In the story The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe, what doe sit mean when he says "A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser?"
lol sixth grader language please?
2007-12-12 09:58:17 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
when someone is so bent on getting even that he or she is obsessed with vengence, that person is no longer able to set things back right
2007-12-12 10:04:41 · answer #1 · answered by BePublished.Org 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you try to take revenge on someone and it comes back on you later (say, you get in trouble or it starts to REALLY bother you), the end result is the same as if you never tried to take revenge at all.
It also points out the difference between redress (justice) and taking revenge. For example, if you steal my cell phone from me, I tell the police, and they catch you and make you give it back, that is redress because it's making a wrong situation right again. (I get my phone back).
But suppose instead I decide to beat you up and take it back myself, and I get my phone back but in the process I beat you up so badly you have to go to the hospital, that's revenge. And if I get in trouble for beating you up or if I start feeling really bad about it, then it's the same thing as in the quote: retribution has overtaken the redresser (me), and the situation is the same as if I'd never done anything at all. There's still a wrong committed that hasn't been made right (unredressed). The only thing that's changed is that before the unredressed wrong was your stealing my cell phone, and now it's that I beat you up. Hope that helps!
2007-12-12 18:15:45 · answer #2 · answered by Navigator 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I suggest you look up the words "redress" and "retribution" in your sixth grader dictionary... you might also include "overtakes."
Then re-write the sentence with a part of a definition you think will fit until you find you have written a sentence that makes sense to you.
You could also go to a library and ask the reference librarian for help.
Luck--
2007-12-12 18:05:35 · answer #3 · answered by LK 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Poe in The 6th grade! that's rough! Well, Retribution is like payback, or justice, and I've never read that one but id say it meant that when you are caught doing something wrong it is put out in the open and makes you feel ashamed, or i suppose it could also mean that when you do something wrong you feel guilty about it and the guilt consumes you (eats you up)... sorry if you still don't understand it, i am TERRIBLE at explaining things!...I wouldn't bet my life on it or anything, but I do read at a college level and I'm a 10th grader in Advanced English, so...
2007-12-12 18:10:44 · answer #4 · answered by creneh 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Look up the words "redress" and "retribution." You'll have your answer.
2007-12-12 18:06:02 · answer #5 · answered by classmate 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