What is the meaning of Montresor's statement about wrongs and retribution in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

"A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong."

From the opening sentence, we know that Montresor has "vowed revenge" on Fortunato, who has inflicted a "thousand injuries" upon him. He carefully establishes the conditions of his revenge in the opening paragraph, saying,

A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser.

Revenge cannot be attained if "retribution overtakes" the person who seeks the revenge. More simply put, if the person seeking revenge lashes out in an emotional outpouring, the revenge isn't complete. Revenge should be a calculated and almost emotionally detached act, in Montresor's opinion. In revenge, it is important to actually get even—not to just be seen as having an emotional breakdown in front of the person who has wronged you. This reminds me of the old saying "Don't get mad. Get even."

Secondly, Montresor notes that

It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.

Revenge, according to Montresor, isn't complete unless the person who has wronged you knows that it is you who is exacting revenge. It can't be an anonymous act, and the person must know that this is, indeed, an act of revenge.

Montresor accomplishes both. He calmly executes his plan to lead Fortunato to his catacombs by taking advantage of Fortunato's known pride—a "connoisseurship in wine." Montresor actually plays to Fortunato's emotions, telling him that he is "a man to be missed" as they walk along and even tosses in a pun that he "cannot be responsible" for Fortunato's ill health, showing that he retains clear emotional control in this act of revenge.

He also makes sure that Fortunato knows that he, Montresor, is sealing him up in his tomb as an act of revenge, ignoring Fortunato's pleas "for the love of God."

According to Montresor's own definition, he has exacted a successful and complete revenge.

What is the meaning of Montresor's statement about wrongs and retribution in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

"A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong."

The key to understanding these two sentences lays in a bit of vocabulary work.  To begin:

wrong (n.) a violation or offense

redress (v.) to remedy, correct, or rectify

So, if a violation or offense is unredressed, it means that the offense has not been made right by the offender. The redresser is the person who corrects or rectifies the wrong.

retribution (n.) punishment inflicted on someone as vengeance for a wrong 

overtakes (v.) becomes greater than; overshadows

avenger (n.) a person who inflicts harm in return for a wrong

A wrong isn't rectified if the person who is performing the payback (the avenger) doesn't make sure the offender knows where the payback is coming from.  In other words, Montresor won't be satisfied with merely punishing Fortunato; he needs to be sure that Fortunato knows it is Montresor who is doing the punishing. 

Why does Montresor seek revenge in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

Montresor tells his audience that he wants to exact revenge on Fortunato as a result of some unspecified "insult" to his person and "the thousand injuries" Fortunato has inflicted upon him.  However, the story makes it seem as though it is both men's pride, in part, that prompts Montresor to murder.  Montresor tells us that Fortunato "prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine," and he plays on Fortunato's extreme pride, subtly offering him the chance to flaunt his own expertise and laugh at Montresor's lesser skills, an opportunity he knows Fortunato cannot pass up.  Fortunato even proudly insults Luchesi, the other town wine expert, insisting that he will accompany Montresor to his vaults.  Montresor warns Fortunato that the vaults are terribly damp and not likely to be good for his lungs, but Fortunato's pride is so great that he will not hear of staying above ground.  After one massive coughing fit, Montresor says,

Come. . . we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. (my emphasis)

Montresor butters up Fortunato further, knowing that compliments which flatter his pride will hit their mark.  However, he also says that Fortunato is happy, as Montresor once was, and this makes it sound as though Montresor's family is no longer as prominent. In other words, he is no longer as important socially, as Fortunato.  He says that Fortunato would be missed, but he (Montresor) would not be missed.  

In further support of this conclusion, Montresor comments in response to Fortunato's observation about the largeness of the vaults.  He says, "'The Montresors. . . were a great and numerous family."  He uses the past tense here, implying that the family is no longer important or large.  Moreover, the Montresor family's motto translates to "You will not harm me with impunity"; or, in other words, you will not harm me and get away with it.  Therefore, not only does Montresor have reason to exact revenge on Fortunato (as a result of the injuries and insults Fortunato has inflicted upon him), he also has his own injured pride, the result, perhaps, of his own family's fall from prominence (while Fortunato's star seems to be on the rise, something of which he is vastly proud).

