How would you feel if you were to die, plastered inside a wall? In the short story “The Cask of the Amontillado” written by Edgar Allan Poe, one of the characters die exactly like that. Montresor lures his former friend, Fortunato, into underground catacombs in a way that Fortunato couldn’t resist. Fortunato is very fond of wine, so Montresor tells him to follow him down to a vault where he could taste the Amontillado. From there, Fortunato falls into Montresor’s plan for revenge.
The lavish black roquelaire absorbed nearly all of the light in the surrounding area which perfectly made a silhouette of Montresor’s figure. The smell of nitre permeated throughout the air like a plague. The smell was so overpowering that I nearly passed out. As I hung there, bound to the wall by cold rusted chains, I could make out the twisted smile of Montresor as he removed his silken mask. I looked him in the eye and could see the hate behind them. It seemed to be more primal and real than anything else I had ever seen. After staring me down, Montresor hastily produced that godforsaken trowel from underneath his cloak and started to lay layer after layer of brick, starting to enclose me into this horrible room. My last view of Montresor
Throughout the entire story Poe develops a sardonic tone through the contrast of what Fortunato thinks his happening against the reality of the situation. One of the first incidents in which we see this is when Montresor says, “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking today! But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts” (Poe 194). The readers can clearly notice Montresor’s sarcasm and the irony of the situation. This is because, as the readers, we are predisposed to how Montresor feels about Fortunato. Montresor has already started to develop his plan this early in the story by building up Fortunato’s pride with his greetings and comments. Fortunato his too
Poe starts out with a man, by the name of Montresor, wanting revenge on another man, named Fortunato. Most of the story takes place deep in the Montresor family catacombs. As Montresor lures Fortunato into the catacombs, he chains Fortunato up to a small hole in a wall, bricks it over, and leaves Fortunato to die. Even through the traits of anger, hatred, and revenge, as the story progresses on, Montresor, the main character in “The Cask of Amontillado”, starts to show signs of feeling guilty for wanting to murder Fortunato.
In the Cask of Amontillado, Montresor, the protagonist of this story, has been wronged by Fortunato. Montresor feels very strongly about this transgression that Fortunato doesn’t recall. His revenged involved using one of Fortunato’s weaknesses against him. Fortunato boasted that he was a connoisseur of fine wines. One night, Montresor told him about a cask of Amontillado he had recently purchased that he wasn’t sure was genuine. Montresor then says that he was going to meet another friend named Luchesi, who could authenticate the wine. Fortunato in a drunken state, proclaims that they would go to Montresor’s vault which contained the Amontillado. Montresor attempts to convince him that his cough and cold might become worse being down in the cold, damp vaults with the niter. After insisting that he was fine, both men venture into the depths of Montresor’s family catacombs. After being in the catacombs for a short bit, Fortunato begins to cough and Montresor gives him a type of red wine to cover the cough and to continue to intoxicate him. Montresor’s family had a great deal of members and created a long walk. Fortunato asks what his coat of arms is and Montresor replies with their motto that is “No one assails me with impunity”. Fortunato begins to cough against and Montresor opens another bottle of wine, to which he empties it almost immediately. Fortunato then does a hand gesture that Montresor doesn’t understand. Fortunato says that you must not be of the brotherhood of
"I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong." With these ferverous words from the introductory paragraph of Edgar Allan Poe's Cask of Amontillado, the story of Montresor's revenge begins. Poe repeatedly stresses the need for revenge due to bitterness and resentment in Montresor's character towards Fortunato, but more importantly, stress is placed on revenge by which the victim realizes their injustice towards the redresser. Unfortunately, it seems that Montresor is denied this pure and encompassing revenge when his victim,
