Comparing The Cask Of Amontillado And The Yellow Wallpaper

The questions of inner thought and understanding the are ones that we are constantly perturbed by. Stories with a character that seem to be ‘mad’ garner more attention and study than those with characters that seem to be ‘flat.’ This is reflected in the two short stories that we analyze today, “The Cask of Amontillado,” by Edgar Allen Poe and “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Both stories discuss the idea of mortality among the mad. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” madness is seen as trivial, simply a means to revenge for a character scorned, similar to in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the main character’s repressed feelings, after being thought to being of little value, lead to her inevitable descent into madness.

His anger at Fortunato’s actions towards him peaks when insulted, represented when he decided “At length {he} would be avenged” (14). The conflict is resolved by the main characters madness- his ideas, though completely insane, became integral to defeat his enemy when he used them to concoct a scheme that would rid him of Fortunato, the source of his suffering and ridicule, forever. His retribution shows how he was actually ill minded, especially with his lack of caring. When he finishes the murder, any semblance of guilt was quickly eradicated with the statement “My heart grew sick- on account of the dampness of the catacombs.” (20) Only the mad feel no guilt for the sick deeds that they’ve done, but Montresor’s attitude in the matter shows how trivial the matter of his insaneness was, simply a way to end his