Hey, it's Cristy.
Today, we talked about the conflicts between the Catholic church and the free masons and so I did a little research it seems that (according to my sources) the masonry sees itself as the only and true religion, relegating the church as a sect. of the religion The church opposes free masons mainly because they supposedly worship the "masonic idol" or man. The church sees this as direct opposition to the commandments. "I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have strange gods before me"
"Masonry, on the other hand, is essentially a religion of "reason." With an insistence and a consistency matching Catholicism's self-definition, Masonry promises perfection in the natural order as its only destiny -- as indeed the highest destiny there is. And it provides for this perfectibility with its resources: the accumulated sum of purely human values, subsumed under the logo of "reason." "(http://www.medjugorjeusa.org/masonry.htm) o snap. This may be a stretch, but Romanticism was supposed to be a rebuttal of the enlightenment and the neoclassic age of reason. During the Neoclassic age God was seen as outside of the picture. Deism etc. "for the love of God" maybe Montressor wants is saying he wants God back IN the picture? Does montressor symbolize the enlightenment or neoclassicism? Does Montressor turn out the light on the enlightenment?
I also found that the root montre- in montresor means "puppeteer". This seems to fit too perfectly to have been a coincidence. Montresor understands human nature very well. He mentions that he had told his servants, that he wouldn't return until the morning and had given them "explicit orders not to stir from the house." Furthermore he understands that "These orders were sufficient...to insure their immediate disappearance, one and all, as soon as my back was turned." It is clear that Montressor is a true puppetter of people. He understands human nature and uses this knowledge to manipulate people into doing what he wants. He plays on Fortunado's pride to lure him into the vaults.
As for Fortunado's name he obviously is not very fortunate which makes him name completely ironic.
Donna had noted how Fortunado seemed unaware of the offense he had committed which leads us to believe it could not have been a very grievous offense to begin with. The snake in the coat of arms. is it biting an agressor or a foot that stepped on the snake accidentally? Ahhh so much symbolism I love it.
It seems that perhaps Montressor is sealing the ideas of the enlightenment and the free masonry behind walls to prevent them from seeping out into the minds of others. Looking forward to finding more symbolism in class tomorrow,
thats all for today, goodnight and goodluck.
3 comments:
I never thought of the emblem that way before! But yes, I can see how the snake might be biting the foot unwarranted...Anyways, I'm not trying to disprove your "puppeteer" suggestion, but "Montrésor" means "my treasure" in French (Mon=my, trésor=treasure). If you were looking the root "montre," I would say that the French verb would be more appropriate as well. "Montre" means "to show" in French- and in many ways appearances mean a lot in this short story. Montrésor appears to be friends with Fortunado, and Fortunado...er...CEASES to appear once he is sealed in the wall.
I'm pretty sure freemasonry is not a religion. It's just a fraternal organization. My uncle is a member of the Episcopal Church and is still a freemason.
Hey, it's Erin.
Montressor definitely knew how to manipulate people into doing exactly what he wanted while they thought that they were in control. Montressor mentions that he specifically chose Fortunato's weak point: wine. I think the fact that Poe chose not to specify the "insult" probably means that it was not very severe or probably trivial. We all get irked by little ridiculous things that other people do. But as Grace and Paige mentioned a couple of days ago, some people decide to hold grudges against insults, but at the same thing pretend to like the person, like Montressor.
I also think that Montressor's true reason for killing Fortunato was the insult instead of religion. I think that that is more in the background. You could look at the fact that Montressor erects the wall of bones (his ancestors) in front of Fortunato's tomb as a way of masking his crime (with religion?). But that's only one way of looking at it.
The point about the serpent that Cristy brought up was really interesting because I never thought of it that way. I always assumed that Montressor was the foot, but I guess the other way makes more sense if you consider his family motto. The particular image on his family's coat of arms is actually exactly from Genesis, a foreshadowing of the outcome between God and Satan. I don't know if Poe intended that or not.
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