In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor, the narrator, seeks revenge and justice for being insulted by his friend, Fortunato. Montresor lures Fortunato into the catacombs where a cask of amontillado is kept and buries him alive and then keeps it secret for the half of a century. However, Montresor does not explain how Fortunato insults him and the story seems to be a lack of evidence to support his motivation to kill Fortunato. In additional, the nature of their friendship is never fully explained which makes the readers wonder if they were ever truly friends or not. While Montresor pretends to be a good friend to Fortunato, it is strange that Fortunato does not realize the problems between them. In order to be believable for readers, the insults must be very painful for Montresor, so it urges him to commit such a crime. “The Cask of Amontillado” is missing an important element of Montresor’s motivation to punish Fortunato by burying him alive. Montresor neglects to explain how Fortunato insults him as the story lays the foundation at the opening paragraph, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.” (Poe 866); however, no evidence to be found in the story to support Montresor’s claim. No one would not know what Fortunato did to Montresor and should the insults lead to …show more content…
This one-sided story by the narrator, Montresor, leads to a suspenseful conclusion not only that Fortunato’s insults perhaps are minor, but also that Fortunato may not recognize the issues at all. This lack of evidence and unrealistic friendship lead readers to believe that Fortunato does not deserve to be buried alive. Montresor could be just a sadistic character who wants to murder his enemy for
At the beginning of the story the narrator chooses the setting of Carnival. When one thinks of the carnival, the thought of joyful people, celebration and social interaction comes to mind. No one would have thought that that was the precise moment for Montresor to take revenge. The name of Fortunato itself is ironic, because the name of Fortunato means fortune in Italy. When Montresor reveals the audience that he “had fettered [Fortunato] to the granite”, the scene sends chills throughout the reader’s body (Poe 471).
Montresor begins his story by expressing his excitement over the future events that would culminate in Fortunato’s death. When he sees Fortunato one day during carnival season, he is so overcome with excitement that he says, “I was so pleased to see him, that I thought I never should have done wringing his hand” (1). Montresor reveals his true conscience by showcasing his enthusiasm for Fortunato’s future demise; in doing so, he shows that he is incapable of compassion and has no guilt. Because of his inability to feel guilty over what is to come, Montresor’s confession of the crime has no remorse. It lacks the grief associated with remorse and is more of a brag.
In the “Cask of Amontillado” Montressor is a very angry and vengeful man. He says that he was insulted by Fortunato, but fails to give a reason as to why or how. He begins to enact his revenge by luring Fortunato in with the rare wine and when his “friend” Fortunato is drunk, he t proceeds to bring him deeper and deeper underground, while telling him to turn around repeatedly. Once he reached a place where no one can hear them, Fortunato walked into what he thought was another corridor, but it would turn out to be his grave! For as soon as Fortunato hit the wall, Montressor chains him against it.
He exploits this and deceives the man to go down into the caverns that housed the supposed Amontillado. Furthermore, Montresor never tells the reader what Fortunato actually did. He only states, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (Poe, 360). Insults do not call for homicide.
Montresor tortures Fortunato, both physiologically and physically. Montresor clearly gives Fortunato “multiple chances to escape his fate” (Delany 34), as he gives Fortunato obvious clues to his true intensions. These include leading Fortunato into a place for the dead, telling Fortunato not to go due to his severe cough that made it “impossible to reply” (Poe 5) at times, reminding Fortunato of his family arms, mentioning Luchesi, and showing Fortunato a trowel. Montresor seems to receive morbid joy out of the fact that Fortunato is so intoxicated that, just like the foot on Montresor’s coat of arms, he is unintentionally “stepping into his own destruction” (Cervo
In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe Montresor kills Fortunato because he insulted him. I think Fortunato was easily killed because he was drunk,full of himself,and stubborn. In Fortunato's reasons he was easily killed the main one was he was very drunk. Fortunato was a wine connoisseur so he loved to drink wine and probably drank tons each day and with carnival in town he was very drunk when he met Montresor. In “The Cask of Amontillado” Montresor even thought this was his weakness “ He had a weak point-this Fortunato-although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared”(1).