Why does Montresor seek revenge in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

Many readers assume that Montresor is not stating the truth when he accuses Fortunato of inflicting a thousand injuries on him. These readers are then forced into concluding that Montresor is insane. The further conclusion is that Fortunato is a good person, an innocent victim of a madman. And thereby Poe's entire story is called into question. Montresor is accused of being an "unreliable narrator." If he is unreliable, then nothing he says can be taken at face value. Maybe the whole incident never happened. Maybe Fortunato is still alive--or maybe he never even existed. If this could be the case, then the effect of the story is lost. We cannot feel horror or pity because we cannot be sure that the supposed victim was really chained to the rock wall and left to die. "The Cask of Amontillado" is a work of fiction to begin with, but some readers would have us believe that there are multiple layers of fiction--everything is fictitious, nothing really happened, or at least nothing happened the way the narrator says it happened.

The simplest way to approach the story is to assume that Fortunato really did injure Montresor approximately a thousand times over a period of years. Montresor may not specify what those injuries were, but that doesn't prove they weren't real injuries. For example, what if Fortunato and Montresor were high-class tradesmen who bought and sold luxury goods, including paintinigs, statues, antiques, jewelry (gemmary), and gourmet wines. Fortunato is rich. Montresor is poor. Fortunato is able to beat Montresor out of deals because he can pay cash and buy in large quantities. These are the kinds of injuries Fortunato must have inflicted numerous times. And Fortunato, as Montresor knows, is planning to do it one more time that very night if it turns out that the sherry Montresor says he just bought is the true Amontillado. Fortunato is capable of judging the Amontillado to be an ordinary Spanish sherry and then going off to find the ship that has just brought the cargo into port.

Why does Montresor seek revenge in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

There is no passage in Edgar Allan Poe’s 1846 short story The Cask of Amontillado in which the narrator, Montresor, favors us with a list of rules by which he planned and executed the death of Fortunato.  To the extent that Montresor could be said to have rules guiding his plan to avenge the repeated insults of Fortunato, they are offered in the story’s opening paragraph.  The “thousand injuries” to which Montresor ascribes his growing need for vengeance, culminating in an unspecified “insult,” provides his motivation to exact vengeance upon his supposed friend.  In beginning his story of how he came to satisfy his need for vengeance, Montresor provides what could be interpreted as Rule #1:

“You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat.”

So, we can surmise that Rule #1 is: do not alert your intended victim or anybody else as to your plans to conduct a murder or even to the sense of injury to which you have been subjected.  In other words, do not telegraph your punches.

Rule #2 is a little more explicit:

“I must not only punish, but punish with impunity.”

If Rule #1 is to provide no indication whatsoever that you harbor murderous designs upon a particular individual, then Rule #2 is to plan so carefully before carrying out the crime so as to ensure that nobody will ever know what you did.  That Montresor was successful on both counts is evident in his well-executed plan to entice Fortunato to his home under the pretext of asking his intended victim to sample an expensive wine, specifically, the Amontillado, to ensure that is the genuine substance for which Montresor has paid.  By appealing to an already intoxicated Fortunato’s vanity, Montresor is able to lure his victim into the trap.  That Montresor was successful in ensuring that Rule #2 was secured is evident in the story’s final sentences. Referring to the quality of his planning and execution of the murder and the concealment of the victim’s remains, Montresor concludes his narration by saying,

“For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!”

Why does Montresor seek revenge in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

In Edgar Allan Poe’s story “The Cask of Amontillado,” the first-person narrator, Montresor, is reviewing the events after they took place. Especially at the beginning and end of the story, Montresor offers his reasons for doing what he did to Fortunato. In his view, Fortunato—whom he calls his “friend”—caused the problems between them by inflicting “a thousand injuries” which turned to “insult” before Montresor reacted. Although he seeks vengeance for this insult, he feels entirely justified. He considers his actions “retribution,” and he insists that making the other person aware of their fate was a necessary component. This awareness comes late in the story, as Montresor takes pains to cover up his intentions until his scheme is nearly complete. Initially,

he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation.

Near the story’s end, as Montresor finishes building the wall, he expresses satisfaction with accomplishing his plot. He takes a break and sits back to appreciate his own success. He enjoys hearing Fortunato fruitlessly beating against the walls with his chains.

That I might hearken to it [the clanking noise] with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labours and sat down upon the bones.

As he listens to Fortunato’s horrible screams, it seems as though he might be having second thoughts: “For a brief moment I hesitated, I trembled.” He quickly clarifies, however, that his concern was that Fortunato might live too long. With the wall finished, as he prepares to leave the dungeon, he says his “heart grew sick.” But immediately he clarifies that this was not from emotion: “It was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so.”

Why does Montresor seek revenge in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

We don't know specifically what transgressions Fortunato committed against Montresor to cause such an urge for revenge. We only find that

THE THOUSAND INJURIES of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge. 

There are no other specific details to the "injuries" Fortunato had committed. As for the steps that Montresor took toward committing his perfect crime:

• Montresor gave no clue that he was planning retribution, continuing to "smile in his face."
• Montresor conceived the story of the rare bottle of Amontillado, knowing that Fortunato would not be able to resist the temptation of tasting such a vintage.
• Montresor waited until "the supreme madness of the carnival season" to enact his plot. By doing so, he made sure all of his servants would be absent from his home. He also knew Fortunato would be drinking heavily--dulling his senses and reactions.
• He planned for the murder to be undertaken at night, providing less visibility and chance for other people to be around.
• Montresor concocts the story that a friend, Luchesi, will be available to sample the Amontillado should Fortunato decline, knowing full well that Fortunato will not let this opportunity escape him.
• Montresor chooses a safe place--his family catacombs--to complete the crime and dispose of the body. In doing so, he assures that there will be no one to disturb them or hear Fortunato's cries.
• Montresor prepares the "niche" in advance, placing bricks and mortar hidden nearby; he also brings a trowel, the proper tool to cement the bricks. He has a chain ready to "fetter" Fortunato in place. The niche is in a distant area of the vast catacombs, making it less likely that anyone will ever disturb the area.
• Montresor never reveals his crime to anyone--at least for "half of a century."

Why does Montresor seek revenge in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

The reader/auditor does not know what Fortunato has done to anger Montresor. So, there's no real way to know if Montresor's anger is justified. In any case, Montresor is certainly vengeful and his attitude is dictated by this need for revenge. Montresor is completely cold in killing Fortunato and is likewise cold and stoic in the retelling of the tale. His mindset is bent on revenge at all costs but his outward demeanor in dealing with Fortunato and in telling the tale to the reader is stoic (without emotion). So, Montresor is cold and calculating. Montresor even takes quiet pleasure in his enemy's demise. As he is walling Fortunato in, he considers listening to the rattling of the chains: 

I laid the second tier, and the third, and the fourth; and then I heard the furious vibrations of the chain. The noise lasted for several minutes, during which, that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labors and sat down upon the bones. 

Montresor goes about his thirst for revenge quietly and workman-like. This makes for an odd combination of extreme revenge carried out with an emotionless determination. 

Why does Montresor seek revenge in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

The unnamed narrator of "The Cask of Amontillado" clearly thinks of revenge as a noble endeavor. Montresor and Fortunato are both noblemen, and Montresor's coat of arms and family motto both indicate that he takes pride in revenge. 

His coat of arms is that of "a huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel." That is, it is a golden foot on a shy-blue background which is crushing a rearing serpent which is biting him. The implication is that the Montresors are the foot and even if it hurts them, they will win in the end. His motto is "Nemo me impune lacessit," which means "No one attacks me with impunity." 

Fortunato seems to agree (ironically) that this approach to revenge is admirable, because when he asks about the coat of arms and the motto (and Montresor answers him), he says, "Good!" 

Finally, if the narrator is to be believed, he is telling this tale 50 years after it happened, and his tone is one of pride--not shame. 

Is Montresor justified in taking justice into his own hands in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

I would have to say that this type of justice might very well have been popular in the days when there was little or no law enforcement available.  Like the justice of the old west, or in obscure villages or towns through history, justice was taken into the hands of ordinary citizens.  This is not always a fair process, vigilante justice can go overboard.  Just think of the Salem Witch Trials, there were no real lawyers or judges involved, just self-appointed crusaders working against the devil.  It can be a scary prospective when you consider it that way.

Montresor takes revenge on his enemy Fortunato, an Italian cultural practice in Elizabethan times, and sometimes still popular now.  It was an accepted practice to even hire assassins to get rid of your enemy.    

Is Montresor justified in taking justice into his own hands in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

This is a good discussion board question.

Personally, I would tend to say that individuals are not justified when taking justice into their own hands. I believe this only leads to big trouble for the one who is trying to execute justice.  This is what our court systems are for (and yes, I know they are flawed at times), but then again, my sister is a lawyer, so I have been influenced by that a great deal.  

