Nowadays, if you hit a person with a pebble, more often than not he will strike back at you with a boulder. Tit for tat is no longer the name of the game. If a person hurts another person, the other person will retaliate in such a way that the revenge will be far worse than the injury to the first person. A few people can take an insult to personally and often the revenge that they plan on taking is far harsher than the insult because more often than not, when hurt, people tend to think with their emotions and not with clear presence of mind.
In "The cask of Amontillado"�, written in 1846 by Edgar Allen Poe, Poe states that more often than not, revenge is personal and people can retaliate in a completely unjustified manner once filled with a sense of vengeance and anger. In the story, Poe shows how Montressor declares war on Fortunato, merely because Fortunato insulted Montressor.
Portrait of Edgar Allen Poe (Maryland attorney gen...
Illustration for Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Cask...
Engraving of Thomas Dunn English (1819-1902). Year...Montressor is shown as a man who lacks self control since he suddenly goes insane and decides that he must have his revenge and revenge according to Montressor was killing Fortunato. Poe has written this story from the point of view of Montressor who decides that he must get rid of Fortunato once and for all and tries to show that he is justified in taking his revenge by trying to prove that by taking revenge, he is protecting the honor and dignity of his family.
As Johanna Spyri once said "Anger has overpowered him, and driven him to a revenge which was rather a stupid one, I must acknowledge, but anger makes us all stupid", Poe illustrates how Montressor is overcome by a feeling of revenge which is totally uncalled for since all Fortunato did...