“The Cask Of Amontillado” Analysis
The Cask Of Amontillado is a very dreadful story of tragic misfortune. In this thrilling story, the Montresor is angered by Fortuanto for the disrespect brought upon him by his poor choice of decisions. Naturally, Montresor acted out of his aggression against Fortunatanto. Edgar Allen Poe displays to his readers in this story that there is a dark side of human nature associated with the characters Montresor and his victim Fortunato. This development of characters is directly related to the themes which are revenge that Montresor seeks on Fortunato, The pride of Fortunato, and the self-delusion of Montresor wanting to kill Fortunato, as well as the delusion that Fortunato has for wine. First, the development
…show more content…
The character Montresor seeks revenge for the humiliating insult that was brought upon Montresoor by Fortunato. This period of time, which dates back to the seventeen hundreds. Montresor is insulted by Fortunato which causes Motresor to seek revenge against Fortunato for the insult that was to Montresor. Montresor would then lewer the enemy to which was the family’s catacombs by using the love of wine to trap Fortunato into the final resting place. In a citation by Classics review, “By appealing to his enemy’s pride, Montresor lures Fortunato into his family vaults to sample some wine to determine if it is true Amontillado. Once there, Montresor bricks the drunken man into a niche in the wall to die” (49). This theme of revenge is plotted directly in this story where Montresor seeks that vengeance against Fortunato for the public humiliation that had been caused. As Montresor’s hatred develops towards Fortuanto’s use of insult and disrespect, it is then rapidly overturned into anger. Author Edgar Allen Poe states that “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” (Poe 238). Edgar Allan Poe describes …show more content…
These are the three main theme developments throughout the end of this story. The first theme discussed in this essay is revenge. The revenge is intriguing to observe that the family motto of the Montresors is "No one attacks (or "wounds") me with impunity." This suggests that his family has always valued vengeance as a crucial component of their honor. The second theme that makes an appearance in this story is pride. The story's central topic is pride, and Montresor's furious pride is what fuels the desire for retribution. Montressor is happy to display his family's crest to Fortunato because Fortunato was naive enough to think Montreseur was eager to share the cask. The third theme is self-delusion. This is a self depiction of the mind, in which Montressor experiences in this story. The killing of Fortunato is a mind altering thing that makes the brain act out in extreme measure. Montressor traps Fortunato by trapping and bricking Fortunato in the family's catacombs to feed this hunger of self-delusion, thinking Fortuanto deserves death for the actions committed towards
The terror grows when the narrator throws aside a “pile of bones of which [he had] before spoken” declaring that Fortunato was not the first person he had murder before (Poe 471). For Montresor fettering his victim to the wall was not his fully revenge, he “began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche” ignoring Fortunato’s pleas, who maintains the hope that Montresor is playing a joke (Poe 471). Although at the end of the story Montresor seems to reflect on what he is doing stating that his “heart grew sick”, giving the reader time and a sense of relief (Poe 472). But he finishes building the wall and his scheme is complete. For over fifty years and counting the murder remains a mystery.
Montressor is very prideful of his family linage and this is where we can understand his actions as he plans and carries out the killing of Fortunato. The retaliation on behalf of his family can be a reason to why Montressor carries out the act of killing his insulter. He leads him into the crypts of his family, only to be continually insulted and questions by his “friend”. Eventually leading him to his death, which we also know as “amontillado”, but unbeknownst to Fortunato, whom believes they are on a venture to seek a famous
In addition, Poe’s narrative not only relieves Montresor of wrongdoing, but justifies it in a way that is intuitive to the reader. Coincidentally, the use of Montresor’s costume, the coat of arms, and the brick wall are expertly used to describe a sympathetic individual regardless of the disconcerting actions they have committed. Occasionally friends enter disputes due conflicting interests, sometimes it’s due to minor transgressions that evolve into legitimate problems in a relationship. Immediately, “The Cask of Amontillado” presents a toxic friendship overly dramatized by an alleged “thousand injuries”. Yet, regardless of the quantity the quality of the offence taken by Montresor is so great that when supposed friend ventures into insulting him, Montresor has had enough.
Niter isn’t the only thing unpleasant in the catacombs. It is very disturbing to think that a person could kill another in such a cruel way. Being changed to a wall and enclosed in brick is just an awful way to go. Though, a man did think that it was the best way to get his revenge. Through his hateful nature, Montresor drives the story’s theme of revenge, betrayal, and spite.
This attitude of Montresor showcases how little remorse he feels for Fortunato. He takes pleasure in the deception, knowing Fortunato remains oblivious to his sinister motives. This showcases the little guilt Montresor feels for taking advantage of Fortunato. He feels that everything he does is justified based on the actions of Fortunato earlier. Montresor also defends his actions by emphasizing that Fortunato seems to be a fool.
As the story progresses it becomes exceptionally evident the role external conflict plays in creating Montresor’s character. To begin, Montresor mentions “the thousand injuries of Fortunato” and the revenge he is determined to get from the most recent injury, an insult (Poe 543). By Montresor choosing to open the story with remarks about Fortunato’s wrong doings towards him, it’s clear that he holds a grudge. These conflicts between the two men throughout their friendship have had such an impression on Montresor that it’s over taken him – it’s all he can think about; thus, he immediately mentions these conflicts at the beginning of the story. In result, Montresor as a character appears quite hostile and as a narrator appears unreliable.
"The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. "(Montressor; Cask of Amontillado) As the saying goes, hatred and grudges can lead to fatal circumstances. Edgar Allen Poe illustrates the concept of revenge through Montressors' demented thoughts and creates a sense that Montressor feels revenge should be considered okay because of the reasoning behind it.
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.
The Ultimate Revenge in “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allen Poe’s twisted nature is well represented in the unique writing style of “The Cask of Amontillado”. This short story takes the reader into the mind of a vengeful murderer who seeks the ultimate revenge. Throughout the writing, Poe combines emotion and imagery to impact to the reader. The construction of this dark and sinister work is manipulated by Poe by using the theme, point of view and tone.
This is important because the insult from Fortunato was Montresor's main motive towards the execution of Fortunato. In conclusion, Montresor seeks death upon Fortunato because of an insult, which leads him to end Fortunato, as he believes that is what is
In the other story, “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor plots revenge on Fortunato by taking him into the catacombs while he is drunk, to later turn on him and kill
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.
The quote shows the author's details create a shocking mood in the readers because he describes a detailed image the helps the reader envision what is going on. This action takes the audience by surprise because they know Montresor is getting revenge, but they aren’t told what it will be so they are as clueless as Fortunato. Montresor threw a torch in the niche where he tied Fortunato up and he finished closing up the wall, killing a man who considered him a friend. “I thrust a torch to the remaining aperture and let it fall within… I force the last stone into position; I plastered it up.” (pg7)
In the beginning of the short story, Montresor defines revenge on his friend Fortunato for believing he has insulted him. Montresor has become angry that his friend is taking advantage of him and overlooking at him like a fool,
Montresor then starts to easily manipulate Fortunato. Montresor uses Fortunato’s vanity against him to get what he wants. Fortunato thinks that Montresor has nothing against him and just wants him to taste wine. Fortunato goes with Montresor, and in doing this Fortunato becomes complicit in his own demise by insisting on sampling the amontillado. This allows Montresor to take control and lure Fortunato to the vaults, where Montresor becomes murderous.