Edgar Allen Poe's, "The Cask Of Amontillado," is a between two enemies. It humorously portrays the foil of Fortunato, as he is led through the catacombs. Poe's humour is dark, sarcastic and very ironic, which quickly becomes a signpost of the tale. Poe sets himself apart from other authors in his works, based on how he depicts and encounters death. It accentuates the notion that at times, your worst enemy will appear as your best friend. Pride is the downfall of every man and the same can be said for witty and daring tale fortunato.
“The Cask of Amontillado” starts out with Montresor, the narrator, saying, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” Simply
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Montresor does this by flattering and acting concerned about the health of Fortunato when really his only concern is killing Fortunato. While in the wine cellar, Montresor says to Fortunato, “Come, we will go back; your health is precious. 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. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchesi-.” Montresor does an excellent job of being Fortunatos’ friend and at the same time convinces him to continue drinking and telling him, “A draught of this Medoc will defend us from the damps.” Montresor was not trying to defend either one of them, his only purpose was to place Fortunato into a higher state of drunkenness. Montresor causes Fortunato to become so drunk that while he was being chained to the wall by Montresor, “He was too much astounded to resist.” “The Cask of Amontillado” is filled with many ironies and also life lessons; such as know who your real friends are. Fortunato thought his real friend was Montresor when, in reality, Montresor was anything but his friend. Not only did Montresor fake his sincerity towards Fortunato, he was also vengeful and very intelligent in his actions to kill Fortunato.
This is a tale about pride and revenge. Among the many ironies of the tale are three which prove quite striking. The first is obvious from the beginning lines:
“The thousand
Montresor tells the story in detail of how he leads a man, Fortunato, to his death. Montresor repeatedly expresses the need to kill Fortunato because he has done something to insult him and he must pay for it with his life. Montresor tells readers early in the story that he is going to be lying to Fortunato’s face by acting one way, but thinking about killing him the whole time. He says "I continued, as was my wont, to smile in
Edgar Allen Poe's brings us a twisted tale of vengeance and horror in "The Cask of Amontillado." Poe's character, Montresor, acts as our guide and narrator through this story. He grabs a hold of the reader as he tells the story from his own apathetic and deceptive mind to gain vengeance from the weak and dismal Fortunato. Montresor's mentality is disturbing as he uses his clever, humor, ironic symbolism, and darkness to accomplish this.
"The Cask of Amontillado" is a story about revenge, but the reader is never truly told exactly what Fortunato did to warrant such vengeance. In fact, throughout the story, the reader gradually realizes that Montresor is an unreliable narrator, and that Fortunato is a friend of Montresor who is unaware that Montresor is plotting to kill him. He is a connoisseur of wine who is enticed by Montresor to sample some rare Amontillado and lured into his trap down into the catacombs. While Luchesi is another wine connoisseur and an acquaintance of Montresor and Fortunato; Montresor urges Fortunato to sample his wine by threatening to allow Luchesi to try it first if Fortunato does not comply. that whatever insult Montresor believes Fortunato committed is probably imagined or exaggerated.
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
In "The Cask of Amontillado", Montresor is the narrator. He begins by describing very cryptically how he was wronged, "The thousands of injuries of Fortunato he has borne as he best could; but when he ventures upon insult, Montresor vows revenge" (Poe 528). As the story
“Revenge is often like biting a dog because the dog bit you.” This quote means that people act in such a devious way as the person who hurt them which does not make them any better. In the short story, The Cask of Amontillado, Montresor wants to seek revenge from Fortunato’s iniquity. Montresor feels that he has been insulted by his acquaintance. In Montresor’s mind, retaliating the same way Fortunato did toward him is the right thing to do. He decided to get Fortunato boozed up on wine since he knew that was his fondness. By this time Fortunato is very gullible and will do anything Montresor insist on him doing. Montresor planned out everything in detail what he cinched to do to Fortunato whether it was right or wrong. He just wanted to seek revenge, but conceal every detail so that it is not obvious. Montresor is a sociopathic character who did everything in his mite and power to show that revenge is a successful ending.
