In the beginning of Edgar Allan Poe's story, "The Cask of
Amontillado," Montresor proposes a three-part definition of
revenge:
1. The avenger must punish with
impunity.
2. Retribution must not overtake its
redresser.
3. The avenger must make himself known to the
one he punishes.
Certainly, the first part is fulfilled
as Montresor boasts that it has been fifty years since his crime, and no one has
"disturbed" the masonry that he has laid, enclosing Fortunato into a catacomb wall. (He
has also satisfied his family code of honor which is written on the Montresor coat of
arms.)
Regarding the second condition, its fulfillment is
questionable since Montresor is still telling this tale "a half century" later, a fact
that seems to indicate that he is rather obsessed ("overtaken") with what he has done.
His mental disturbance seems evident, too, in the fact that he has neglected to cite
either for Fortunato or for the reader any of the "thousand injuries of
Fortunato."
That he has made himself known to
Fortunato--his third requirement--is also apparent since Fortunato has demonstrated his
realization of what was being done to him as he cries, "For the love of God,
Montresor." Yet, even with this statement, there is
some question as to whether Fortunato knows the reason for Montresor's revenge. (Of
course, the reader does not know, either.) So, if making oneself known to the victim
implies that the victim have both knowledge of the avenger and his reason for
retribution, the third condition has not been
fully completed.
Once again, Poe's typically unreliable
narrator leaves the reader with ambiguity as he/she may doubt the fulfillment of
the second condition and debate the third condition of retribution according to
Montesor.
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