Montresor is not justified for what he did. The reader never knows what wrong that Fortunato ever committed or if he ever really did anything at all to Montresor.  He is an unreliable narrator and is clearly mentally ill, so he cannot be trusted. I have always felt that Fortunato probably did nothing to Montresor at all and that Montresor, much like the narrator in "A Tell-Tale Heart," simply found something irritating about him and his madness exacerbated that irritation to the point that he believed he had to kill him.

Is Montresor justified in taking justice into his own hands in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

Montresor is a good example of why we should almost never take justice into our own hands. He believed he was justified in walling Fortunato up in a catacomb and leaving him in the cold and the dark to die. In his mind, this was just recompense for the thousand insults he had suffered from Fortunato.

Of course, we as readers are horrified by this sadistic act. It seems impossible that even 10,000 "insults" would justify treating Fortunato in that way.

This illustrates how easy it is to exaggerate what injustices have been done to us and, therefore, feel justified in taking disproportionally cruel revenge. For this reason, even though the justice system is flawed, it is better to put justice in the hands of dispassionate people who can objectively evaluate guilt, innocence, and a proper penalty for a crime. Too often, we can let our emotions get in the way.

That being said, there may, on very rare occasions, be a time when justice so terribly miscarries that we are justified in taking action. In Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, for example, a man who kidnapped and murdered a young child gets away with the crime. A group of people close to child decide to take justice into their own hands and together murder him on the train, each stabbing him once. Importantly, this group did consult with one another, and nobody acted as a rogue vigilante. Poirot, the detective who solves the case, does not turn these people over to the police. This seems to be one of the rare examples when taking justice into one's own hands was justified—though by a group, not an individual.

In "The Cask of Amontillado," what is the meaning of the phrase "A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser"?

In Poe's classic short story "The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor is the unreliable narrator and protagonist who is obsessed with seeking revenge on his enemy, Fortunato. Before Montresor elaborates on his brilliant plan to get revenge, he expounds upon his strict definition of revenge. Montresor begins by stating that one must not only punish their enemy but do so with impunity. In other words, Montresor believes that it is necessary to not get caught while taking revenge. Montresor goes on to say:

A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser (Poe 1)

The word unredressed means "not set right" or "unfixed" while retribution is a punishment inflicted upon someone as vengeance. Therefore, Montresor is saying that a wrong will not be fixed or set right if punishment overtakes the person seeking revenge (redresser). This is another way of saying that one must avenge their enemy with impunity and avoid being punished for their actions. Essentially, Montresor is adamant about not being caught, arrested, or punished for getting revenge.

He feels that in order to get revenge one must maintain their wits and focus by concealing their intentions and carefully executing a foolproof plan, which is exactly what he does. For the remainder of the narrative, Montresor describes how he cleverly manipulated Fortunato into following him into the depths of his catacombs, where he proceeded to bury him alive. Montresor ends up getting away with his crime, which proves that he followed his own advice regarding vengeance.

In "The Cask of Amontillado," what is the meaning of the phrase "A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser"?

This phrase is best understood within the context of the paragraph in which it appears; Montresor is talking about the need not only for vengeance against Fortunato, but vengeance that is conducted in a particular way.

I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.

"I must not only punish, but punish with impunity" - impunity basically means exemption from punishment or vulnerability. Montresor needs to punish Fortunato in a way that will not cause Montresor to be punished, himself. He's basically saying that he needs to think of a way to take his revenge that will protect him from suspicion and ensure that he gets away with it.

"A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser." The word "redress" means to fix or set right. Thus this sentence might translate to, "A problem is not set right if revenge overtakes the person trying to fix it." Montresor is saying that he needs to keep his wits about him and avoid being overcome by emotion, or by the manner in which he conducts his revenge - otherwise, being punished for what he's going to do to Fortunato will make it look as though the justice of his actions is not complete.

"It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong." The person who committed the crime needs to know that his actions have brought revenge upon him, and that revenge is what is taking place, rather than some sort of accident or unrelated offense. Montresor needs Fortunato to know that he is being punished, otherwise his crimes are not fully addressed because Fortunato will not know why this is happening.

In "The Cask of Amontillado," what is the meaning of the phrase "A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser"?