In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Edgar Allen Poe skillfully integrates dramatic irony and portrays Fortunato’s ignorance as a way to engage the reader. He utilizes the power of human emotions and compassion to capture the audience’s attention. In the story, Montresor uses reverse psychology to coax Fortunato deeper into the catacombs and towards his own death. An example of dramatic irony occurs when Montresor says, “‘Come, (...) we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as I once was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchresi-’” (Poe 868). Only the reader and Montresor know of his plan to end Fortunato’s life. Through Fortunato’s point of view, it would seem that Montresor is trustworthy and worried about his health. However, Montresor could care less about Fortunato’s well being and is using this mask to hide his true intentions to complete his master scheme. At the end of this quote, Montresor sneakily mentions getting help from Fortunato’s rival Luchresi instead, knowing that Fortunato is extremely egotistic and greedy. Fortunato is the kind of man who thinks he is the finest and most sought after wine connoisseur in the area. He believes that Luchresi should not be trusted in the wine tasting business, especially with something as precious as Amontillado. This undesirable quality leads Fortunato to his death while the reader could do nothing to help. Unlike Fortunato, the reader can see Montresor’s tactics and can’t help but feel a twinge of sympathy for the victim. This emotional attachment intrigues the reader since they want to find out the result of the story and Fortunato’s fate. After taking another drink of Medoc, Fortunato performed a movement that symbolizes the Mason Brotherhood. Montresor did not understand what he meant by this unpredictable action. Fortunato got a little suspicious and said “‘A sign, (...) a sign.’ ‘It is this,’ I answered producing from beneath the fold of my roquelaire, a trowel. ‘You jest,’ he exclaimed, recoiling a few paces. ‘But let us proceed to the Amontillado’” (868). At this point in the story, the audience knows
It's certain that Fortunato has no idea of Montresor's anger, and this makes the story even more tragic and frightening as the story goes on. The seemingly happy jangling of the bells on the top of Fortunato's cap become more and more sad the deeper the two venture into the catacombs. ” Edgar Allan Poe uses irony to develop his theme of a man who seeks salvation through repression. In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor is out for revenge. Montresor's only concern appears to be exacting revenge with impunity.
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.
Vengeance and murder infects the minds of Montresor and Fortunato upon an exchange of insult in Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Cask of Amontillado”. This is the story of pure revenge after Forturano disrespects Montresor. The story follows the characters meeting up at a carnival and eventually the disguised Montresor lures Fortunato into the catacombs of his home by convincing him that he acquired something that could pass for Amontillado, a light Spanish sherry. Fortunato grows eager to taste this wine and to determine for Montresor whether or not it is truly Amontillado. He leads him back to the catacombs of his home and carries out his plot to bury him alive. Edgar Allan Poe writes from a mysterious first person perspective, uses colorful symbolism and situational irony to present the man's inner self, in turn revealing that revenge is fundamentally infeasible.
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
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.
In “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allan Poe takes us on a journey into the mind of a mad man. The story relates a horrible revenge made even more horrible by the fact that the vengeance is being taken when no real offense had been given. In a short space and with ultimate technical skill, Poe creates a nightmare, guaranteed to give the reader a sleepless night.
Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado is thought to be one of his most popular vengeful short novels. The two main characters, Montresor and Fortunato are re-acquainted friends who meet each other at The Carnival. Montresor has intentionally planned to lure Fortunato to his own death by deceiving him to believe that Fortunato is coming to Montresor's family catacombs to taste a fine wine “Amontillado”. After Montresor leads Fortunato into the crypts, Montresor eventually chains Fortunato up in a secluded section and mortars him behind a brick wall while he is still alive. The story ends with Montresor throwing a flaming torch into the small opening while he continues to put the last brick in place, essentially burning Fortunato alive. Edgar Allan Poe creates conflict between characters Montresor and Fortunato which primarily creates the major theme of revenge in this story. Edgar Allan Poe depicts setting in this novel by portraying death by illustrating human bones, within a cold and damp crypt to contribute to the eerie theme of revenge. Montresor's characterization is expressed through the betrayal of his friend, which adds another element to the theme of revenge in this story. In Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe utilizes conflict, setting, and characterization to create a theme of revenge.
In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, the dark side of human nature is illustrated through the character of Montresor and his victim, Fortunato. Montresor is a manipulative and vengeful person whom is obsessed with the downfall of Fortunato. Through the acts, words, and the thoughts of Montresor, one is able to see him carry out his plan for revenge.