Montresor's Argumentative Essay

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

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

The story initially starts off telling us the situation where Fortunato had wounded Montresor a “thousand” times. One day, Fortunato goes too far and insults Montresor ultimately resulting in Montresor vowing revenge. Montresor has to craft a perfect plan, for if Fortunato is able to revenge him in return then Montresor’s efforts will have been in vain.

This leads to another step in Montresor’s perfect plan of revenge and makes it one step closer to murdering Fortunato.

Montresor’s actions lend to his vengeful and manipulative nature. He lures Fortunato into the catacombs of his home to carry out his plans to kill Fortunato. In the first step of his plan, he boosts Fortunato’s ego by saying that Luchesi was almost as worthy a judge of wine as he. Then Montresor tricks Fortunato into believing that there is an

<br>The way the narrator treats his enemy is one of the clearest examples for ironic elements. When the characters meet, Montresor realises that Fortunato is afflicted with a severe cold, nevertheless he makes a point of him looking "remarkably well". Montresor acts in the most natural and friendly way towards the man object of his revenge, and even praises his "friend's" knowledge in the subject of wines. Also upon their meeting, Montresor begins a psychological manipulation of Fortunato. He claims that he needs his knowledge to ascertain that the wine he has purchased is indeed Amontillado. Furthermore, he acknowledges that Fortunato is engaged in another business (i.e.: the celebration of carnival), so he would go to Luchresi, who, one is made to believe, is a competitor of Fortunato's. To these words, Fortunato is forced by his pride to accompany Montresor to the vaults (where the Amontillado is kept), dissipate his doubts and also to prove his higher status than Luchresi as a connoisseur of wine. In fact, during their way down under in the catacombs, the twisted mind of Montresor, dares to give Fortunato the chance to go back, due to the almost unbearable dampness and foulness rampant in the vaults and Fortunato's state of health. The narrator clearly knows about the stubborn nature of Fortunato, and is

The major characteristics of the narrator and main character, Montresor, are anger, hatred, and revenge. In the story, he is angry with Fortunato because he believes that Fortunato has wronged and insulted him many

    In the short story the characters do not have a massive change during the story and the plan of revenge was not that confident. Montresor wanted Fortunato to think he cared about his health

In “The Cask of Amontillado” the narrator Montresor claims that Fortunato has hurt him a thousand times before, but

Later on the story Montresor is offended by Fortunato when the fortuned one tells him that he

Hoping to obtain revenge, Montresor, the narrator, lures Fortunato, one of his friends, into the depths of his

The last indirect factor that could contribute to Montresor’s vengeful act, and thus the story’s theme of revenge, is the short story’s social class aspects and how they relate to both Montresor and Fortunato. At this

Montresor has held this grudge against his friend who according to him had given him “thousands of injuries.” This grudge he has makes him vindictive as he seeks revenge against Fortunato for his insult against him. His family’s motto is “Nemo me impune lacessit" meaning “No one attacks me with impunity”. The motto implies that the entire Montresor family history is filled with acts of revenge. Montresor becomes obsessed with his vengeance and when he has Fortunato chained to the wall he mocks at his cries and moaning, “I replied to the yells of him who clamored. I re-echoed, I aided, I surpassed them in volume and in strength.” Montrosor never mentions what the insulting act was which can tell us that the actual act wasn’t as important as him just getting some sort of revenge.

Montresor uses Fortunato's pride, passion and past actions to justify his revenge on Fortunato. Fortunato’s passion is wine. He can tell what type of wine it is just by smelling/tasting it. In the past Fortunato has bullied Montresor and ever since Montresor has wanted revenge.

Montaigne shifts himself in his seat, uncomfortable with the atmosphere and the temperature of the room. “Is something wrong?” asks More. “No, no. I’m fine.” Montaigne says to More shifting again in the dusty chair. More looks at Montaigne “Maybe it would be best if we move the conversation outside?” Montaigne smiles and stands from his chair, stretching his arms and legs. More smiles once more at his friend and gestures towards the door. They both step out into the sunlit garden; Montaigne takes a seat on a bench opposite of More. More asks one of his servants to bring them some food and wine. He then turns to his new friend and says “Montaigne, sir, tell me more about these cannibals.”