Everybody will eventually want revenge on an old friend or just someone they know. Montressor, similar to many people in the world, wants revenge on one of his old friends, Fortunato. The story opens with, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (Poe 212). In this statement, Montressor tells the reader what the cause of his revenge against Fortunato is. “The Cask of Amontillado”, written by Edgar Allen Poe, tells the story of how Montressor brings Fortunato into the catacombs to bury him alive.
In “The Cask of Amontillado,” by Edgar Allen Poe, Montresor displayed the image of a connoisseur as he artfully played with Fortunato to gain revenge. First of all, Montresor used Fortunato’s intoxication to his advantage to entice him into the depths of the vaults. Montresor perceived it would be much easier to manipulate Fortunato if he had been drinking all night long, so he implemented his plan after Fortunato had several drinks. As the story recited, “‘Drink,’ I said, presenting him the wine,” Montresor kept Fortunato’s drinking persistent even as they entered the damp, eerie vaults.
As readers, we have no idea what Fortunato did to Montresor or his family name to drive him to such revenge. Poe hints at certain things, from revenge and the family crest to his arrogance of insisting that Fortunato penetrate the Montresor vault to acquire the esteemed Cask Amontillado. "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge" (1126). The only clue is that Montresor systematically closes up Fortunato in a bone chamber perhaps with others who have wronged his family in the past. However, due to the reader's not knowing his true injustice, his murder seems unjustified and maybe even cruel to some
The Cask of Amontillado Argumentative Essay Edgar Allen Poe is a famous writer who is well-known for his short stories. The Cask of Amontillado is one of Poe’s short stories which is about two men, Montresor and Fortunato. Fortunato did something to Montresor, the act is unknown, but it angered Montresor badly enough to make him feel the need to seek revenge. The story portrays Montresor’s long, drawn out plan to kill Fortunato. In the story, it is clear that he was set on killing Fortunato, because of his actions and emotions shown toward Fortunato.
In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Edgar Allan Poe displays the theme of revenge and manipulation. The narrator Montresor pledges revenge on Fortunato for an insult that is never explained. He maintains an appearance of goodwill towards Fortunato and decides to make use of Fortunato's weakness for fine wines against him. During the carnival season, the narrator approaches Fortunato, telling him that he has come across something that could pass for Amontillado a rare and expensive wine. Fortunato being excited about the news insists on accompanying Montresor to the vaults to determine whether it is Amontillado or not.
The fictional short story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe takes place in the catacombs of Montresor’s palace, during the carnival’s climax. The story begins when Montresor, the villain of the story, vows revenge on Fortunato. Throughout the story, the author doesn't tell us what the revenge will be, but his choice of words in the details creates a mood in the reader. The author’s detailed description in the short story creates different moods in the reader like anger, satisfaction, curiosity, and victory because the chosen words connect with the audience.
Montresor told Fortunato that he is a “rich, respected, admired, beloved” (86) man. He does not actually think that. When he says he “must not only punish” (83) Fortunato, but he must “punish [him] with impunity” (83), which he does. The first step in Montresor's plan is to get Fortunato to go in the catacombs. He says to Fortunato, “Come, we will go back, your health is precious” (86).
For the rest of Montresor’s life, he has to hold on to the secret that he murdered Fortunato. Secrets such as these take a toll on individuals. Another take on “The Cask of Amontillado” is that Fortunato acts as a symbol for Montresor. By killing Fortunato, Montresor is also symbolically killing a part of himself that he is ashamed to possess.
After all the years he never forgot how he murdered Fortunato, and throughout the story the reader can see several different characteristics from both Montresor and Fortunato. Montresor is vindictive, manipulative, and murderous. Fortunato believes that he is the best at most crafts. Montresor is able to use his and Fortunato’s characteristics to get exactly what he wants. Once Fortunato pushes Montresor to the edge, he becomes vindictive.