“The wrath of vengeance”
Revenge is the act of retaliation for an offense
or injury caused to one by another. It can overwhelm a person, shake them to
their very core and become the most important facet of their life. Revenge is often
associated with anger, animosity, and even obsession. The person exacting
revenge feels that he has been wronged and feels justified in righting that
wrong. Throughout the short story "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar
Allan Poe and the novel “The Magician” by W.S. Maugham, the authors develop
the feelings of revenge possessed by the central characters Arthur and Montresor.
In these tales, Arthur Burdon, a self-opinionated surgeon loses his future
wife to a flamboyant magician, and Montresor, a commoner, is often offended by
his higher status peer Fortunato. Throughout their suffering, they seek
justice, but when justice’s restorative power fails, vengeance is the only
option that alters personalities and turns frail men puissant.
Arthur
and Montresor are similar in the sense that they are both portrayed as
vulnerable and sensitive characters at the very beginning as a first
impression to the reader. Arthur doesn’t have an opinion to get across, is
narrow minded, and Montresor is someone who sits and is often subjected to
offenses. For a peer to
have injured him numerous times, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had
borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (Poe,
p.1567), there must have been some sign of weakness Montresor
was exuding for someone to feel the liberty to mock him so often and
effortlessly. In addition, he waited to get mentally injured and humiliated
thousands of times before taking any sort of action whether it be revenge or a
verbal response. Also throughout the story we see that he is of inferior
status than Fortunato from the way he speaks of him, “…although in other
regards he was a man to be respected and even feared” (Poe, p.1567). In sort,
this makes him a frail character in the beginning of the short Poe story. The
evil flourishes from his desire to get revenge, which in sort makes him
puissant or evil in a sense. “Hatred
is the coward's revenge for being intimidated”, claims George Bernard
Shaw, an Irish playwright. “The Magician’s” Arthur never quite believed in
Haddo’s far-fetched stories such as him defeating three lions with three
bullets or creating life out of nothing. He was also always bothered by not
knowing whether Haddo was being sincere or not, which intimidated this young
man. “It disturbed his practical mind never to be certain if Haddo was
serious, or if, as now, he was plainly making game of them” (Maugham, p.59).
Similarly, when Haddo asks Arthur what he has to say about Porhoet’s occult
experience involving the realization of his mother’s death, the young surgeon
replies “nothing”, since he never voices his neutral opinion of the black arts.
This points out that Arthur is frightened
into submission by Oliver Haddo’s presence and remarks.
As
the story progresses though, we see that revenge has depleted Arthur and
Montresor to their very soul. Both these men develop a sense of wittiness,
slyness, and unexpected mental strength. The revenger feels dominant because
he is consuming others when he himself is being consumed by the greater power
of vengeance. This desire for retribution acts as a puppet master controlling
the strings of the person who allows himself to become a marionette in the
hands of revenge. It is evident that they are being controlled by their shift
in behavior. Arthur publicly expresses his change of views on the occult and
puts a mental stop to his skepticism, “I’m so broken, so confused, that I
cannot think sanely. At this moment everything seems possible. My faith in all
the truths that have supported me is tottering.” (Maugham, p.118) This is a
big step into open-mindedness when before he would “…laugh[ed] heartily”
(Maugham, p.73) at any reference to magic. On the other hand, Montresor's precise premeditated plan
demonstrates his dedication to his act. Only someone evil and disturbed could
have carried out all of his deliberate wicked planning, “There were no
attendants at home; … I had told them that I shall not return until the
morning, and had given them the explicit orders not to stir from the house.
These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate
disappearance” (Poe, p.1568). For a person to plot a murder because a peer has
insulted them numerous times is an extreme and abnormal solution, which makes
us question his sanity. In addition, he ironically mocks Fortunato of his
death, “’I drink,’ he said, ‘to the buried that repose around us.’ ‘And I to
your long life’” (Poe, p.1569). The two revenge driven men took private vengeance
because justice couldn’t be served through the law. The court can’t punish
verbal injuries or a fiancée leaving her man with no proof of force, so they
sought justice personally “I shall not take any steps of my own till I find
that the law is powerless” (Maugham, p.163).
All
things considered, Maugham’s “The Magician” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of
Amontillado” are two striking tales that take us through the consumptive steps
that revenge takes to completely alter a person’s personality and drive them
out of character. The characters Arthur and Montresor are exhausted of their
persona and converted to the complete opposite. From being adynamic, these two
men take power and matters into their own hands and let revenge be their
guide. This animalistic response to injury lets them turn the roles around and
stand on dominant ground, instead of being submissive as they originated in
the stories.
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