The cast of Amontillado was written by Allan Poe at a time when he felt he was being unjustly attacked. Most critics believe that the cask of Amontillado was written by Poe against his critics in the Mirror. I believe the cask of Amontillado is a story of Revenge and Hatred against some friends whom be believed had wrongfully accused him. A review of Allan Poe as a person and his experiences in life is essential a clear understanding of "The Cask of Amontillado". Hence, I will apply a cultural method of interpretation.
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.
The Cask of Amontillado is the story of and envious man by the name of Montresor who has devised a plan to kill one of his long term friends Fortunato. Montresor devised this plan in the beginning of the story after Fortunato had pulled one joke to many while at a party surrounded by many of their close friends. Montresor while at the party remained calm however while still laughing and cheering with Fortunato he started to develop his plot to get his revenge on Fortunato. In the story Montresor while plotting his crime says, “I had to keep my true feelings to myself for not only must I punish but punish with impunity” (Poe). While Montresor plans the murder of Fortunato, Fortunato is simply enjoying life and his wealth. During carnival Montresor sees a drunk Fortunato and ceases his opportunity. A drunk Fortunato walks over to Montresor and gives him a friendly greeting. Montresor sees this as an opportunity to take Fortunato away from the festivities by using both his weakness for wine and his pride against him. Montresor does this by tricking Fortunato into thinking that he had recently brought a cask of Amontillado and he needed Luchesi to distinguish if it was actually Amontillado. Fortunato, who feels that he is the best wine tester in all of Italy quickly replies, “Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry” (Poe) . Montresor knowing the pride and arrogance of Fortunato then says, “"And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for your own." (Poe) . That
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
To develop the analytical paper about the text “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, some sources will be used to support the thesis statement, which is “The author uses irony in the text to illustrate the murder of Fortunado by Montresor, who seeks salvation through death”. Also, there is going to be an analysis on the irony found in the text in relation with the story. To support this thesis, I am going to use some examples from some sources such as “Literary analysis: Irony in The Cask of Amontillado" by Amelia Tibbett, “Irony in "The Cask of Amontillado” by Kerry Michael Wood, and “Poe 's Short Stories Summary and Analysis” by Bella Wang , and the text will be written in the third person.
In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor is not the only character who displays an overwhelming and ultimately detrimental sense of pride. Fortunato is also a very prideful man who is willing to go to great lengths to maintain his honor and reputation. For him, it is his reputation as a fine wine expert that he must defend. Fortunato’s pride overrides his common sense and is the driving force of the deadly decisions he makes throughout the story. Montresor claims to possess a bottle of the expensive and highly regarded Amontillado wine. He tells Fortunato that he has called an expert, Luchresi, to inspect the wine. Fortunato forces Montresor to take him to the vaults because he is certain that “‘[Montresor has] been imposed upon. And as for Luchresi, he cannot
I know you've thought about killing someone, but you're too worried about the consequences. In the short story "Cask of Amontillado" The protagonist, Montresor feels hatred toward this man Fortunato and is determined to get revenge with impunity. In "Lamb to the slaughter" a wife unsure of her feelings murders her husband. The stories are similar because the authors both create a effect of suspense while they use different types of irony and conflicts.
Revenge can be sweet, but in this case it is just down right grotesque! In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” it talks about a gentlemen named Montressor and how he is angry at Fortunato for insulting him in the past. Montressor will not let this go unpunished, so he thinks up a clever scheme to get back at him. This plan is in a way, ingenious but most definitely insane and crazy.
As the story progresses, Montresor devises a careful plan to lure Fortunato to his death trap, but he is careful enough not to place himself at risk. He approaches him at a carnival, and plays on his victim’s weakness for wine by offering to show him a brand of wine akin to the light Spanish sherry, Amontillado (8). The narrator presents an interesting description of his encounter with Fortunato at the carnival; at first expressing dislike for his friend’s behavior by claiming that he approached him with too much warmth since he was drunk, but then he adds that he was extremely delighted to see Fortunato at that particular moment. This illustrates the depth of Montresor’s desire to exert revenge on his friend, since the sole reason of his pleasure at seeing Fortunato is that he knew his plans had taken off, and he anticipated the satisfaction of the act of brutal revenge.