Montresor's Insanity

Any fan of the medieval and Victorian eras knows that there are many stories centered around the rectification of lost or sullied honor through varying means of revenge. Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is no exception. The story’s protagonist, Montresor, feels that his friend, Fortunato, has insulted his family’s honor and decides to take revenge during a nighttime carnival by luring Fortunato into the Montresor family crypt and sealing him inside to die a slow death. Through the use of irony and symbolism, Poe reveals to readers an intense theme of revenge.

In The Cask of Amontillado, the narrator, Montresor, lures Fortunato into his wine vaults in order to murder him. The reason behind it is never clearly stated in the text. Montresor merely says, “A thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” (Poe 1108) Montresor never reveals the exact nature of the insult, nor the multitude of injuries that he had supposedly borne. The audience cannot even be certain that the insult ever occurred. Perhaps the slight is only in Montresor 's mind. Fortunato seems blind to Montresor 's true intentions, meaning he is either completely oblivious and insensitive to those around him, or, what Montresor has deemed a horrible crime punishable by

The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe is about a vengeful, manipulative person named Montresor who is plotting to take the life of his friend Fortunato. This story is good for different reasons, one being the plot construction that hooks the reader from the beginning. Another is the three different types of irony he uses: verbal irony, dramatic irony, and situational irony.

Transition: Similar aspects between Poe and Montresor are evident in “The Cask of Amontillado.” Poe notably utilizes the narrator in arguing revenge through murder as justifiable, which made many readers question his mentality.

“The Cask of Amontillado” is a dark story involving two men, Montresor and Fortunato, who were at one point friends. Fortunato wronged Montresor many times, but when he made an unknown insult towards him it sets Montresor on a path of revenge and murder (Poe 108). Montresor lures Fortunato to his home with the promise of some Amontillado (Poe 109). Montresor

Montresor has a strong violent vengefulness. When he vowed revenge, he tells the reader, “You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that gave utterance to a threat”. There are many ways to revenge on Fortunato but his word expresses that his desire to give him not only mental but also physical distress. From this world,

“The Cask of Amontillado” is a short story in which the narrator, also known as Montresor vows revenge on a man named Fortunato. The reason is revealed to the reader as “injuries and insults.” The author Edgar Allen Poe, illuminates the theme of betrayal through friendship, death, and deception.

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. The ongoing argument of whether Montresor should be held to capital punishment or not hasn’t been solved. Facts and evidence back up the claim that Montresor should be killed for his wrongdoing.

Poe’s two prominent characters in “The Cask of Amontillado” was Montresor and Fortunato. Montresor, whose name means “to show fate,” is a man with a bitter heart seeking for revenge. Throughout the story Montresor expressed his extended hatred towards Fortunato, a fellow friend. With great care and patience he meticulously formed a plan to end Fortunato. However,

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. Montressor, from the story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, is insane because he lies about wine to get Fortunato into the catacombs, he plays off of Fortunato’s ego, and he buries Fortunato alive.

In the story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, the main character, Montresor is quite upset with Fortunato so he took it upon himself to kill him. This behavior wasn’t or isn’t a normal thing to do, unless you are mentally ill, or sadistic. He appears to be sadistic because of his sadistic actions, premeditation of the event, and overly friendly to Fortunato as he kills him.

Due to the use of first person in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” Montresor’s syntax and diction are the only mechanisms used to characterize Fortuno in the story. This subjects the perception of both Fortuno and Montresor to a great deal of bias. Although Montresor claims that Fortuno has committed “a thousand injuries” (127) there are never any specific instances of his treachery cited within the text. Due to the limited perspective of the first person it is first unclear whether Montresor is the protagonist or the antagonist of the story. However through Poe’s phrasing it becomes clear that Montresor is unjustified in his murder of Fortuno.

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.

In “The Cask of Amontillado” there are two characters who show strong character traits. Each character has his own way of showing these traits. Montresor shows his through how he deals with Fortunato’s insults. Fortunato shows his through how easily Montresor manipulates him. Throughout the story Montresor and Fortunato show that they are both very clever, but one of them becomes far more clever than the other. Characterization proves the theme that Fortunato's insults make an enemy of Montresor.

Poe was emphatically influenced by Gothic writing, and “The Cask of Amontillado” (1954) with its mind-set of crawling horror and imminent death in an Italian palazzo, most unquestionably demonstrates those impacts. This and numerous other Poe stories are rich in Gothic themes such as madness, cruelty, perversion, and obsession, and feature a various rationally unequal storytellers; Montresor positively qualifies on this number. Poe, in turn, influenced later Gothic writing, especially Southern Gothic. This strand highlights Poe-like dim diversion and gives careful consideration to mind boggling, agitated, even silly characters and the general public in which they live than to the powerful themes often supported in British Gothic fiction (Poe, Edgar Allan, 2001).