The Cask of Amontillado

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1. 
   ms-mcgregor Teacher
   High School - 12th Grade

   The name Montressor can also mean "my treasure". It seems the Montressors were once a rich and noble family but somehow lost their power and money.To Montresor, his only treasure left is his name. The name is reinforced by the motto of the family crest "no one can attack me with impunity". The name is also supported by the family coat of arms, “a huge human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel” . This shows how intolerant the Montresor's are about being insulted, which is exactly the crime of which Fortunato is accused. Aspects of the crest symbolize why Montresor feels that he must crush Fortunato as the foot on the crest crushes the serpent. The color blue on the Montresors’ family crest—azure—represents “the defeat of an enemy” . The color gold on the foot represents “immortality and the highest value” and also reinforces the idea of “my treasure.” The serpent on the crest signifies “death and destruction, life and death, good and evil, wisdom and blind passion”. The serpent biting the heel embodies the vulnerable part of an otherwise invulnerable person. This provides justification for Montresor’s actions in killing someone who insulted his treasured name.

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   Posted by ms-mcgregor on Sunday September 14, 2008 at 6:35 PM
   
   

2. 
   pbower Student
   Community / Jr. College

   it seems to me, in accordance especially to the gothic nature of Poe's writing, that the names of the two main characters are especially important to the story.  Fortunato, of course, means fortunate.  fortunato is depicted as a liked man whom has many friends and much wealth.  montressor basically means treasure.  from this, you can see that montressor is depicted as the more materialistic of the two, and fortunato is the more fortunate, lucky one. this can be traced back to religion, where the fortunate one has gods grace, and the one with treasure has the other half; the material posession.  the "thousand wrongdoings" could be seen as 'stealing' all of gods grace.  in the end, montressors revenge is a hollow one, because without the spirit the body can't live fully.

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   Posted by pbower on Tuesday October 21, 2008 at 8:38 AM
   
   

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