Essay on Revenge in The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

In Edgar Allan Poe’s, “The Cask of Amontillado” begins by telling us that Montresor feels as Fortunato has hurt him. Fortunato has greatly insulted him, “the thousands of insults of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.” (Poe 165) Although, the lack of evidence throughout the story, we readers never know what the insult ever was. Montresor must get revenge. As Montresor is conducting hits revenge on Fortunato, it is the week of Carnival in Italy and people were dressed up in all sort of costumes. Fortunato was dressed in a jester’s outfit that later provides irony in the short story because he is a fool to go down into the catacombs and face his death. Montresor is engulfed with secret murder and revenge that he makes a grave pit in the wall for Fortunato because as the family motto of Montresor, “No one provokes me with impunity” (167). The coat of arms of Montresor was “A huge human foot of gold, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are embedded in the hell” (167) which the foot represents Montresor and the snake would be Fortunato. Although Fortunato has hurt Montresor with his quick venomous insults, Montresor will ultimately crush him and arise the true victor.

As they progress into the catacombs Fortunato is bombarded by all these hints and clues about his coming doom but this is what truly is evil that montresor is truly insane enough and mad enough to make fortunato a fool. Some hints and clues is when fortunato is encumbered with a cough supposedly from the nitre and Montressor acts as though he is concerned and asks if they should go back in which in return Fortunato replies "The cough is a mere nothing, it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough" (Poe paragraph 37). Which in reply Montresor says true true. Also Montressors coat of arms "the heel stomping on the snake that is biting the heel. As they get deeper and deper into the catacombs another thing that goes on between Montressor and Fortunato that stands out is when they talk about the freemasons which is a secret guild of

During the carnival season in Italy, Montresor planned murder to occur in an underground catacomb. In his short story, “The Cask of Amontillado,” Edgar Allan Poe describes Montresor’s scheme in which he takes drunk Fortunato’s life. Montresor’s perfect crime, created to take revenge on Fortunato, builds suspense, changes the mood of the reader, and develops an essential theme.

In paragraphs 1 through 23 of “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allan Poe takes the reader on a riveting mind game. As the reader reads the reader slowly realizes that the narrator is both an astute observer of his fellow humans and a frightening psychopath and he does this through steps and slowly letting the reader into the narrator’s mind.

Throughout the story, one of Fortunato’s main weaknesses is his pride in his knowledge of wine. Fortunato “[prides] himself on his connoisseurship in wine” due to the riches and status it gives him, and Montresor takes this into account in his plan when he tells Fortunato that he found amontillado, a rare wine, in the catacombs (Poe

“The Cask of Amontillado” is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe about vengeance, hatred, irony, and suspense. The story originally came out in Godey’s Lady’s Book 1846 issue. The story is portrayed through the murderer’s perspective, Montresor. At first, it was very difficult to understand the story, especially with such advanced and unusual vocabulary, but once you start to piece together each detail, it all falls into its rightful place.

?The Cask of Amontillado? by Edgar Allan Poe is a story about two men at a carnival, the narrator Montresor, who is being eaten by jealousy, and Fortunato, a rich drunk man that has a weakness for wine. It is through deception that Montresor achieves his revenge against Fortunato. He did not believe that killing Fortunato is wrong because of the insults and injures Fortunato brought against him. ?The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne.? (Poe, 75) says Montresor. Montresor brought Fortunato down into the catacomb. This was his chance for revenge.

In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Fortunato thought he was going to taste a fine wine. Montresor accesses his catacombs and leads Fortunato away. He gets hoodwinked by Montresor and when

To cover his tracks, Montresor plans his murder during the Carnival season, reasoning that during the festivities, Fortunato will drink wine and impair his judgement. During this time, Montresor encourages the servants to leave the house so there will be no witnesses to his crime (May). To lure Fortunato away, Montresor discerned that Fortunato's "weak point" is the great pride he takes in his "connoisseurship of wine" (Poe 91). Because Montresor, himself "skillful in the Italian vintages" (91), shares Fortunato's knowledge of and pleasure in wines, he is well positioned to exploit his victim's vulnerability (Mustafa). Montresor uses both of these incidents to create a perfect scenario by luring an already drunk Fortunato with the promise of a rare wine.

In “Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allen Poe several illustrates a story about two men, and the revenge found by one. While this story reveals very little about the past of the two men, symbolism allows the reader to find deeper knowledge about them, especially the main character Montresor. While Montresor is seeking his revenge, parts of his family heritage is revealed that symbolizes revenge and passion. This short story reveals a gruesome plot of death and revenge that’s based in the mid 1800’s during a carnival.

Montresor devises a plan to kill Fortunado. After telling him he has an expensive wine called “Amontillado”, Fortunado walks down the catacombs with Montresor. They walk deeper and deeper into the catacombs. Montresor is fueled by the anger and rage from Fortunado mocking him. He wants his revenge. Montresor will kill

It is carnival season. Everyone is dressed in costumes, drinking the night away. Fortunato has somehow insulted Montresor and he is seeking revenge. Montresor plays off of Fortunato’s weakness, wine. He claims to have a cask of Amontillado, that he isn’t sure is authentic. He reassures Fortunato that another man can help him prove that the wine is real but it just makes him want to help more. The wine is in Montresor’s vaults, deep in the catacombs of his family. The walls are covered in saltpeter that gives Fortunato a bad cough. Montresor urges them to turn around, he acted as if he was too worried about the health of Fortunato and said once again he could get help from someone else. Instead Fortunato declined and started drinking more wine. Fortunato becomes so intoxicated he isn’t aware of what is going on

the story "The cask of Amontillado "by Edgar Allan Poe, Two friends" Montresor and Fortunato" fates are determined by one thing only, revenge and murder. In the story Poe uses a sense of deception to create an alluring character before escalating his symbolic strategy to a state of suspense. Even though the story remains a mystery through the end, Edgar Allan Poe never explains why Montresor carries so much hatred toward Fortunato, this missing information gives the story more suspense, living one question to the reader "why Montresor has so much hatred towards Fortunato. Aside from the way that the story begins which is on a day of celebration. The Irony is that the theme all along changes from a day of celebration to a day of murder. The key point to the story is suspense which foreshadows a sense of premonition. In sum, Edgar Allan Poe uses eloquent words and images that create an environment that is corresponding to the story's sinister plot. From the beginning of story, Poe uses language that attracts the reader by invoking strong words that relay to revenge. Poe choice of words compels the necessity of revenge. For example, he states in one of the quotes from "The Cask of Amontillado" saying, "at length I would be avenged" (50) and goes on to say that he will not only "punish, but punish with impunity," (50) which shows that Montresor takes this matter quite seriously. Also, when Montresor claims that a when a wrong has been committed it remains "unredressed when the

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.

During the story’s progression as Montresor and Fortunato descend further into the wine catacombs, Fortunato develops a cough where he denies his sickness. He had this cold prior to Montresor’s invitation to taste the wine, yet ignores the symptoms since a cough cannot kill a man. Used beautifully in the story, the ironic ending twist signifies that in fact, a cold can kill a man who is blinded by pride, willing to sacrifice his well-being for a higher class. Either using cross-psychology or to cover his true motives, Montresor offers to turn back for him to recover, but he persists that he must taste the wine. How Fortunato reacts to his cough symptoms progressing is similar to how Montresor reacts to Fortunato’s insults: the accumulation