About Walls Not Emotional
Post 1438:
I’ve mentioned my love for Edgar Allan Poe many times on this webpage blog site. I could argue his genius for days. When it comes down to pure mastery of the English language, I can think of few better.
A lot of his stories are messed up. Creepy stuff. Sensational stuff for his time, back in the 1800s. I want to pick out a few lines from The Cask of Amontillado, a quick little revenge tale that’s packed with crazy sauce. It’s the one in which he walls up a “pal” alive, leaving him to suffer and die in one of the most torturous ways one could ever imagine.
What I love about the story is how all over the place the killer/writer is. He’s something of a resolved coward, drifting between phases of psychological reality. It’s more or less a literary fever dream. Not unlike a lot of EAP.
So he’s going to kill a guy named Fortunato. He’s suffered at Fortunato’s hands. The guy “ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.”
This is the first indication of crazy. I’ve myself have been slighted, insulted, had my honor questioned, been called every name in the book, punched, kicked, harassed, mugged, menaced and laughed at. Here we have someone who is out for revenge because someone “ventured upon insult.” That’s not even a full insult. When I venture upon a river and don’t jump in, it’s not like I can report back how wet I got.
So at the very least we have a character who is given to serious overreactions. And this we know within the first few sentences. It’s a great hook. Typically terse and filled with unstable madness.
So here’s my favorite couple lines. I think they prove the genius of Poe.
I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser.
Couple things to note. Though this is prose, it’s very lyrical. He’s one of the most poetic prose writers ever. Probably because he’s a great poet. Also, it’s such a cool (but sick) way of talking about revenge. He’s saying that the act of vengeance cannot mess up his own life. That defeats the purpose. He has to get away with it. This implies cunning, craft, and creepy premeditation, which we see is the case.
I’m sure there’s experts at reading old stuff that know exactly what the point of this story is. I think it’s to show that this dude is flying off the handle, and I’m wondering how many other people he’s got rotting down in the cellar. Next time I have too much to drink I’m definitely not going for a late night catacomb tour. We call that a red flag. The only walls I want around me are emotional.
Cheers and see you after.
