What do all the great murderers of history have in common? Aside from being savagely violent, they are all diligent, attentive, and meticulous in their work. Montresor from Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is no different. This story, told from Montresor’s point of view, illustrates the murderer’s madness through his killing of Fortunato. Throughout the story, Montresor’s true nature is revealed in how he manipulates Fortunato, justifies his sinister actions, and lacks remorse for his murderous revenge. Montresor first reveals his inner self through his manipulation of Fortunato. This manipulation is not only extremely well-thought out and timed, it is also very careful and thorough. Poe begins to reveal Montresor’s manipulative psychology when Montresor meets Fortunato at a carnival party. “I said to him— ‘My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day. But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts’” (116). This statement, carefully crafted by Montresor, is made to interest Fortunato into entering his wine vaults. Fortunato, a wine connoisseur, becomes immediately disinterested in the party and now only wants to inspect Montresor’s supposed Amontillado. Montresor and Fortunato then enter Montresor’s catacombs. Poe continues to exhibit Montresor’s manipulative nature as Montresor and Fortunato continue further and deeper into the dark, damp vaults. “’Come,’ I said, with decision, ‘we will go
The first thing Montresor does like an expert is finding his victim’s weak point. As Montresor describes, “He had a weak point-Fortunato...He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine” (Poe 84). Because Montresor found out to Fortunato’s weakness, he was able to follow his plan more smoothly. Throughout the night, Montresor acts counterfeit towards Fortunato, tricking him into thinking they were friends. “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking today”(Poe 84). After this, Fortunato believes that they are friends and feels more comfortable around Montresor. ( add transition)
time to think about why he is chained and closed into a wall to die.
In The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe, the dark side of human nature is exemplified through the character of Montresor and his victim, Fortunato. Montresor is a manipulative and vengeful person. These characteristics lead to the death of Fortunato, a man who has wronged him. Through the acts, words, and the thoughts of the character, one is able to see him carry out his plan for revenge.
Edgar Allen Poe’s tale of murder and revenge, “The Cask of Amontillado”, offers a unique perspective into the mind of a deranged murderer. The effectiveness of the story is largely due to its first person point of view, which allows the reader a deeper involvement into the thoughts and motivations of the protagonist, Montresor. The first person narration results in an unbalanced viewpoint on the central conflict of the story, man versus man, because the reader knows very little about the thoughts of the antagonist, Fortunato. The setting of “The Cask of Amontillado”, in the dark catacombs of Montresor’s wine cellar, contributes to the story’s theme that some people will go
In the story, “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, Montresor seeks revenge on Fortunato because he made fun of his family name. For years Montresor claims that Fortunato had, “hurt him”, so Montresor gets Fortunato drunk and tricks him into going to his house. When Fortunato arrives, they both go into Montresor’s basement and Montresor locks Fortunato up in addition to leaving him there to die. Montresor commits a crime by killing Fortunato in his own basement. Some people may argue that Montresor was a madman who only wanted to kill Fortunato because he made fun of Montresor’s family name; nevertheless, it is easy to see why one would believe that Montresor wasn’t a madman and that he had more motives rather than just that one reason to have killed Fortunato. What motivated Montresor to seek revenge on Fortunato was that he had made fun of Montresor’s Family name, had a drinking problem which causes him to lash out and say mean things to Montresor, and because Fortunato thought he knew more about fine wines than Montresor did. Theses motivations were also Fortunato’s weaknesses.
Feuds and arguments between individuals who may disagree with or dislike one another are a common occurrence in everyday life, often varying in degrees of intensity, but rarely reaching a point of extremity. However, in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado”, This threshold of extremity is reached by the narrator of the story, Montresor, who explains that his acquaintance, Fortunato, has repeatedly and irreparably insulted him over the course of years, and uses it as justification to take justice into his own hands and seek retribution through murder, despite there being no proof of Fortunato's guilt other than Montresor’s claims. His motive for murdering Fortunato can be attributed to his state of mind, as Montresor’s lack of guilt, empathy, or remorse highlights him as a character with psychopathic tendencies. As the story progresses, Montresor’s cold and calculating nature leaves the audience full of dread and suspense while he lures the oblivious Fortunato towards his inevitable demise. The employment of rhetorical devices such as irony, theme, and structure builds the suspense for the ultimate climax of Poe’s gothic masterpiece.
