The Cask of Amontillado Appearances are the first things we notice about another human. Whether it be their bloodshot beady eyes or florescent smile, our first impression has been made. Just as Montresor, in the short story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, deliberately puts up a façade acting kind and good willed to a man named Fortunato, although this is not his true intentions. As the story progresses you discover the theme of the short story: People are not always as you perceive them to be which Edgar Allan Poe exemplifies through the use of an unreliable narrator, verbal irony, and a symbol. Poe first displays Montresor’s ill willed thoughts about Fortunato when Montresor explains, “I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile was now at the thought of his …show more content…
You are rich, respected, and beloved…”’ (Poe 214). Montresor’s true intentions by saying this is to psychologically trick Fortunato into staying in the underground passage with him. What Montresor is saying is verbal irony; in which way that Montresor isn’t actually saying what he means but rather he really means the opposite of good health and being for Fortunato. Once again verbal irony is shown through Poe’s writing in: “’I drink,’ he said presenting his wine… ‘I drink,’ he said, ‘to the buried that repose around us.’
‘And I to your long life.’” (Poe 214). Once more this is the exact opposite of what Montresor is wanting to happen for Fortunato and he also does the exact opposite of promoting Fortunato’s health by fettering him to a wall deep within the underground vaults and barricading him, prolonging his eventual death from suffocation within the
In addition, the place that Montresor chose to kill Fortanato is also sarcastic. It seems abnormal that the “vaults” were situated inside the “catacombs”. When they were looking for the wine, Fortanato did not suspect anything even when he saw the “bones” and “catacombs”. He still kept on asking where the “Amontillado” was. Ridiculously, while they were drinking the wine in order to keep themselves warm, Fortanato said that he drank to “the buried that repose around them”. Whereas, Montresor said that he drank “to your long life”. Surely, what Montresor said is ironic; He certainly knew that Fortanato would not have a “long life” since he would kill him soon. Perhaps, what Montresor means here is that Fortanato may
To begin with, Montresor taking revenge on Fortunato is quite evil. When Montresor trick Fortunato down to the cellar by using Fortunato’s ego and taste in wine it is very cool and calculating. In the text Montresor says, “ As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi. If anyone has a critical turn, it is he. He will tell me--.” (Montresor 58) This plays off of Fortunato ego saying somebody else had a better taste in wine then he did. In like manner, Montresor was very happy and excited to see Fortunato during carnival. Which is just an act to lure Fortunato to the catacombs. Montresor says in his head, “ I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation.” (Montresor57) Furthermore, Montresor offers many times for Fortunato to turn back because of the cold or of his health. The short story states, “ Come sais Montresor, we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was.” This is cruel because once Fortunato gets to the bottom of the catacombs he will never get to turn back.
He refers to Fortunato as his friend, a clue that Montresor is not acting in his right mind. If Montresor had a good motive like Fortunato killing someone close to him, he would refer to Fortunato as his enemy. The reader also feels the pain Montresor when he is erecting the wall over Fortunato; Montresor does not feel right in what he is doing. He even tries to call Fortunato’s name before he lays the final stone to see if he was still alive, wondering if he could turn back and change his mind before he finally dies before it was too late. Most importantly, he is talking to an auditor, often believed to be a religious priest. Montresor at the time is on his deathbed and is confessing a terrible sin he has done, for he states that for Fortunato’s remains, “no mortal has disturbed them” (Poe 80). He would say this to a priest or someone else who was high in religion.
However, Montresor has a characteristic that, not shown prominently, but given through little hints until the end. That secret characteristic is guilt, guilt for wanting to kill Fortunato. Some of those hints show at the carnival, down in Montresor’s catacombs, and even as Montresor is building in the wall to keep Fortunato in to die. At the carnival, