to insure their immediate disappearance, one and all, as soon as my back [is] turned” (par

24). This shows that Montresor has been planning his revenge for a while now. The tone of

Montresor telling this part is proud. He feels so smart and confident about his plan. The attitude

of Montresor describing the plan confidently is a symbol of premeditated murderers. This kind of

person describes their process of murderer proudly without any regret and shame. The murderers

feel happy because they outsmart their victims. At the same time, the humanity inside of their

hearts is fading away. Moreover, the arms of the Montresor’s family is a “huge human foot d’or,

in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel” (par

47). Although Montresor tries to say he is like a serpent that will avenge on people who hurt

him; the arm of his family can also be the symbol of the damage that it does to the murderer.

Once someone takes revenge and the wrong thing is done, he is the devil that takes away
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people’s life. He will never be the same as before. His life will be dark and full of hatred. Every

difficulty he encounters in the future, he will think violence is the solution first. As the end

Montresor shows he is still consumed by revenge and is proud to finally tell his tale of murder.

“Rest in peace” is ironic because Montresor will never rest in peace because he is so consumed

by revenge. Therefore, revenge might bring more sorrow than sweetness.

Edgar Allan Poe uses symbolism in his short story “The Cask of Amontillado” to shows

what murderers are like and how the revenge affects the murderers. Like Montresor in the story,

murderers are overconfident; they believe they are smart enough to control victims and victims

are just fools. Plus, the murderers are deceitful so they deceive the victim and make excuses to

make themselves feel less guilty. Also, the thought of revenge and what they have done will

destroy their humanity and hurt people around them. A lot of the time, people need to take some

time to calm themselves and think about the consequence that will come to them if they want to

do something horrible just to get revenge.