Deception In The Cask Of The Amontillado

How far does one go to achieve revenge? While most people do not escalate the situation, some do escalate revenge to immeasurable levels. But those that do not forgive are condemned to commit it. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of the Amontillado” demonstrates a cruel act of revenge. Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards mimics the belief that revenge drives people to do horrible acts. This drive is found in the form of a desire for vengeance, the use of deception for their revenge, and finally owning up to the consequences.
In “The Cask of the Amontillado” Montressor is deeply angry at Fortunato’s repeated insults. He states on the opening lines, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (Poe 209). Montressor is deeply angry about “the injuries” that Fortunato has borne upon Montressor, and Montressor is going to get his revenge. Similarly, the main character of Inglorious Bastards, Shosanna, sees her family killed by the villain of the movie, Colonel Hans Landa. Shosanna then escapes the house while Colonel Hands Landa says, “Goodbye

Montressor first demonstrates this when he says, “I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts” (Poe 210). In this way he is enticing Fortunato into the depths of the catacombs to assess a pipe of nonexistent wine. Similarly, Shosanna uses deception to take her revenge upon the Colonel Hans Landa and the German high command. This deception is not used as blatantly as Montressor, but instead used in the form of lying to get her way. She agrees to host a movie night for the German high command so that she can lock them in and burn the theatre down, saying, “My name is Shosanna Dreyfus and THIS is the face... of Jewish vengeance!” (Tarantino). She laughs as the theatre is burned to the ground. However, Shosanna has not considered what will happen after this