Montresor takes a lot of pride in explaining (or over-explaining) the means, reasons, and effects of his revenge. In this phrase, Montresor is saying that a wrong is not really avenged if the punishment (retribution) controls or overtakes the redresser (Montresor). What is meant by "overtakes"? I think it means one of two things. The wrong is not really avenged if the retribution becomes more important than the person exacting the retribution. In other words, Montresor wants to punish Fortunato, but he wants this to be about himself and Fortunato. The other, more accepted explanation of this line is that the redresser should not get caught. This is what is meant by the retribution taking over the redresser. If the redresser gets too involved with the retribution, he may forget the overall strategy. He may get careless and get caught. He will be overtaken by the retribution. Montresor seems to be saying that revenge will not be as satisfying if he gets caught himself. So, he vows to remain in control of the retribution. 

This is why Montresor chooses to bury Fortunato. He essentially hides all evidence of his crime. In this way, he completely controls the retribution and the evidence. 

In "The Cask of Amontillado," what is Montresor's attitude toward revenge or punishment?

When analyzing Montresor's attitude or motivation, readers must keep in mind that he is another one of Poe's unreliable narrators.  So, Montresor's attitude is not necessarily what Poe considers moral or logical.

Revenge (or delivering "punishment") is the main theme of the story.  Montresor states at the beginning of the story,

‘‘The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.’’

Readers never discover what those injuries are that Fortunato enacted upon the narrator, but Montresor does not portray that as important.  This demonstrates that Montresor's attitude toward revenge is inarguable--he believes so strongly in his right to revenge that he does not need to provide specifics about his motive.

Moreover, Montresor believes that he is qualified not only to obtain revenge himself (and not wait on a higher power or give his enemy an opportunity for redemption), but he also demonstrates that he is entitled to choose the mode and extremity of punishment. Whatever Fortunato did to Montresor (if anything at all) obviously did not kill or physically harm the narrator, but he does not care about the punishment fitting the "crime"--he wants only to assert his power and sense of justice.

In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," is Montresor's revenge justified?

One of the intriguing aspects of "The Cask of Amontillado" is that we do not know, and cannot know, whether Montresor's relentless and horrific revenge is justified.

For example, Montresor establishes the reason for his hatred at the start of the story when he says

The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.  You, who know so well the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat.

This disclosure tells us something very important about Montresor, specifically, that he is untrustworthy.  Apparently, he has been the victim of a serious insult, but rather than address the problem openly--by challenging Fortunato to a duel, for example--he is disguising his feelings.

More important, however, is that Montresor never tells us what the nature of a "thousand injuries" is and how the "insult" was so qualitatively different that he had to revenge himself upon Fortunato.  Because we are left to wonder throughout the entire story why Montresor is acting out the horrific revenge, we cannot but be suspicious of his motives and his sanity.

This is not to say that Fortunato is a sympathetic character--from his discussions with Montresor, he appears to be prideful, sarcastic, condescending.  When Fortunato makes a sign of Freemasonry when he drinks, Montresor says that he doesn't recognize the sign, but that he is a Mason as well (alluding to his attention to wall  Fortunato into the catacombs), but Fortunato, in a very condescending manner says, "'You? Impossible. A mason?'" Fortunato simply cannot believe that someone in Montresor's reduced circumstances could be a brother Mason.

Still, the fact that Fortunato is not a good person is no reason to kill him in such a horrible way as Montresor has planned.  Because we never understand Montresor's motivation--what makes one insult unbearable--we are forced to conclude that Montresor, whatever Fortunato has done to him, is unbalanced and unreliable.

The question of whether Montresor's revenge is justifiable, then, is not answerable given the information we have.  It is even difficult for us, despite the horrible crime Montresor commits, to render a moral judgment against Montresor: if we knew what "insult" had had suffered, perhaps we could conclude that his revenge is justified or unjustified, a conclusion based on our individual beliefs.  But, in the end, we are left as mystified as Fortunato is when the last brick goes into place.

In "The Cask of Amontillado," what does, "A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser" mean?

If somebody kills a man in order to get revenge for something that man did to him, and then if the killer gets caught and either gets sent to prison or executed, doesn't the killer still have his revenge? Poe seems to think the killer has to get away with the crime without even being suspected, or else he has not gotten the revenge he is after. Yet there have always been many people who have committed revenge-murders and gotten convicted and who probably still felt satisfied that they had gotten the vengeance they desired. There must be many cases in which the person wanting revenge actually gets killed himself in the act of killing his enemy. I can't think of examples in literature (or in the movies, either) but there must be many examples. One example that comes to mind is Hamlet, who is killed indirectly by Claudius and then kills Claudius while he himself is dying. Doesn't Hamlet get the revenge he has been wanting all throughout the play? Another example that comes to mind which might be even better than Hamlet is Humbert Humbert's murder of Quilty in the novel Lolita (and in the film adaptation). Humbert not only gets caught but doesn't even try to avoid capture.

