I would say that Montresor's coat of arms is a really good symbol to analyze in this story. The coat of arms comes up in conversation between Fortunato and Montresor.
“The Montresors,” I replied, “were a great and numerous family.”
“I forget your arms.”
“A huge human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are embedded in the heel.”
“And the motto?”
“Nemo me impune lacessit.”
It's a great little exchange because it carries a lot of meaning. Let's start with the motto. It means "no one attacks me with impunity." That references Montresor's opening statement that he plans to get revenge against Fortunato for the "insults." That fits perfectly with who readers understand Montresor to be; however, the motto is the motto for the Royal Stuart dynasty of Scotland. Montresor is not Scottish, so it quickly becomes clear that Montresor is lying. The image on the coat of arms is symbolic too. Montresor is the foot that is crushing the snake (Fortunato). Readers can assume that Fortunato is the snake that bit Montresor, and Montresor is now crushing his enemy beneath his boot/house.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
What are examples of symbolism/allegory in "The Cask of Amontillado"?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Summarize the major research findings of "Toward an experimental ecology of human development."
Based on findings of prior research, the author, Bronfenbrenner proposes that methods for natural observation research have been applied in ...
-
Show that $\displaystyle a(t) = v(t) \frac{dV}{ds}$ of a particle that moves along a straight line with displacement $s(t)$, velocity $v(t)$...
-
Based on findings of prior research, the author, Bronfenbrenner proposes that methods for natural observation research have been applied in ...
-
The narrator of "Sonny's Blues" describes the neighborhood as "filled with a hidden menace which was its very breath of l...
-
In chapter 2, the boys fail to make a sustainable signal fire, and Ralph mentions that they need to put people in charge of maintaining the ...
-
Given y=cos(2x), y=0 x=0,x=pi/4 so the solid of revolution about x-axis is given as V = pi * int _a ^b [R(x)^2 -r(x)^2] dx here R(x) =cos(2x...
-
From a table of power series, recall that we have: arctan(x) = sum_(n=0)^oo (-1)^n x^(2n+1)/(2n+1) To apply this on the given problem, we r...
-
Does the quote "a plague on both your houses" have any significance in the play of Romeo and Juliet?Mercutio utters this line -- "A plague o' both your houses!" -- after he has been killed by Tybalt. Tybalt came looking for R...
No comments:
Post a Comment