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"I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong." With these ferverous words from the introductory paragraph of Edgar Allan Poe's Cask of Amontillado, the story of Montresor's revenge begins. Poe repeatedly stresses the need for revenge due to bitterness and resentment in Montresor's character …

…him in a lurch as to whether he did the right thing. What ever the case may be, Montresor unfortunately never realized the true revenge that he had hoped he would exact on his enemy Fortunato. Revenge, although executed exactly as Montresor planned, still eluded him by falling short of his own expectations. Physically, Montresor had won this match, but Fortunato had ultimately taken away the sweetness of this victory that Montresor so eagerly yearned.