Evil In The Cask Of Amontillado

A world of evil Humans are capable of atrocious evils and in humane acts against their fellow man. Their have been countless wars, slavery, genocide in our history. We as a species are an extremely violent and hostile to the point hat we are willing to eliminate our own species. So it is safe to say that the almost Satanic evil in the story "The Cask of Amontillado" should be pretty normal by today's standards. In "The Cask of Amontillado," Montresor leads his dear friend Fortunato into a catacomb were Montresor eventually buries him alive. This is cold blooded murder, as well as other evils in society, will be analyzed. In the United States their are about 16,000 homicides a year; this averages to about one homicide every 33 minutes. This figure only accounts for the the U.S., but this only one country. In the world there were 197,333 homicides that were recorded. However, the U.S. is still one of the countries with the highest rate at which we kill each other. This is mere child's play when you consider how many people were
have been killed just in our history of the U.S. We have had 6 official wars, but there are plenty of times were we did went to war unofficially. As well, this doesn't count slavery in it, which was one of our darkest times in our history. Are we as a species so volatile and self destructing that we would constantly kill each other?
As it turns out, we are not the only species of animal that kills their own. Lions, bears, wolves, hippos and chimpanzees, as well as others animals, have been known to kill their own. As it turns out animals are not just their to live as a group. When their survival is at stake, animals will murder one another to survive. For instance, Harvard Anthropologist Sarah Blaffer Hardy made an extraordinary discovery while studying the hanuman langur. The langur monkeys, once thought to be relaxed and non aggressive, operate like the mafia. These monkeys have been known for kidnapping, constant sexual harassment, group battles, abandonment of some wounded young by their mothers, and the regular practice of infanticide (Blaffer). The key is survival of the fittest. Animals, as well as humans, will do anything to survive and get
ahead. Consequently, one cold blooded murder means relatively nothing in this day and age. Furtunato made the mistake of disrespecting and insulting Montresor. In that time frame your family name and status meant everything. Therefore, when Fortunato made the mistake of insulting Montresor, it was more of a sweet revenge than murder. Montresor put said it best, "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge." Sure this was a cold blooded murder, there is no denying it. However, this murder was to avenge his family. Would you kill for your family? Thus, I believe that Edgar Allen Poe definitely knew the kind of world he lived in and the harshness the a species of animal could inflict on one another. We have a bloody past as the human race. We have filled our history with the evil of war and proudly idolize these people. Similar to the langur monkeys, murder might just be one of the evolutionary traits we have in order to survive. Whatever the reason, humans are capable of such evil!