Anger In The Cask Of Amontillado

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People tend to act on anger. This is clearly the case with Montresor in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado.” A character in a story can be either dynamic or static. When the character is dynamic, this can be seen in either subtle or large changes throughout the story. The change of Montresor’s character from anger to hesitation between the beginning scene where he discusses his anger and the ending scene where he is shutting Fortunato into the vaults reveal the theme that acting on anger leads to regret. The first scene in the story is a very important scene that shows Montresor’s initial thoughts. At the beginning of the story, the narrator states that he has beared the pain Fortunato has brought upon him thousands of times before, but “when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.”(Poe) The fact that as soon as Fortunato dares to insult him, Montresor promises that he will avenge himself shows that Montresor is…show more content…
When Fortunato begins screaming, Montresor is hesitant for a short amount of time. In this moment, it is clear that Montresor feels a small amount of regret for his actions even though he does not openly admit it. His anger causes him to do something about which he later feels uneasy. Despite the fact that he does not feel as compelled to finish the job, he continues closing the wall. He steadily finishes what he started, and once he puts the last brick into the wall, he states that his heart does not feel well. To justify the feeling of regret, he blames it on the cold of the catacombs when in reality, he realises the harsh truth of what he has just done. It is obvious that his initial choices are based on anger rather than a clear head because when the deed is done, he feels that he has made a horribly wrong choice. Montresor has discovered the feeling of remorse when one acts upon
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