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Grace Esselman
English 305
Dr. Pennington
Psychoanalytical theory
Keyword/ Subject Search of Zacharias
Zacharias, Greg W. “A Psychoanalytical Perspective.” Turn of the Screw. Boston, MA:
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. Print. Subjects: Governess; narrative; Psychic; Psychic wholeness;
Harley Street Uncle; confession; fantasy; desire; the Other; object petit a; big Other;
ghosts; anxiety; children; employer; master; authority; intruder; symbolic unconscious;
fundamental stability; employee; hero; heroism; integrity; devotion; symbolic order;
danger.
Zacharias Abstract
Zacharias, Greg W. “A Psychoanalytical Perspective.” Turn of the Screw. Boston, MA:
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. Print. Zacharias argues that James uses the ghosts to his advantage
when it comes to keeping his book Turn of the Screw current in debating about the reality of
these ghosts. He also expresses that each reader’s unconscious effects the way they read Turn of
the Screw and how they come to interpret the text making this work a text that will withstand the
test of time.
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Edgar Allen Poe Psychoanalytical Theory
Edgar Allen Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado requires much psychoanalytical theorizing to
more clearly understand the motivations and repressed desires of Montresor; the story also
explores Montrresor’s abnormal personality and behaviors. This paper will examine the character
Montresor and his repressed desires which surface in this text in acts of hateful revenge upon
Fortunato while also considering the reader’s psychological perspective on the text and Freud’s
theories about the unconscious repressed desires.
Freud’s theory about ignoring one’s superego or moral conscience explains why
Montresor feels ambivalent about the revenge he inflicts upon Fortunato. Freud theorizes about
the repression of desires and dreams which is demonstrated in the text by Montresor’s desires to
seek revenge on Fortunato for some unknown reason. This is an area of the story that is never
addressed and leaves the door wide open for readers to create their own interpretation about how
Montresor and Fortunato met and why Montresor is driven to ruin Fortunato and cause him
harm. Montresor has fantasized about getting revenge on Fortunato for a while unconsciously but
has since withstood a “thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he
ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (Poe, 14). Readers are left on their own to construct what
happened between these two characters; however, one theory could be that Fortunato ruined
Montresor’s business since he too shared a skill in “Italian vintages, and bought largely
whenever I could” (Poe, 14). Hypothetically it could be for this reason that Montresor is hungry
for Fortunato’s demise. According to Freud ignoring the superego is the equivalent to ignoring
one’s moral conscience which Montresor does through his blood thirsty nature of cruelly taking
advantage of a drunk Fortunato and causing his death.
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Another one of Freud’s theories that can assist readers in understanding Montresor better
is that the “id” is driven by pleasure and an imbalance suggests a mental illness. His pleasure
coincides with an obsession of obtaining revenge and when someone is obsessed with something
they tend to adopt a more aggressive nature. This aggressive attitude is obvious at the beginning
of the story before he runs into Fortunato and he is plotting his downfall: “I continued, as was
my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of
his immolation” (Poe, 14). Freud’s theory expands further to claim that mental illnesses result
from a faulty ego or inability to balance the id, superego, and the mind. It is safe to say that The
Cask of Amontillado shows Montresor to be very unstable, both emotionally and mentally
through the lack of detail on why he feels so much hate for Fortunato and the mystery of his own
background. Monstresor tells Fortunato that he is “rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are
happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter” (Poe, 16). Readers
have never known Monstresor to be happy nor do they know what has made him unhappy and
full of vengeance. The lack of background information about his character makes Monstresor
and his past look very unstable and susceptible to having a mental illness. Not only does the lack
of information make Monstresor look unstable but it also leads readers to question his motives
and rationalization for punishing Fortunato.
Finally, Freud explains that rationalization stems from projecting one’s feelings onto
another which explains why Monstresor feels no remorse for punishing Fortunato. Monstresor
believes that he is wholly justified in killing Fortunato because of whatever bad blood is between
the two of them: “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” (Poe, 14). The mental instability and
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imbalance of Monstresor’s mind has convinced himself that the pain and suffering he is inflicting
on Fortunato is justified and well deserved. Readers might further consider what Monstresor
could have to gain by eliminating Fortunato other than revenge and self satisfaction. Readers
could have hypothesized that it was Fortunato who put Monstresor out of the wine business so
without Fortunato there would no longer be any competition between businesses. Regardless of
Monstresor’s true motives he believes he is completely justified in his actions due to his mental
and emotional instability stemming from the imbalance of his id, superego, and mind according
to Freud.
The Cask of Amontillado fails to provide sufficient background information on its main
characters and what the motives behind Monstresor’s desire to seek revenge on Fortunato. The
lack of information leaves readers on their own to theorize and build their own interpretation of
the story to answer any unanswered questions they have. Though not having the facts makes
reading the text difficult it also leaves ample room to fill in the holes in the storyline with many
of Freud’s theories about the unconscious, mental imbalance, and the different elements of
pleasure that drive each character and their motivations. Although there is a lot of missing
information the mystery behind the character of Monstresor makes this story a very compelling
read. Incorperating Freud’s theories help to build more of a backstory and profile for the
characters and their motivations. Freud’s theories help conclude that Monstresor is a very
unstable character both mentally and emotionally. This explains why his motivations remain
unclear in the text and why he seeks revenge when there may not even be any benefit to him
aside from the elimination of Fortunato. Though this story doesn’t contain answers to all of the
unanswered questions, it leaves plenty of room for readers or theories from various theorists to
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be added. This creates both a new dimension and meaning to the story which enables this text to
stand the test of time and still be a current text today.
Works Cited
Cordell, Ryan. "Chapter 3 Writing about Character and Motivation:
Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism." Writing about Literature through Theory. By John
Pennington. Washington, DC: Flat World Knowledge, 2014. 47-54. Print.
Poe, Edgar Allen "Cask of Amontillado." Literature: A Portable Anthology.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. 3-13. Print.