The Evil That Men Do
Both Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” and Flannery O’Conner’s “A Good Man is Hard to find” are horror stories exploring the darker side of human nature. In both stories two men commit murder for personal reasons. While each story uses similar characters, with similar traits that set the overall theme, they differ in the ways that each character is affected by them. Montresor comes from a former powerful noble house and plans on killing Fortunato. A family goes on vacation and encounters a wanted murderer called The Misfit. Both stories center on evil themes, using character’s to embody evil. However, evil is not the only similarity, pride is also shared trait between both stories, pride can get you killed and …show more content…
The ironic foreshadowing of the characters doom is eerily similar and is present from each of the victims being lead unknowingly to their deaths in the entire story. Montresor leads Fortunato to his family crypt, “The vaults are insufferably damp. They are encrusted with nitre.” “Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely nothing. Amontillado!” (Poe 1109). Fortunato goes willingly to his own death. Another form of ironic foreshadowing in the story is when Fortunato says “I will not die of a cough.” Then Montresor responds, “True True…” death is the topic and Fortunato has the faintest idea that he is actually venturing to his own death (Poe …show more content…
He has a high self-glorification, claiming to share a likeness with Jesus. One would have to possess a considerable high self-worth to compare themselves with a religious prophet. When identified by the grandmother as being the wanted criminal he smiles in a sinister way. He admits to being an evildoer but, refuses to admit he deserved punishment. Calming it was others responsible for his imprisonment. Although it is likely that he suffers from a mental disorder, he is too proud to admitting he deserved going to prison. The grandmother also lets pride cloud her judgement, which inventible results in her death. She is too proud to admit she was mistaken about the plantation being in Tennessee. If she would have not had the family go down the road they would have encountered the Misfit, and been
Both Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” and Flannery O’Conner’s “A Good Man is Hard to find” are horror stories exploring the darker side of human nature. In both stories two men commit murder for personal reasons. While each story uses similar characters, with similar traits that set the overall theme, they differ in the ways that each character is affected by them. Montresor comes from a former powerful noble house and plans on killing Fortunato. A family goes on vacation and encounters a wanted murderer called The Misfit. Both stories center on evil themes, using character’s to embody evil. However, evil is not the only similarity, pride is also shared trait between both stories, pride can get you killed and …show more content…
The ironic foreshadowing of the characters doom is eerily similar and is present from each of the victims being lead unknowingly to their deaths in the entire story. Montresor leads Fortunato to his family crypt, “The vaults are insufferably damp. They are encrusted with nitre.” “Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely nothing. Amontillado!” (Poe 1109). Fortunato goes willingly to his own death. Another form of ironic foreshadowing in the story is when Fortunato says “I will not die of a cough.” Then Montresor responds, “True True…” death is the topic and Fortunato has the faintest idea that he is actually venturing to his own death (Poe …show more content…
He has a high self-glorification, claiming to share a likeness with Jesus. One would have to possess a considerable high self-worth to compare themselves with a religious prophet. When identified by the grandmother as being the wanted criminal he smiles in a sinister way. He admits to being an evildoer but, refuses to admit he deserved punishment. Calming it was others responsible for his imprisonment. Although it is likely that he suffers from a mental disorder, he is too proud to admitting he deserved going to prison. The grandmother also lets pride cloud her judgement, which inventible results in her death. She is too proud to admit she was mistaken about the plantation being in Tennessee. If she would have not had the family go down the road they would have encountered the Misfit, and been