Motiveless malignity?
Who's sorry now old timer?
Look at how you've spent your life!
But I got the time and I got the muscle
I got the need to lay it all on the line…
It's a perfect crime
Goddamn it it's a perfect crime
Mother****er it's a perfect crime
I said it's perfect
Keep the demons down
And drag the skeletons out.
You want to **** with me?
Don't **** with me'Cause I'm what you'll be
So don't **** with me
If you had better sense
You'd step aside from the bad side of me
Don't **** with the bad side o' me
Stay away from the bad side o' me
Don't **** with the bad side
Don’t **** with me
•English
Nemo me impune lacessit
•Latin
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The motive-hunting of motiveless Malignity
(Coleridge’s notes on Shakespeare’s Iago)
Iago = villain in Othello
(In)famous for his reasonless evil
What similarities might Iago have with
Montresor?
What, indeed, makes Montresor tick?
Montresor’s is totally committed to total revenge from the outset, even
though we never find out for what
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the thousand injuries…I had borne as best as I
could
I vowed revenge
I would be avenged
this was a point definitively settled
not only punish, but punish with impunity
a wrong is unredressed when retribution
overtakes its redresser
to make himself felt as such to him who has
done the wrong
Is it the seriousness of Fortunato’s offence which
makes us believe Montresor’s anger, or vice versa?
Montresor is proud of his ability, like Lady Macbeth tells her own
husband, to “look like the innocent flower / But be the serpent under it”
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I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face
my smile now was at the thought of his immolation
I was so pleased to see him that I thought I should
never have done wringing his hand
“My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good
nature”
“my poor friend”
“you are rich, respected, admired, beloved…”
“I had no intention of alarming you unnecessarily”
“The drops of moisture trickle among the bones.
Come, we will go back ere it is too late.”
Does the dramatic irony used here ever suck the reader
into Montresor’s deception and pretence as well?
Poe goes to great lengths to create contrast between the characters,
accentuating Fortunato’s more laughable, drunken side
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he had a weak point
he…looked into my eyes with two filmy orbs that
distilled the rheum of intoxication
the man wore motley
he paused and nodded to me familiarly, while his bells
jingled
the wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled
stupidly bewildered…too much astounded to resist
How does this fit with Montresor’s earlier assertion that
Fortunato was “a man to be respected and even
feared”?
In contrast, Montresor’s plan unfolds with a meticulous sense of power
and self control
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my own fancy grew warm with the Medoc
he stepped unsteadily forward, while I followed immediately at his
heels
a moment more and I had fettered him to the granite
throwing the links about his waist, it was but the work of a few
seconds to secure it
“I must first render you all the little attentions in my power”
I busied myself among the pile of bones
I began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche
it was now midnight, and my task was drawing to a close
there remained but a single stone to be fitted
against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones
For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them
N.B. Montresor’s plan is Machiavellian in its intricacy and
expediency
Ultimately, however, despite his claims to the contrary, Poe betrays
many clues of Montresor’s humanity and fallibility
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you, who so well know the nature of my soul
that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I
ceased my labors and sat down upon the bones
for a brief moment, I hesitated – I trembled
a low laugh that erected the hairs upon my head
a sad voice, which I had difficulty in recognising
I replied to the yells of him who clamored…and the
clamorer grew still
but to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply
my heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs
made it so
In pace requiescat
Is Montresor actually as evil as he claims (and clearly wants
to be)?
Poe steadily builds the atmosphere in as dark and oppressive a fashion
as possible, making extensive use of Pathetic Fallacy
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it was about dusk
during the supreme madness of the carnival season
there were no attendants at home
down a long and winding staircase
the damp ground of the catacombs of the Montresors
through long walls of piled skeletons…into the inmost recesses of the
catacombs
a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather
to glow than flame
At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less
spacious.
its walls had been lined with human remains
the bones had been thrown down, and lay promiscuously upon the earth
a still interior crypt or recess [4ft x 3ft x 6ft]
its termination the feeble light did not enable us to see
How does Poe use Pathetic Fallacy to heighten the sense of claustrophobia
in Fortunato’s eventual tomb?
Poe makes frequent use of sound effects throughout the story further
to develop the Pathetic Fallacy
a low moaning cry from the depth of the recess
a long and obstinate silence
the furious vibration of the chain
a succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting
suddenly from the throat of the chained form
 there came forth in return only a jingling of the
bells
 How does Poe’s description of sounds help to
heighten the tension and suspense?
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accentuate = make
clearer/stronger
avenge = have revenge on
catacomb/crypt = burial
chamber/tomb
clamor = shout
Dramatic Irony = the technique
whereby the reader/audience
knows more than the
character(s)
expediency = believing that the
end justifies the means
fallibility = the ability to make
mistakes
flambeau = flamed torch
hearken = listen to
immolation = burial
impunity = without punishment
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In pace requiescat = Rest in
Peace (Latin)
intoxication = drunkenness
Machiavellian = evil and plotting
Medoc = type of wine
meticulous = very careful
motley = clown-like
niche/recess = corner or hole
obstinate = stubborn
Pathetic Fallacy = when the
setting helps create the mood
promiscuous = casual
redress = settle/sort out
retribution = revenge
wont = habit/desire
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How does Poe create horror and suspense in
at least two of the short stories you have
read?
You will start to plan your essay in response
to this question tomorrow.
You will be writing the essay itself under
controlled conditions shortly afterwards.
So you might want to do some preparation
yourself throughout the week…
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Re-read the three short stories by Edgar Allen
Poe
Make a list of all the examples of horror or
suspense you found in each of the stories you
are planning to write about
Collect/narrow down your examples into
common groups, each providing a main point
for your essay
Construct a P.E.E. plan for each of these
points
Barbiephobia
We will be going
through how to
plan your essay
in the lesson on
Monday – but
the more you do
in advance, the
better…
In the
meantime, let’s
finish with
Barbie…