does the last line in the cask of amontillado (rest in peace) relate to montressor? how?- i have an in class journal on tuesday,i got the question all i need is help from someone out there.. thanks!!!

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2003

Answers

First I would like to say that I am glad you are only asking for help and not for someone to do your assingment for you, and secondly thank you for not requesting that one of the contributers completes your task for you.

I am going to assume that you have indeed read the story, but if you have not, it is a quick read and you will need to do so anyway in order to answer your question. The Cask of Amontillado, as you well know, ends in "In pace requiescat," indeed meaning "rest in peace." Your's is a very interesting question, because most who read the story would assume that once Montressor had exacted his revenge, he would say to Fortunato something along the lines of rest in peace. But because it was Montressor, who had suffered "the thousand injuries of Fortunato" and resolved that the only means of his being content was with Fortunato dead, it is now he who can rest in peace. Knowing that Fortunato will no longer insult him or make a fool of him would indeed permit Montressor's resting perfectly at peace.

I don't suppose that there really is a definitive answer to your question, but you could certainly argue one case and the other. If you still are looking for something more on this, you may want to try www.poedecoder.com to see if they have any articles that may be of any use. I hope that this helps.

All Respects and Regards,

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2003

I would guess this is a final example of how deep down the murderer is more disturbed by his deed than he would admit. The last scenes of his victim screaming and then not responding at all obviously did not bring "closure" in the full sense. The peace the murderer will not discuss in his bragging amorality is not to be haunted anymore by Fortunato, but this is decades later and just look how shakily he tells the vivid tale. The same obsessive way the narrator of "Annabel Lee" slips in the fact he has been keping vigil by the seadide for decades.

-- Anonymous, November 16, 2003

the final line shows that montressor felt guilty for what he did. For fifty years montressor probably didn't get a single nights sleep. If you recall, at the beginning of the story, he said "You who know the nature of my soul.", which suggests that he was not talking to the reader, but to someone close to him. There are many theories as to who he was talking to. Maybe it was his family, or maybe fortunato's family, or even God. This, therefore, shows that he was confessing to someone to try and come clean about what he did and finally come to peace with himself.

-- Anonymous, November 17, 2003