Good Vs Evil In The Cask Of Amontillado

A Questionable Flaw

In a fight between good versus evil, good is the recurring victor. However, when the good and evil are fighting within oneself, the outcome is not as desired as we wish it would be. Abraham Lincoln once said, “I would rather be a little nobody than an evil somebody.” Although good should definitely triumph evil, most people struggle between the two and it is a recurrent flaw. In the short stories “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, and “Poison” by Roald Dahl, the protagonists are motivated by self objectives and don’t pay attention to the sentiments of others, making them flawed. In the short story, “The Cask of Amontillado”, by Edgar Allan Poe, the protagonist is flawed in

General Zaroff is an amazing hunter, “[has] hunted every kind of game in every land” (). Since he has hunted every animal and was smarter than every animal, there was nothing left for him to hunt. General Zaroff had been hunting since he was a child, and he thought all animals were too easy, except one. “‘It must have courage, cunning, and, above all, it must be able to reason’” (). By this, he means humans. General Zaroff wants to kill people for the fun of it and to challenge himself. And when the character, Rainsford, confronts him about hunting people being a crazy idea, Zaroff is surprised that Rainsford doesn’t like the idea. Zaroff is similar to Montresor, in the way that they want to kill people. Although, they have different reasons for doing so. Montresor kills because he wants Fortunato to pay for the so called injuries he committed towards Montresor. And Zaroff kills for joy, and excitement. He wants a challenge, and hunting any regular type of animal isn’t good enough. It’s as if he is hungry for a challenge, and he knows the only thing as smart as him, is one of his kind. This is a mental flaw due to the fact that it is a way to almost disguise murder. Saying that he wants to hunt an animal that can reason instead of saying he wants to kill people. When Rainsford confronted him about it and asked him if he was serious, he said, “‘Why

The protagonists in each of these short stories flaws develop and become more obvious throughout each story. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, the character is mentally flawed, or insane because of his dream to kill. In “The Most Dangerous Game”, the character is inhumane due to the fact that he hunts humans. Finally, in “Poison”, the character is a hallucinant because he imagines things, deadly things, and he reacts like they are true. Each character’s flaw ties back to vile actions and selfish or unreal thoughts and