Psychology In The Cask Of Amontillado

Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Cask of Amontillado,” is a story about revenge. The protagonist, Montresor, feels revenge is necessary because of the many insults he has endured from another’s mouth. After all, his family’s code of arms means that no one harms him and gets away with it. In the dark toned short story, Montresor uses reverse psychology to get his revenge. To begin, Poe’s story has a dark tone that is portrayed by his use of irony. Phrases like “I drink... to your long life” and “I will not die of a cough” show the twistedness of the story. These phrases are dark because Montresor is aware that Fortunato, the insulter, will not have a long life and will not die of a cough because Montresor will kill Fortunato. Another example

In the opening paragraph of the story Poe gives his readers three rules to revenge: 1. you can’t get caught when you get revenge, 2. you can’t become obsessed with it, 3. the person you get revenge on must know about it. Montresor fails to follow any of these rules. By confessing to the Priest at the end of his life, Montresor is caught. He said that “For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them,” meaning that he has checked the crime scene for the past 50 years. He obsessed over it. And the third rule of revenge failed because Fortunato did not know why he was being killed. In this dark-toned story, Montresor uses reverse psychology on different people to ultimately fail at his attempt of revenge. In conclusion, Poe’s short story is a tale of failed revenge. While Montresor was successful in his use of reverse psychology to avoid obstacles in his plan, he failed at following his own rules. Although someone may take insults directed towards them as a reason to seek revenge, Poe has pointed out that even those people who plot and plan their tactics and have guidelines fail. Ultimately, this story shows that revenge is an unachievable