Montresor is the brutally insensitive narrator and presents his story from a unique first person perspective. Poe was intricate in telling this story from his point of view. He could have chosen to paint a picture for the readers through the eyes of Fortunato or possibly an outside narrator’s perspective. Poe makes an interesting decision as to who was going to tell the story. Significantly, he does not explain the nature of Fortunato’s transgression through Montresor's point of view. To explain further, Montresor tells the story in the first person, the reader is able to be directly aware of his thoughts therefore
t Montresor is insane.Such interpretation, however, seems to make certain details in the elaborate structure of the story unnecessary and this, in turn, goes against Poe's approach to composition."¹ rightly states Baraban.In addition,the dialogues including foxy implications help reader making guesses about Montresor's inner man.For instance,when Fortunado asks The Montressors' motto Montresor replies him,"Nemo me impune lacessit" or in translation, "Nobody provokes me without punishment" and with using that expression he reflects his intention in an almost friendly manner.These signals indicates about his insane and untrustworthy nature.It's nearly clear that the protagonist is insane.Besides,psychological occurances have many types and the Montresor's mental illness has the characteristics of obsession.This obsession's degree is so high that it drives him killing the one who insults upon him with a quite extreme method and without hesitation - except from the session in the end that he feels worried for a moment when he becomes aware of the thing he has done.Obsession has the same kinds of motivation argued by criminals in any terrene crime (envy,revenge,prejudice,sadism).In the highest degree of obsession,the person does some actions unconciously to his/her victim during the crisis of mind.After the job is done,he/she doesn't remember anything or remembers it with great regret².The readers watch the portrait of old Montresor confessing his action after half of a
In the story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe a guy named Montresor is seeking revenge on Fortunato because he insulted him. In my opinion Montresor is taking this way to far when he says he wants to kill him just because he said something bad about him. When he says this I can easily see that the narrator is very violent and has a sick mind.
Is there anything that someone could do to you that would cause you to commit murder? Could you get away with it? Montresor is the murderous narrator who has committed the perfect murder in just such a tale, “The Cask of Amontillado.” Montresor plots and kills an unwary friend/foe during carnival time for motives that are unclear. The author of this tale, Edgar Allan Poe, influenced by his somewhat tragic life and one of the most influential Gothic writers, uses symbolism and irony to show the multitude of complicated motives of the narrator in his famous horror story.
Montresor is the kind of person that you don’t want get on their bad side, He's the kind of person that enjoys long walks on the beach and the occasional MURDER. In the story "Cask of Amontillado" written by Edgar Allen Poe, Montresor is main Character/Narrator, and his main goal in the story is to seek revenge on his once good friend Fortunato who has embarrassed Montresor one to many times. So Montresor's plan is to trick Fortunato down into his family's catacomb by telling Fortunato that there is a cask of amontillado in the catacombs. So Fortunato follows Montresor down into the catacombs where he chains Fortunato in a niche in the wall and seals him in with brick and mortar. As you can see Montresor successfully kills Fortunato because he's an unsympathetic character with a dark demeanor and an unhealthy mental state.
Poe’s Montresor is admirable because he is also incredibly confident. Before he starts on his journey with Fortunato, Montresor confidently asks Fortunato if he would like for him to get another person to taste the wine. Fortunato replies, “Luchresi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry” (1442), (Luchresi being the other wine connoisseur). Throughout their walk through the catacombs, Montresor repeatedly asks Fortunato if he would like to go back. Fortunado, being conceded about his abilities to tell a good wine from an imitation, thoughtlessly agrees to continue to go deeper into the catacombs with Montresor, even though he is sick and seems to be get worse as they go further and further into the dark, damp catacombs. Montresor even asks if he would like to go back because of his health. Fortunato says it “is a mere nothing” (1443) and they continue. A gesture is made by Fortunato pertaining to him being a mason. He asks if Montresor is a mason and Montresor replies, “Yes, yes, yes, yes” (1444). He then holds up a trowel. Fortunato laughs about it but fails to wonder why Montresor has a trowel under his coat. Montresor hints to Fortunato in these subtle ways and Fortunato continues to be unsuccessful in being alarmed by them. His confidence is so great that Montresor asks Fortunato if he
Evil, two-faced, and vengeful are a few of the traits used to describe the villain. In the story, “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor is one of the main characters along with Fortunato. As the story is unfolding, the reader comes to find out that Montresor is not kind as he pretends, but evil, while he is pretending to care about Fortunato’s health. In this story, the reader can tell right away that Montresor is vengeful, because the very first sentence of the story is, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne best I could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.”
Edgar Allan Poe’s, “The Cask of Amontillado” (1846) is narrated by Montressor. He is a gothic narrator, as his motives are associated with revenge and mental instability. In fact, the story opens with Montressor’s description of revenge of his friend Fortunato, who supposedly “insulted” him, and he lures Fortunato to his family’s catacombs for his death. However, Montressor is unwilling to reveal Fortunato’s insult and he is uncertain of why he wants to commit the horrendous act. Montressor’s narration is unreliable, and as the story unfolds we deduce his mental state. By carefully analyzing the tale, Montressor’s psychological dilemma encourages us to find the missing pieces of the puzzle and interpret the events in a metaphorical sense suggesting that the events are far less associated with revenge but more with Montressor’s guilt.
If written with skill, “Villains” can be some of the most interesting characters in literature. The character of Montresor from Edgar Allen Poe’s “A Cask of Amontillado”. Poe, being the horror writer that he was, portrays this dark character in exactly that way.