In "The Cask of Amontillado," what does, "A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser" mean?

Montressor clarifies that statement by saying, "I must not only punish but punish with impunity." He just doesn't want to get caught or exposed as the person who murders Fortunato. He is eminently successful because Fortunato completely disappears. He continually refers to Fortunato as his friend and his good friend because he doesn't want anybody even to suspect that he knows anything about Fortunato's disappearance.

In "The Cask of Amontillado," what does, "A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser" mean?

This phrase was spoken by Montresor in the opening lines of the story as he tells the reader about the wrongs committed against him by Fortunato. The word "unredressed" means not right or not made up for. What Montresor is saying here is that the wrongs committed against him by Fortunato were never made up for or Fortunato never made the wrongs right so now retribution or punishment will have to serve the redresser, Fortunato, instead. He is basically saying that Fortunato has to pay and since he hasn't taken the time to make things right, he, Montresor will have to now take matters into his own hands and issue Fortunato a fitting punishment. Montresor is a very unreliable narrator because he is secretly scheming this revenge for some wrong which he never names and his revenge plot is more than a bit extreme.

In "The Cask of Amontillado," what does, "A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser" mean?

This quotation by the narrator, Montresor, as he takes revenge on Fortunato (a name ironic in and of itself, given how he will meet his most unfortunate end) essentially means that if he (Montresor) were to get caught and punished for what he is about to do to Fortunato, then Fortunato is essentially getting away with the wrong or wrong he committed against Montresor, even though he will be dead.  For this reason, Montresor leads Fortunato, who is inebriated, into the catacombs, chains him to a wall and bricks him in while Fortunato slowly becomes aware of what is happening.  In this way, Montresor has ensured that no one will ever find Fortunato, and his revenge will stand without punishment to himself.  This is one of several places where Montresor's ramblings and whinings about Fortunato show him to be not exactly playing with the full deck. 

In "The Cask of Amontillado," what does, "A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser" mean?

Redress means to make amends or to set something right and  retribution is payback or revenge. Revenge and redressment are essentially opposites of each other. A person who seeks to redress an unjust act is trying to make the situation right. Being overcome with feeling the need for revenge would make it impossible to rectify the wrong.  Try reading the quote this way:  A wrong is not made right when revenge overtakes the person who wants to make the situation right.  It is similar to the old saying that two wrongs don't make a right.  The quote suggests that a person who has been wronged may naturally experience conflicting emotions, but if the goal is to correct the situation, then it is imperative to control the desire for revenge. 

Is the degree of revenge in "The Cask of Amontillado" justified? What alternatives could Montresor have considered?

Poe very wisely starts his story with the words "The thousand injuries of Fortunato..." If we accept Montresor's statement that he has been injured a thousand times, as I believe we should, then his desire for revenge seems justified. A thousand injuries is a lot of injuries. As far as the "insult" is concerned, I think this is only included because it triggers the desire for revenge for the thousand injuries. When Fortunato ventures upon "insult," it shows that the man is going to get even more overtly injurious. Montresor has, as he says, borne the injuries as best he could. Now it would seem that Fortunato wants to see if Montresor will tolerate open insults.

What a strange pair these men are! Why does Montresor stick around to be injured a thousand times? It must be because he is somehow dependent on Fortunato. There is strong suggestion that both these men are in the same line of business. They buy and sell one-of-a-kind valuable articles. This is suggested by the following quote:

Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity, to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian millionaires. In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack, but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. In this respect I did not differ from him materially;—I was skilful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could.

Fortunato is rich. Montresor is poor. No doubt Montresor sometimes borrows money from Fortunato or asks him to become an ad hoc partner in a purchase. For example, an impecunious aristocratic Venetian family may have to part with an oil painting by a great master in order to survive in their deteriorating palazzo in the decaying city of Venice. If Fortunato and Montresor are business associates, and if Fortunato usually takes unfair advantage of Montresor in their deals, this would explain the thousand injuries and explain why Montresor puts up with them.

