Edgar Allan Poe's short story “The Cask of Amontillado” is a dark and disturbing story about one man's insatiable appetite for revenge and his descent into madness. The story itself is undoubtedly a very macabre tale, but is there a deeper, darker meaning? Looking at the symbols and references in the story and with the tragedy that surrounded the author for most of his life, this wouldn't be too far-fetched. What this story might really represent is a small glimpse into what Poe saw in the worst of people. Deception, murder, simple-mindedness, hatred and unreliability; all very primal feelings, except murder, reside in each individual. Readers, in fact, are more or less familiar with these emotions to a certain extent; Poe, however, shows the ravages that these feelings can have on the human psyche. This short film brings out what the author thought was the worst in people, a person motivated only by the cruelest, yet innate, emotions to achieve a goal for personal benefit. Montresor was the individual Poe saw fit to invoke these characteristics, and throughout the story show the changes he undergoes as a result. These characteristics first appear when Montresor swears revenge on his rival, Fortunato, for a simple insult. Of course, this revenge is the murder of his rival. However, before we go any further, an important note must be made, namely the beginning of Montresor's descent into madness as a result of these uncontrollable emotions. This idea becomes clear when Montresor plots the perfect revenge (murder). The narrator, Montresor not only wants to kill his rival, but he wants to do it in a way that prevents the man from knowing the narrator's cruel deeds...... middle of paper ...... the points mentioned if we were to return to the question: is there a deeper, darker meaning to Poe's fiction "The Cask of Amontillado"? It would be hard to say no when the very characters in the story walk and talk personifications of these characteristics. These people represent the worst in humanity, engaging in murder, betrayal, and many other heinous things. In fact, one might even suggest that Poe seeing these things in everyday society is what inspired him to write this tale. Maybe a wrong was done to him that became unjust, and this story is just his fantasy of getting revenge on that person. Could it be that Poe wrote this story as a sort of statement telling a scenario of neglected emotions and temperaments? Who knows? The fact remains that, whatever may be, behind the writing of this story, there is no doubt that it is a dark and very disturbing story...