How Is The Unreliable Narrator In The Cask Of Amontillado

In Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe presents a murderous tale of revenge revealed as the confession of a man who murdered another man over fifty years ago because of an insult. During a carnival festival, the murderer led his companion to the catacombs where he buried the man alive. The charter of Montresor lures his victim, Fortunato with the promise of a fine sherry, amontillado. As Poe’s character of Montresor guides the wine connoisseur, Fortunato, Poe symbolically foreshadows the impending murder.

Montresor manipulates Fortunato in many ways. One way is when he tells Fortunato that they should go back to the carnival because of his cough. Another example when he manipulates Fortunato is when Montresor keeps on promising that the bottle is deep within his family catacombs. One more example is Montresor manipulates fortunato by playing on his knowledge of wine. Fortunato is easily led by Montresor’s weakness. In addition of manipulating Fortunato, Montresor also manipulates the reader. While reading the story the reader can read and understand what Montresor is thinking. “With these materials and with the

When Montresor is first introduced, the reader can easily identify Montresor as an unreliable narrator based on his unreasonable need to get back at Fortunato. He begins his recollection with words of exaggeration, recalling the “thousand injuries” (Poe 179) he endured, and the insult Fortunato had “ventured upon” (Poe 179). There is no further explanation on what would warrant such resentment before he quickly transitions to his definition of revenge:

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

Poe uses the contentions to build suspense in the short story. Throughout the story, the author never gives a clear explanation of why Montresor has so much loathing towards Fortunato. The author states, “You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy as once I was. You are a man to be missed for me it is no matter.” (Poe, 241). In

Fortunato's’ death snuck up on him like a robber sneaking into your mysterious house on a pitch dark night. In the text “The Cask Of Amontillado” Fortunato, the protagonist, is a lightheaded, drunk, rich man. He tasted first class wines, and has a bad-eye looking over him, named Montresor. The two gentlemen travel on foot into the catacombs, which lead them to an alcove where it is a perfect place for a murder. The horrifying ending left everyone shook up and wondering what was going to happen next. Fortunato is so wasted he didn’t see the back door coming his way as Montresor uses his friendliness, jealously, and dangerousness to commit a bloody murder.

Edgar Allan Poe’s gothic short story, “The Cask of Amontillado” discusses the revenge plan of a man named Montresor on his old friend Fortunato. Montressor revealed to the readers that he had been insulted by Fortunato and silently vowed revenge on him. Montressor acted as if he was Fortunato’s friend and smiled with him like they were buddies so that his revenge plot would be undetectable. During a carnival, Montresor told Fortunato that he had purchased a pipe of Amontillado and wanted to know if it was genuine or not. He said that he would instead ask Luchresi who was rumored to have tastes that were a match to Fortunato’s which caused Fortunato to become even more eager to see the wine.

Typical Halloween movies have the plot of a character who is just not quite right in the head. Often times, they would be admitted to an insane asylum, where they would be taught to control their insane ways, ones that could have led to serial deaths. The Cask of Amontillado, written by Edgar Allen Poe, is a story about a man, Montresor, who is quite mentally ill, and has a plan to get revenge on another person. The main character Montresor, plots Fortunato’s death in a disturbing and inhumane way. Montresor is a static character who remains insane, manipulative, and unreliable throughout the course of the story.

He leads him from the carnival to a family crypt, which he makes Fortunato believe it’s a wine cellar. As they are on their journey, Montresor expresses concern for Fortunato’s safety and well being when he states “I passed down a long and winding staircase, requesting him to be cautious as he followed” (Gardner, Lawn, Ridl, & Schakel, 2009 p.15) Montresor also addresses Fortunato’s health when he states “how long have you had that cough, Come, I said, with decision, we will go back: you health is precious.” (Gardner, Lawn, Ridl, & Schakel, 2009 p.16) Montresor calls Fortunato to come closer to him as he notices the coughing is causing him to fall behind as they walk in the dark underground crypt.

The main character Montresor brings his acquaintance Fortunato to the catacombs to murder him. While Montresor was leading Fortunato through the catacombs, he notices that his companion was trembling with the cold and insists that they both “...go back” because Fortunato's

The short story “The Cask of Amontillado” describes how individual takes revenge on his acquaintance during a carnival in Venice. The main character, Montresor tells his acquaintance, Fortunato about rare wine called Amontillado. Montresor tells Fortunato he has obtained some Amontillado wine and lures him into his cellar. Montresor leads the way into his family catacombs, with the drunk Fortunato following. Afterwards Montresor chains Fortunato to a wall deep in the catacombs, then bricks up the aperture. Fortunato screams for release, but Montresor only mocks him and Fortunato’s body remains undiscovered for fifty years.

The Cask of Amontillado, by Edgar Allan Poe. This story focuses on Montresor and his revenge of Fortunato. Montresor has many character traits that make him an interesting yet mysterious character in the story. His plot for revenge shows him as a person who can’t let something go, and must show what he wants in return. His knowledge of wine may not be the biggest trait, but an important one indeed, because of the pride that he takes in it.

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.

Knowing that Montresor is not justified for his horrific crime, the reader can begin to see through his deception; indeed, Montresor has been manipulating the reader as well as poor Fortunato, and with Montresor’s false pretenses of friendship and righteousness ripped away, we are able to see the true nature of his soul

By: Harshul Jain The Cask of Amontillado is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. Poe is known for using Gothic conventions in his stories which mostly includes the atmosphere of mystery, oppressiveness to create terror but interestingly he subverts the Gothic conventions by having having human beings, instead of a supernatural element, create most horrible deeds. Poe tries to achieve that horror via the capabilities of the humans. Poe uses unreliable narrator and psyches to propel the story. The Cask of Amontillado is a classic example of such a story. The Cask of Amontillado is a story of 2 friends, Fortunato and Montresor. Montresor in this story is the narrator. Montresor has been