The other action Montresor could have taken would have been to break off all relations with Fortunato. We are all at liberty to do this when we find that someone we know is not treating us with proper respect--and this is what we should do. However, it may be that Montresor simply cannot afford to break with Fortunato. They appear to be "friendly enemies." They cooperate and compete. This Luchesi, who never actually appears, is another friendly enemy.

If Montresor simply stopped having anything to do with Fortunato, his friendly enemy could become an unfriendly enemy. Fortunato might be able to ruin Montresor socially and financially. Montresor says of him:

...although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared.

Montresor is afraid of him. We have all known people like Fortunato. They can be bad friends and worse enemies. It is best not to get involved with such people in the first place--if we will trust our first impressions!

Is the degree of revenge in "The Cask of Amontillado" justified? What alternatives could Montresor have considered?

Since Montressor never tells the reader what wrong Fortunato committed against him in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," we can never know if the punishment fit the crime. However, in a civilized society, murder is never a proper retaliation, so I would say it is not a justifiable act. It was a perfect crime, however, so Montressor's continued freedom must have satisfied him immensely. Punishing or ridiculing Fortunato without killing him would have left a living witness to contact authorities, so Montressor probably felt he had no choice but to eliminate this possibility. Fortunato's insult or crime against Montressor may not have been an illegal one, so contacting the authorities may not have been an option.

What is Montresor's message in this passage from "The Cask of Amontillado"?

"I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong."

What Montresor is saying in this passage is that in order for his revenge against Fortunato to be proper, complete and satisfactory, it must be carried out under certain conditions that he outlines in this paragraph.  

"not only punish, but punish with impunity; that is, to punish Fortunato without being caught or punished himself. Furthermore, he is determined not to act in secrecy, for Fortunato must know that his pain is handed to him by Montresor."

Therefore, Montresor must devise a plan that includes innocent deception so as to lure Fortunato to his death.  Once he has fully trapped him, Montresor can then reveal his act of revenge.  Deeply hidden from any watchful eyes, he exacts his revenge on Fortunato with cold, deadly precision.  The victim is fully aware that he is being buried alive, and he dies knowing who killed him.   

It is certain, no one will ever find Fortunato, nor can anyone blame Montresor for his disappearance; he has committed the perfect murder.

In Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Cask of Amontillado," what is the meaning of the phrase "A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its addressor"?

Edgar Allan Poe’s classic story “The Cask of Amontillado” has one primary theme: retribution. From the first word of the story, the narrator explains to the reader that he has been insulted by Fortunato; consequently, he will be avenged.  This was definition of Poe’s stories: one singular purpose with every detail pointing toward that end.

The point of view is first person with Montresor narrating his vengeful story.

“I must not only punish but punish with impunity.  A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser.  It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who had done the wrong.”

When Montresor seeks his revenge, he must do it without being punished himself.  If Montresor is discovered or punished for getting his vengeance, than he will not have achieved his retaliation.  Furthermore, if Montresor does not make sure that Fortunato knows that it is he that is seeking to punish him, then his plan will also fail.

• Insult=punishment
• Insult with Montresor being punished for seeking his revenge---nothing is accomplished
• Insult without Fortunato knowing that Montresor desires to punish him—nothing is accomplished

Montresor has gone to great lengths to plan his revenge.  He has set the time during the carnival when everyone will be drinking and reveling. His servants will be gone with his palace. The evil narrator knows that he can lure Fortunato down to the catacombs because Fortunato thinks that he is the only one who can recognize the amontillado.

The catacombs are deep within the earth and under the house of Montresor.  He has prepared the tools necessary to complete the final punishment.

Dressed as a court jester, Fortunato has been drinking too much.  He does agree to go with Montresor and taste the wine. As they walk deep into the catacombs, Fortunato has a terrible coughing spell.  Fortunato makes the statement that he will not die of a cough.  Montresor ironically agrees because he knows exactly how and when Fortunato will die.

Eventually, the two arrive at the end of the catacombs. Bones are lined from the floor to the ceiling which will also keep any sounds from reaching outside of the catacombs.  Before Fortunato realizes what has happened, Montresor chains him to the wall.  Fortunato screams and cries out; Montresor joins him in yelling.  Nothing can be heard on the surface. 

Montresor walls up Fortunato. When he gets to the last brick, Montresor has a slight twinge of guilt which he attributes to the cold in the catacombs.  He pushes the last brick in place sealing the fate of Fortunato.

