Symbolism In The Cask Of The Amontillado

“I want to show people how there are variations and different interpretations of good and evil.” -Hideo Kojima. This quote shows us that nothing is exactly what it is and that everything is subject to different standpoints whether good or bad. Every action or event has the ability to be justified. It just depends on the perceiver. The Gothic Short story “The Cask of the Amontillado” By Edgar Allen Poe sheds light onto common human ambitions and characteristics, whether it is the lust for revenge, power, or class struggle. The story is told through a first person narrative in which the narrator gives the reader precise accounts on his endeavour for revenge. In “The Cask of The Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, the author establishes this idea of revenge through

To begin with, revenge is established through the use of symbolism in “The Cask of the Amontillado”, and allows the act to be viewed through a marxist lense. The Marxist lense is a literary criticism based of of the theories of Karl Marx. A person of this school of thought would focus on the class differences, economic or otherwise, as well as the implications and complications of a capitalist system. Marx even asserts that, “There will always be conflict between the upper, middle, and lower (working) classes and this cycle of contradiction revolution and tension must continue”. “The Cask of the Amontillado” fits into this school of thought as it deals with class struggles between the evidently upper class (Fortunato) and the evidently lower class (Montresor). One of the first encounters of this class struggle can be seen where it says, ““The Montresors”, I replied, “were a great and numerous family,” the quote continues with Fortunato replying “I forget you arms”” (Poe 4). In this section of the story Montresor is telling Fortunato how great his family was and