Character Analysis Of Montresor

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.

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.

Keep your friends close but your enemies closer. One person who takes this quote to an entirely new level is Montresor from “The Cask of Amontillado”. In this short story by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor has had enough of his boorish friend Fortunato and vows for revenge. Before Montresor's retaliation, he approaches the sickly Fortunato and offers him some of the rare Amontillado which he has locked away in the cellar of his home. While on their way to retrieve the alcohol, Montresor tells Fortunato to drink for his heavy cough, intoxicating him more with each sip. Once they arrive at the cellar, Montresor tricks Fortunato to his death by walling him up brick by brick. Montresor however wouldn’t have been able to go

"The Cask of Amontillado" is one of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest stories. In this story Poe introduces two central characters and unfolds a tale of horror and perversion. Montresor, the narrator, and Fortunato, one of Montresor's friends, are doomed to the fate of their actions and will pay the price for their pride and jealousy. One pays the price with his life and the other pays the price with living with regret for the rest of his life. Poe uses mystery, irony, and imagery to create a horrifying, deceptive, and perverse story.

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

First, Poe uses different points of views to develop characterization in antagonists and protagonists in short stories. In "The Cask of Amontillado", Poe uses first person point of view to describe the protagonist. Montresor's (protagonist) character develops through his actions and feelings. He is shown to be deceiving, claiming," he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation." (The Cask of Amontillado, 1) The quote suggests of Montresor's slyness/sneakiness. Montresor's character develops through the story over time. The story is shown to be written as a confession, almost as the character Montresor himself had been trapped with his guilt as he trapped Fortunato; literally. As the story progresses, Montresor becomes more manipulative and dark as he carries out his plan. Fortunato (antagonist) is portrayed to be silly and non-serious, as he had been

All of these images of the setting and characters come together with the idea of Montresor’s premeditated demise for Fortunado. From the beginning we know that Montresor is upset with Fortuado and he is seeking revenge. With all of Montresor’s comments we see that this is not just talk but a reality. When the two men are discussing turning around due to Fortunado’s cough, Fortunado says, “I shall not die of a cough” which in reply Montresor says “true.” (Poe page 3) This foreshadows the demise of Fortunado, and what Montresor has in mind for him. Another example of this is when they discuss Montresor’s family crest, that his family moto is “Nemo me impune lacessit” (Poe page 3) which means no one attacks me without paying dearly. Along with this statement, is when he tells Fortunado that his family are of the masons, foreshadowing the way he will kill Fortunado.

     Finally, they reach the end on the catacombs and the Amontillado is near. Then, suddenly Montressor throws Fortunato and fettered him on the wall in a little aperture. He Builds a crypt with a trowel and masonry slowly circumscribing him. Fortunato will slowly suffocate and die. He is almost done laying the stones when Fortunato begs him to let him out and lets him know that the joke was very good but Montressor is not joking. He lays the last block and clamored can be heard through the walls. Slowly the noise died down and Montressor absconded to let Fortunato repose. Of course, then Fortunato perceived what he had done.

In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Edgar Allen Poe issues a warning that even your closest friends can stab you in the back when you insult them in the right way. Poe perfectly portrays the way someone you think is your best friend could just as well be your biggest enemy. In “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allen Poe uses Montresor’s point of view, plot, and symbolism to convey the cold, merciless man who is Montresor to warn the readers that not everyone is who they seem to be.

Poe’s use of characterization conveys the theme that sadism is unnatural and does not occur solely in one’s self. In “Cask of Amontillado” Montresor has been insulted by Fortunato, “The thousand of injuries i had borne as best i could; but when he ventured upon insult, i vowed revenge” (Poe). Montresor cared little of Fortunato’s endeavors until he insulted him.. He was provoked and then sought out to seek his revenge and kill Fortunato. His sadistic thoughts were developed due to Fortunato actions towards him, not due to his natural behavior. Poe characterized Montresor to feed into his dark sadistic actions once a reason was valuable enough.

Poe portrays the psychotic state of Montressor using the technique of an unreliable narrator. An unreliable narrator is a character that cannot be trusted. Many times the perspective of the narration is from the first person point of view and is usually biased, as this portrays the motives of the narrator. From Montressor’s words, we as readers can sympathize with him or even see him as a fool. He has a paranoid state when the story opens as shown in the lines, “You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat”(231). The “You” is ambiguous, it can be interpreted as if Montressor is

The main character and narrator, Montresor, immediately informs the reader of his story that dates back fifty years about how he was insulted by another character, Fortunato. Even though the reader is never told what the insult actually was, we are able to tell that whatever Fortunato did really did hurt Montresor deeply.. This is easily seen the instance Montresor speaks of revenge uttering the words “But he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (Poe 3). Here one can develop the idea that Montresor is irritated by whatever Fortunato did. So what is Montresor’s state of mind. Well thats simple, if one looks at the the above details it's easy to say that Fortunato’s state of mind is negative. Montresor is thinking about nothing but bad aspects. He is insulted by someone who seems as if he never meant to even do anything of harm, and he sees no other outlet other than revenge. The negative view of the situation is causing Montresor to think obsessively of the situation and helps the reader predict his intentions based on those clear-cut speculations. In other words, This is where the psychology of Montresor’s state of mind leads the reader to the next level of his thoughts, his

As Montresor and Fortunato reach the entrance to the catacombs, Poe adds nervousness to Montresor by using words that explain his movements or the surroundings around him and Fortunato. He is so close to murdering Fortunato, and Montresor is feeling a little doubtful on how it is going to go down. Montresor is

There are a few names in literature which represent the ability to captivate an audience with suspense and gloom. Though masters of different genres, Edgar Allen Poe and William Shakespeare both embody this unique ability. One of Poe’s work in particular resembles the beauty and darkness that is found in Shakespeare’s tragedies. In the intriguing short story “The Cask of Amontillado,” two wealthy gentlemen from an Italian, wine-loving village go off to find a barrel of expensive medium-dry sherry to share amidst a happy carnival, and the stakes rise when one of the men betrays his friend, chaining and trapping him deep in the catacombs. The jolly and fun-loving Fortunato is assumed to be unfortunately slowly killed by the narrator, Montresor. The relationship between these two men and the struggles presented throughout the entire first-person recollection of the fictional Montresor created by Edgar Allan Poe uses many of the literary elements that are prominent in William Shakespeare’s revenge tragedies.

Edgar Allan Poe portrays conflict by creating tension between Montresor and Fortunato. In the story, tension is merely only seen through the eyes of Montressor because of the animosity that he has against Fortunato for the cursing of his family's name which was one of an old and honored one. Montresor states his revenge by saying “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed my revenge.” Montresor is stating that he had been able to bear insults, but once his family's name was insulted, he was driven to seek revenge from this humility. Montresor's evil intentions to murder Fortunato come solely from Fortantos insulting demeanor. The conflict that is shared between Fortunato and Montresor is the main factor which creates the theme of revenge in this story.