Skip to main content

Which of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories is the most relevant to today?

I’d like to start by saying that the answer to this question is going to differ from person to person. It’s asking an opinion. Different people are going to find different stories more relevant. What’s more important than the story choice is the support given for why you believe that story is most relevant today.


For me, I would choose “The Cask of Amontillado.” At its core, the story is a story of revenge. Fortunato offends Montresor in some way, and Montresor vows revenge. Montresor then deviously puts his revenge plans in motion, and they end with the destruction (death) of Fortunato.


The reason that I believe this story is relevant today is because I see that same revenge theme in a lot of media. ABC even has a show titled Revenge. I feel that the revenge motif as a tool to drive a plot forward is incredibly common now. I find it disturbing as well because I believe that readers and viewers might begin to see the concept of revenge as normal. That normality is another reason why I think the story is applicable to a modern audience. Montresor doesn’t hesitate with his plan, nor does he feel guilty or remorseful about his actions. He feels entirely justified in killing Fortunato over some unknown insult. Revenge seems like a normal concept for Montresor.


However, even though “The Cask of Amontillado” uses revenge to drive the plot forward, I feel that the story is distinctly different than modern-day media examples of revenge. I feel that the story is different because in most modern media examples that focus on revenge, the person going about getting revenge is painted as the “good guy” hero. I’ll give a classic example. Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride has vowed revenge against the six-fingered man for killing his father. Audiences root for Montoya throughout the film and cheer for him when he finally kills his foe. It’s the same when Maximus Decimus Meridius from Gladiator vows revenge against Commodus. Audiences are perfectly fine with Maximus leaving a huge body count in his wake because it’s in the name of revenge. It’s different in “The Cask of Amontillado,” though. Montresor might be the main character, but readers don’t find themselves rooting for him. We should be (and are) appalled at the murder that he commits. We see him as a bad guy doing morally destitute things, and the fact that he has no guilt about it makes him even more evil.


I think that this story is incredibly relevant to modern audiences because I believe it shows revenge as something that a person shouldn’t aspire to taking. The story is quite dark in its content, but I feel that it is a refreshing look at a common motif. It doesn’t show revenge in a positive light.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What warning does Chuchundra issue to Rikki?

Chuchundra, the sniveling, fearful muskrat who creeps around walls because he is too terrified to go into the center of a room, meets Rikki in the middle of the night. He insults Rikki by begging him not to kill him. He then insults him by suggesting that Nag might mistake Chuchundra for Rikki. He says, "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes."  He issues this warning to Rikki not to help keep Rikki safe but as a way of explaining why Rikki's presence gives him, Chuchundra, more reason to fear.  Chuchundra starts to tell Rikki what Chua the rat told him--but breaks it off when he realizes he might be overheard by Nag. He says, "Nag is everywhere, Rikki-Tikki." Rikki threatens to bite Chuchundra to get him to talk. Even then, Chuchundra won't overtly reveal any information. But he does say, "Can't you hear, Rikki-Tikki?" This is enough of a clue for the clever mongoose. He listens carefully and can just make out the "faintest scratch-s...
Post a Comment
Read more