Discuss the theme of revenge as illustrated in The Count of Monte Cristo andThe Cask of Amontillado. What lesson can be learned from these works

PLOTTING REVENGE, ONE BRICK AT A TIME
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In most cases, people would want to avenge against their enemies, but do it the wrong way. The reason is that they do it under the influence of emotions and not through reasoning. “The Count of Monte Cristo,” by Alexandre Dumas and “The Cask of Amontillado,” by Edgar Alan Poe, are comparable because they have similar themes. The major themes in both books include vengeance, incarceration, intelligent deception and trickery – hatching of grand plans to seek revenge. In both stories, a character who had been wronged takes revenge on the person who wronged them. In “The Count of Monte Cristo” through careful planning and infiltrating the lives of their betrayers, Edmond Dantes seeks to do to his betrayer what was done to him — make him lose everything he holds dear. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” after gaining the trust of Fortunato, Montresor takes his revenge by sealing him alive — brick by brick – in the dungeon beneath his house. In both cases when it comes to revenge, the quickest method is not necessarily the most satisfying. Revenge thus is not the best form of justice. In this paper, revenge is the act of inflicting injury to a person in return for the damage they caused.
The story opens with one of the main characters, Montresor making a vow that he must revenge against another significant actor Fortunato. Poe starts with Montresor words who says, “A thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed to revenge.

” The reason why Poe begins using the line is to indicate to the reader the reason Montresor gives for his revenge (Vlasyuk, 2015). It is not very clear why Montresor despised Fortunato that much, but at least we know they had a grudge. In his opinion, Montresor has endured a lot of injuries courtesy of Fortunato, but when Fortunato insults him, he gives him a good opportunity to revenge. The story revolves around pre-mediated murder from the mouth of the murderer. He must punish with impunity, and the victim must feel as much as he thought.
After escaping from the prison, Dantes is ready for revenge against the four men. He knows that his imprisonment is a conspiracy by some people. We see the determination in the old quote he gives,” Revenge is a dish best served cold.” He takes this expression relating it to the biblical “an eye for an eye.” Dantes implied that revenge would happen as soon as he moves out of jail (Vlasyuk, 2015). He has to revenge since he thinks that even the bible allows it. After imprisonment, Dantes carefully investigates their lives and identifies that they live in Paris. He goes there with a new name to avoid identification. Dantes went ahead and punished everybody who assisted in his imprisonment. He thus went for revenge to the men when they least expected. Although he went forward, the revenge did not give him back what he had lost for instance his father.
Dantes uses the memory of the past to continue with revenge. It is those things that happened years earlier that are motivating him to seek revenge. Through a well-choreographed plan, he uses other people who never wronged him as the catalyst for the revenge. Dantes says to Villefort, “Have I ever told you when you have done your job as a Royalist and had the head cut off one of our people: ‘My son, you have committed murder’? No, I have said: ‘Very well, Monsieur, you have fought and won, but tomorrow we shall have our revenge.” The message aims at the prosecutor whose actions sent Dantes to jail (Vlasyuk, 2015). Villefort’s father is the loyalists in this case. It is wrong to cause others to suffer. Villefort made Dantes suffer to save his Bonapartist father. Dantes carries out revenge because he was sent to prison by Villefort to save the prosecutors father.
In conclusion, the stories feature one person avenging against another who wronged him. Revenge is a way of achieving justice in the stories. However, in the end, it becomes a useless action full of regret, especially to Dantes. He realizes that, after searching for justice for long, it is him who needs to do justice to himself. Montresor also grieves while at the deathbed probably because of killing Fortunato. We should not, therefore, take revenge, but we need to leave that to God.
Reference
Vlasyuk, A. M. (2015). Graphic Poe: Classics Illustrated Adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe.