A Look at Vengeance as Illustrated in Edgar Allan Poe’s Story, The Cask of Amontillado

A Look at Vengeance as Illustrated in Edgar Allan Poe’s Story, The Cask of Amontillado â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† by Edgar Allan Poe is the twisted story of Montresors revenge against Fortunato, a â€Å"friend† who insulted his family name. After luring Fortunato into his family’s catacombs with the promise of enjoying a drink of Amontillado, Montresor chains him to wall and leaves him there to die. Different aspects of Poe’s life, including his psychological tendencies and Freemasonry, influenced him to incorporate social status into â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†. It is evident that both characteristics of Poe’s personality and values are reflected in this short story. Poe resented his social status, was full of pride, and took criticism harshly. Like Poe, Montresor also did not take jokes and criticism lightly. Fortunato’s continuous remarks about the Montresors is what ultimately lead Montresor to kill him. Fortunato made remarks about the Montresors because of their recent fall in wealth. Poe resented his more successful coworkers who had more money than him, and he made this known; he â€Å"quickly became upset by jokes made at his expense† (Giammarco). Montresor resents Fortunato’s wealth and happiness because he has fallen in social status. Montresor wants what he used to have and what Fortunato recently gained. Montresor and Fortunato both have a high sense of pride and reputation. Thus, Montresor’s fall in social status severely affects him and makes him envious of Fortunato. This envy and jealousy, caused by the differing social positions of Montresor and Fortunato, is what ultimately drives Montresor to kill Fortunato (Poe). Poe’s own personality characteristic of resenting his social status can be seen here in Montresor’s character. As the story unfolds, the audience learns that Montresor has fallen in social class, and that Fortunato is now wealthier and therefore more powerful than he. After Fortunato has a coughing fit, Montresor says â€Å"You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as I once was. You are a man to be missed† (Poe 327). This shows that Montresor was once wealthy and happy, like Fortunato currently is, but his fall in social status has caused him unhappiness. One of the influences on Poe plays a role Montresor still has his pride despite the fact that he has fallen in social status. He is still confident that he can trick Fortunato with the promise of Amontillado and play upon his weaknesses. This weakness, stemming from his high social status, leads to his ultimate demise. Fortunato is left to die in the catacombs, and Montresor has to live with the guilt of killing him for his reputation (Poe). Poe’s strong sense of pride is seen here in Montresor’s character. Three aspects of Poe’s character, including resenting his social status, taking criticism harshly, and having a strong sense of pride, all made their way into Montresor’s character in this short story. These characteristics of Montresor demonstrate the social status element that Poe incorporated in â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†. Not only was Poe’s influenced by his own personal experience, he was also influenced by the heavy Freemason presence of his time period. The audience sees another aspect of social status embedded in Poe’s short story, and this is the reference to the Freemasons. In Poe’s â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† a conversation between Montresor and Fortunato occurs over the Freemasons. ‘â€Å"You do not comprehend?† he said. â€Å"Not I,† I replied. â€Å"Then you are not of the brotherhood.† â€Å"How?† â€Å"You are not of the masons.† â€Å"Yes, yes,† I said; â€Å"yes, yes.† â€Å"You? Impossible! A mason?† (Poe 328). Fortunato, once again, insults Montresor by telling him that it is impossible that he is a Freemason. The issue of social status is evident again here, as the audience sees how Fortunato regards himself as a higher social status. This dialogue between Montresor and Fortunato held cultural significance for Poe because of the large presence of Freemasons during this time period. The dialogue that contains the reference to the Freemasons is a â€Å"contemporary Masonic political conflict† (Davis-Undiano). According to Davis-Undiano, contemporary analysis of the Freemasons in this short story is often incorrect; their cultural impact and significance vastly varied at the time the short story was written compared to present day. At the time this short story was written, there were two different kinds of Freemasons, and an ongoing conflict was occurring between them (Davis-Undiano). Since the Freemasons were an exclusive club, the idea of social status is seen further here. Fortunato considers himself of higher social status than Montresor, so when he references the Freemasons, he is insulting Montresor yet again, accusing him of being a â€Å"lesser† Freemason. The time period in which Poe wrote this story was the period in which the rift was deepening between the â€Å"elite† and â€Å"working class† Freemasons. Poe could have been demonstrating this rift in â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† with the reference to the Freemasons between Montresor and Fortunato. The reader can see the similarities between Poe’s personality characteristics and morals in the characters in the story. These characteristics Montresor, including resenting his social status, taking criticism harshly, and having a strong sense of pride, all demonstrate Poe’s psychological tendencies in relation to social class. The Freemasons are also an integral part of the story, as they also influenced Poe and further show social status. Fortunato’s incredulous remarks about Montresor being a Freemason demonstrate their differing social statuses and the importance of the Freemasons to the story. Social status is a significant theme in Poe’s â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† and many of his other great works.

Constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act Essay

Constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act - Essay Example Constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act The U.S. Supreme Court has declared the constitutionality of the act except for a few passages that it declared to be â€Å"taxes† more than anything else. So my question is â€Å"If there is a questionable passage in the Affordable Care Act, how can it be declared constitutional and fair to those concerned? The president declared that he would not tax the middle class Americans and yet one of the penalties indicated within Obamacare for those who fail to comply is referenced as a tax. How was it possible for Congress to mandate a new tax within a new health care policy? †. This is a question that I feel needs to be answered since Obamacare, as it has to be popularly known, affects everyone living in the United States regardless of citizenship and residency status. To begin with, the Affordable Care Act has had shady beginnings and a rocky start as a campaign promise of then candidate Obama to the American people. By promising to provide the people with a comprehensive health care plan that will cover every single person living in this country, he needed to come up with a plan that could actually work for all concerned. His people in Congress out together the Affordable Care Act under his guidance and direction as a fulfillment of that promise. The problem is that the Affordable Care Act has come under close scrutiny and legal challenges from most political and private parties who view the act as a form of dictatorship on the American people. ... With the legal challenges posed before the Affordable Care Act among the various states in the country, and the state declarations that they would not enact such a government empowering law upon the citizens of their state, the question was then brought before the Supreme Court whose judicial representatives decided that the landmark March 2010 law had a majority of provisions that could be considered as legal and was therefore constitutional in form and content. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (2012) the Affordable Care Act is a , â€Å"... comprehensive health care reform law makes health insurance affordable for millions of Americans and protects them against potentially catastrophic medical expenses.† By definition, the Affordable Care Act sounds like it will finally clear up the problem of health care coverage for most Americans since the law will force insurance companies to cover the illnesses of their policy holders and their family alike without the safety net of being able to refuse coverage for certain illnesses during certain situations, those who oppose the law say that this particular vision of the government pertaining to healthcare coverage will not work because the provision will force the insurance companies to eventually shut down as they try to cover all pre-existing conditions and current conditions of their policy holders regardless of company guidelines. However, everyone has a bone to pick with the fact that the Affordable Care Act has a clear provision that dictates upon every American citizen to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty for not having any coverage. Those who oppose the law claim that this is a direct violation of the

Applying Rhetorical Theory with Communications Essay

Applying Rhetorical Theory with Communications - Essay Example Aristotle identified three forms of appeal: ethos, pathos and logos (Henry 16). These elements have been applied by many famous orators including the President Obama, the current USA president during his inaugural speech. This paper will focus on the use of Aristotle’s elements in developing a speech to address business leaders on the importance of allowing their employees time off so as to participate in blood donation. Aristotle’s Classical theory on speech is based on five rhetorical canons. These include the use of invention, disposition, style, delivery and memory. Invention involves the selection of a pattern that will help in the attaining the purpose for the speech. Disposition, on the other hand dictates the arrangement of a speech so as to achieve the purpose of the speech. The speech will include the following a brief history, epidemiological fact and the procedure of blood donation. It will also explain the benefits to the business for allowing their employees to go for blood donation. Style involves the use of creativity in expressing ones ideas. This involves the use of details, figures of speech and creative analogies during the speech. The speech will include epidemiological facts on how many businesses have benefited from giving their employees time-off for blood donations. These facts will be represented in graphs and charts relating increased profits with participation in blood donation. Memory involves the use of devices that will ensure that the business leaders do not forget the details in the speech. This will include the use of picture representations and repetition of the important points. Delivery focuses on how the speech will be delivered. Aristotle viewed the use of rhetoric as a means of persuasion without the use of torture unlike the ancient Greek practices. He assumed that a great orator is able to consider his audience and provide proof for his argument. This speech is directed towards business leaders. It is