Arguments Against Montresor's Insanity

Conflict: For Montresor to revenge himself for Fortunato’s insult, he has to get away with it – if Fortunato can revenge him back,

In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor is guilty of the cold-blooded murder of Fortunato and should go to jail for his crime. Montresor speaks of the “thousand injuries” Fortunato caused him and, more recently, the “insult” that Montresor cannot forgive. Vowing to seek retribution, Montresor comments on the importance of ensuring his own innocence throughout the process of revenge. He goes out of his way to be friendly to Fortunato. Other evidence that supports the crime as being preconceived includes Montresor preying on Fortunato’s weakness, his love of wine and his conceited nature. He praises Fortunato on his knowledge of wine and taunts him with the full barrel that he just purchased asking him for his expert opinion. In preparation

Montresor is untrustworthy from the very beginning. By montresor vowing revenge early on ,the readers cannot trust his unreliable story. The text states , “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had born as long I could”(poe 59). The reader cannot trust montresor because montresor wants to kill fortunato.The reader cannot trust someone who has vengeance on others. There are always two sides to a story there side your side and the truth. And in this story we only got one side. James F. Cooney says “In the course of the narrative we learn how montresor used the cutting edge of irony to give a surgeon’s neatness to his work and to secure the greatest possible delight of himself” (Cooney 15 ). Montresor is trying to kill fortunato. He finds delight in the the act of killing fortunato. His murder

From the very beginning of the story, one can obviously see that Montresor thinks that he has been wronged by Fortunato. His plan for vengeance is easily seen through his actions and his thoughts. "He had a weak

Mr. Montresor stated that he intended to murder Mr. Fortunato, and even went as far as planning Mr. Fortunato’s tedious death, I find this very questionable of Mr. Montresor’s innocence. Mr. Montresor also hadn’t received a harmful threat from Mr. Fortunato, just insults; nor did Mr. Montresor receive any physical harm that would endanger Mr. Montresor’s life, therefore Mr. Fortunato was an innocent man, which is also quite questionable to Mr. Montresor’s innocence.

In “Cask Of Amontillado” Montresor seems to have Fortunato's best interests in mind until his true intentions are revealed through his thoughts, not his actions. This is showing how Montresor is careful in his revenge; Fortunato disrespected Montresor, being the wicked and revengeful person he is must make him pay for his mistake. Therefore, Montresor carefully planned out his attack, he had every detail carefully outlined in his head. He made no mistakes; while Fortunato unknowingly made the biggest mistake of his life. Montresor felt satisfied and happy with the horrible crime he committed. While he was burying Fortunato alive, he enjoyed the screams of his foe, relishing in the fact that he won. “...felt

First, the theme of revenge is shown exceptionally clear by the very first line of the story, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato, I had borne the best I could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” (Poe 236). This line clearly shows that Montresor takes significant pride in not only himself but his family as well. Due to this great pride, he refuses for his family name to be belittled in any way, shape, or form. As mentioned by Elena Baraban, “Montresor elaborates a sophisticated philosophy of revenge.” (Baraban 164). This

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.

Pride brought out a very dangerous emotion in Montresor, anger. Montresor had suffered "a thousand injuries" or wrong doings from Fortunato, but Montresor was never motivated to speak out against or hurt Fortunato (Poe 221). He was content to tolerate Fortunato's offences silently until he crossed a line. Fortunato "ventured upon insult" or slandered Montresor's name, which Montresor's pride could not let stand (Poe 221). After Montresor heard of Fortunato's slander of his name, he quietly plotted to exact revenge upon Fortunato and take advantage of his two greatest flaws, his excessive drinking and his pride (Poe 222). Montresor made careful plans that ensured he would not raise suspicions, so he would not get caught (Poe 222). Montresor believed that revenge is useless if one gets caught (Poe 222). He allowed pride and anger to cloud his judgment, which caused him to make the dangerous decision to murder Fortunato for an offense that did not

            One of the most critically-acclaimed short stories, “The Cask of Amontillado,” is well-known ­for covering one of the you used "one of the" twice in one sentence most intriguing topics: retaliation.  The author, Edgar Allan Poe, lived an interesting life full of alcoholism and drug-addiction, but still managed to write many unforgettable pieces.  like what? In this short story, Edgar Allan Poe focuses on Montresor and his determination to exact revenge on Fortunato, the man who had continuously insulted him in the past.  Although no one has ever been able to fully comprehend the reasoning behind Poe’s choices in creating the characters, it has popularly been assumed that anger drove Montresor

Even though he has had “ a Thousand injuries...” (1) done to him by Fortunato he vowed revenge once insulted. Montressor appears to be a vindictive man, another classic sign of a sociopath, and plots his revenge with a meticulous nature. He formulated his plans so that no only does he avoid discipline, he comes up with a punishment that will sufficiently put and end to possible further insults from Fortunato. “I must not only punish but punish with impunity: (5-6). It would also appear that perhaps Montresor is not a very confrontational man, and picks his battles, continuing to be injured be Fortunato until he could no longer take anymore, the final straw being an actual insult.

The third characteristic we see in Montresor is pride. He isn’t modest and boasts even after fifty years about his perfect crime. His pride is what leads him to seek revenge against Fortunato because he doesn’t want him to think he can go with impunity after insulting him. The murder may have not been just out of anger for the insult but more of because he didn’t want to be seen as weak. Montresor takes pride in his extensively planned out scheme and how he plans out all the details.

In “The Cask”, the perspective we are given on the story is limited; which allows for an open interpretation of what his true motives for revenge are. As Baraban states “Montresor elaborates a sophisticated philosophy of revenge: "I must not only punish, but punish with impunity” (48) presenting the reader with a vibrant view of what he intends to do. The question one begs is, for what reason? Most readers would finish this story and assert that mentally, Montresor is insane. As Baraban states, “Poe's intriguing silence about the nature of the insult that made Montresor murder Fortunato has given rise to explanations of Montresor's deed through insanity. Richard M. Fletcher, for example, maintains that Montresor's actions are irrational and that therefore he is mad.” (50) Montresor states at the opening of the story, “you,who so well know the nature of my soul”( are words likely said on his death bed to his confessor; being that he committed this deed fifty years prior, it would make sense that he is finally coming clean. Moreover, since he is commenting on the nature of his soul, it is plausible to assume that Montresor has been deemed crazy

Like I stated before, the reason he went through all he did is not stated in the passage, but I can imagine it had to be bad. Montresor came off as a friend to Fortunato. He made him look like a fool. He knew Fortunato and used what he knew against him. Montresor must have had this planned forever.

Is the narrator of the cask of Amontillado insane? In Edgar Allan Poe's story the narrator, or Montresor, premeditates the murder, He vowed revenge from fortunato's various insults, Having his tools in and a plan in his mind. When Montresor finally lures Fortunato down into the catacombs and into the room aforementioned, Montresor continues with his plan of killing Fortunato by walling him in. Eventually leaving his soon to be skeleton in a rightful place. Montresor would be considered guilty of murder in the first degree because of this. Montresor vows revenge, but it was more than that, montresor exclaims "That neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good-will (Poe 563)."This shows that montresor knows what he is