At the end of the story, the reader learns that Montresor accomplished his purpose.  No one has discovered Fortunato’s body or tomb for fifty years.  His final statement on behalf of Fortunato is “Rest in peace.”  Montresor punished Fortunato without anyone knowing that he committed a crime.

What does Montresor's character in "The Cask of Amontillado" suggest about revenge and justification?

Montresor is an unreliable narrator whose brutal revenge for a seemingly ridiculous, unworthy cause suggests that he is deranged. By offering a vague, ambiguous description of what Fortunato did to warrant Montresor's revenge, Poe hints that Montresor's revenge is not justified.

Despite behaving like a calm, collected man, Montresor's thoughts and feelings of guilt continue to haunt him, and his unreliability as the story's narrator underscores his mental instability. Before adding the final stone in place, Montresor thrusts his torch through the aperture in the wall and mentions that his heart grew sick. He proceeds to blame his emotions on the dampness of the catacombs, but the reader is aware of his guilt and anxiety. Although Montresor gets away with murder, the details of his crime continue to haunt him.

By neglecting to elaborate on Fortunato's offenses, refusing to create sympathy for his character, and using him as an unreliable narrator, Poe seems to suggest that Montresor's revenge was not justified. Instead of depicting a valiant, sympathetic man who takes revenge for a righteous cause, Montresor is portrayed as a mentally unstable, insecure man with malevolent intentions, who murders an unsuspecting victim.

What does the quote "A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redressor" mean?

At the beginning of "The Cask of Amontillado," Montresor specifies his ideas of the perfect revenge. One requisite is that the "redressor," that is, the perpetrator of the revenge plot, should not suffer any kind of "retribution." The two main forms of possible retribution for Montresor would be to have the police authorities arrest him for murder and to be found guilty, or to have Fortunato's many powerful friends and relatives suspect him of being guilty of Fortunato's disappearance and take private, personal action against him. No doubt if they had strong suspicions they would subject him to torture to make him reveal the location of Fortunato's body and then cut him to pieces.

Montresor guards against suspicion by pretending for years to be Fortunato's good friend. Montresor is the last person in the world anyone would suspect of being involved in a crime against Fortunato because it is so well known that the two men are the best of friends. Throughout the tale Montresor keeps addressing Fortunato as his friend, his poor friend, and his good friend; and he refers to him in the same terms. This is because he has forced himself to think of his enemy as his friend in order to be able to maintain a totally friendly manner toward him. Montresor has so conditioned himself to calling Fortunato his good friend that he keeps doing it from force of habit.

Poe's entire purpose in creating these details is to leave the reader assured that the revenge was perfect. Montresor had to think about the future. It wasn't enough just to wall Fortunato up and leave him to die. Montresor had to be totally above suspicion for years after the event, because there would be investigations and discussions of this strange disappearance for a long time, during which Montresor would have to act just as concerned and just as mystified as everybody else. We see enough of Montresor in the story to feel assured that he will be able to play his part to perfection.

In "The Cask of Amontillado," what is the meaning and significance of Montresor's statement, "A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser"?

Indicative of his vengeful intentions and devious machinations, Montresor's statement also points to his careful preparations and "the very definitiveness" in planning the demise of Fortunato. As the second part of his explanation of the meaning of revenge, Montresor adds, 

It [a wrong] is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done that wrong.

Thus, Montresor establishes two conditions for perfect revenge:

1. The avenger must not get caught in his revenge; if he is punished somehow--"retribution overtakes the redresser"--then he has not succeeded in attaining retribution against the one who has wronged him.
2. The person against whom the avenger seeks retribution must understand what is taking place; that is, he must know that he is being punished for wrongs committed against the avenger.

As the remainder of the narrative demonstrates, (1) Montresor metes his revenge without discovery:

For the half a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!

(2) And, before he dies, Fortunato is well aware of what is being done to him: Fortunato cries out, not as a drunken man, but as one who realizes his situation; he pulls vigorously on his chain in an attempt to free himself; he screams, hoping someone will hear him; he laughs in the desperate expectations that Montresor is merely playing a perverse prank upon him; and, finally, Fortunato pleads with Montresor, appealing to his Christian beliefs: "For the love of God, Montresor."

Indeed, Montresor has avenged "the thousand injuries of Fortunato" and with an audacious tone, he boasts in his tale of his perfectly executed retribution.