The Cask of Amontillado

A Bottle of Wine Too Much......

"In pace requiescat" meaning may he rest in peace, in Italian. Is the last words of Montresor, from "The cask of Amontillado," which symbolizes victory in a sad sense. In this story there are only a few objects that conflict with the characters. For example, Montresor has contextual and universal symbolism. But Fortunato has only one noticeable symbolism, which is cultural. Both Montresor and Fortunato have symbols in the story that can show relationships with each other. They develop there thoughts in a few different symbols, like the insults from Fortunato, the stones in the catacombs and the wine.

As the story begins Montresor starts off by talking about how Fortunato is always insulting him. Through out the whole story Montresor's mind was always on Revenge. This shows how contextual symbolism can built a relationship with words. Because he was upset and hurt all he wanted to do was get back at Fortunato. Just like he used reverse psychology on him when in the catacombs. The insults triggered a huge chain of events which ended in a tragedy.

The stones in the catacombs represent a way for Montresor to not look back. The author uses universal symbolism, I believe, to make the reader think that Montresor doesn't think he is doing wrong. The stones signify a hard and lifeless person. That is why he chooses to bury Fortunato alive. The stones and Montresors relationship is like a butterflies and a caterpillar because someday down the road they will meet.

Friedberg 2

While Fortunato drinks his wine he thinks of nothing merrier than a nice pipe. As a drunken person, one could loose total consciousness. In Fortunatos situation he wasn't even aware of the tricks and games being played upon him. This cultural symbolism of relating the wine to Fortunato is easy because both are always wasted. At the end of the story it finally strikes him he says, "For the love of God!"

As a result, the symbols of the story lie within each character. In order to see true universal and contextual symbolism you must understand the difference between right and wrong. Even though Montresor killed Fortunato in his eyes he was heroic. Not everything is visual sometimes you must read more.

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