Conflict In The Cask Of Amontillado

In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado” and Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat” the two characters are consistently belittled by the antagonist in the stories. In “Sweat” Delia is an average housewife, but unfortunately she is in an abusive relationship with her husband named Sykes, who has a tendency to degrade Delia. Throughout the story, Sykes treats Delia horribly and towards the end of the story, Delia finally realizes that she has had enough of her abusive husband because he makes her feel as if she is not worth anything. Due to Sykes’ tendency to degrade her, Delia is considered to be a sympathetic character. The same kind of conflict affects the narrator in Edgar Allan Poe’s story “The Cask of Amontillado.” During the story, the narrator, Montresor, consistently gets put down by his friend Fortunato, who mocked the narrator’s family name. Montresor, being very proud of his family name felt

A similar type of belittling happens to the narrator Montresor in Edgar Allan Poe’s story “The Cask of Amontillado.” Montresor is belittled by Fortunato, who Montresor seems to wish he was like because of Fortunato 's fortunate life. An example of Fortunato’s degrading of Montresor occurs when Fortunato initiates a certain gesture that is common among members of the Masons: “‘You do not comprehend?’ he said. ‘Not I,’ I replied. ‘Then you are not of the brotherhood.’ ‘How?’ ‘You are not of the masons’ ‘Yes, yes,’ I said; ‘yes, yes.’ ‘You? Impossible! A mason.’ ‘A mason,’ I replied.”’(Poe 17). This expresses the extent of Fortunato 's belittling because it seems as if he doesn 't believe that Montresor is worthy of being a part of the Masons brotherhood. After Fortunato insults the Montresor name, which seems to be the only source of this narrator’s pride and self-esteem he then questions if he is actually a part of the masons. This narrative allows readers to sympathize with Montresor because it shows that Fortunato continuously degrades