The correlation between criminals today and those in the early twentieth century share many of the same characteristics. These characteristics may include being categorized a psychopath, being born into a criminal, or even being raised as a fugitive. Over the years, not much has changed in terms of behavior and attitude. Whatever the case may be, it doesn’t change the viewpoints that society has on many of these criminals. Many of them are still out there committing crimes; however, it is important to look into the behavior of one’s past. Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado” presents many challenges about one’s nature and how one is nurtured. These two characteristics differ in many ways and there is ample evidence that a combination of both will inhibit an individual to commit a crime. The main character in “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor, has many factors that influence him to murder his friend.
Being born a “criminal” is something that may be true, with sufficient evidence; however, the way an individual is raised and outside factors seem to have more of an impact in this particular case alone. An example that displays Montresor’s intent to kill Fortunato is when he remarked “The Montresors, were a great and numerous family. This indicates that the family that Montresor was born into was quite noble and well-respected. The nature of the Montresor family would closely resemble a couple characteristics of a criminal. Also, the coat of arms for the family displays a foot-crushing “a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel. This signifies that the family has a long history of getting back at others that seem to provoke any type of action toward a Montresor. The motto of Scotland was: “Nemo me impune necessity. This roughly translates to: “No one provokes me with impunity.
Being born into this mindset is certainly something that Montresor has inherited and lived throughout his whole life. He felt the need to seek revenge on Fortunato due the constant humiliation that he has caused him. The coat of arms is the whole idea of getting back at others that are not significant/have no power and bringing justice to others. Montresor clearly displayed this type of action toward his good friend. Fortunato, a key example of how Montresor was nurtured and raised directly influenced him to kill Fortunato in the way he did was when he states: “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, l vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a thread 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.”
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The importance of this quote alone signifies that outside sources made him act the way that he did, in this case Fortunato, He makes a claim that Fortunato constantly insults Montresor and he reaches his breaking point and inevitably murders him in a fairly gruesome manner. This goes to show how a person is directly influenced by other factors that may cause a criminal act. It’s important to note that Montresor felt the need to seek revenge due to his lack of behavioral control, one of the many signs of a psychopath. Also, the way that Montresor lures him into the deep Vaults while he is intoxicated is obviously taking advantage of him and shows manipulativeness. This is also another characteristic of being a psychopath. He has dealt with the constant humiliation for many years and felt the need to unleash his anger out all at once. While there is an ongoing debate on whether a criminal acts accordingly due to one’s nature or how one is nurtured, it is certainly a combination of both, this is presented in Edgar.
Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” in which the main character, Montresor carries out a gruesome murder with many characteristics of a psychopath and criminal. He shows traits of a criminal through the way he was raised and outside influences throughout his life as well as being born into a Montresor family. The whole idea of being “born a criminal” is certainly challenged and many will argue that an individual will either be one or the other. In this short story, it is proven by Montresor that criminal acts can be influenced by other sources as well as being born into a family with a name and coat of arms.
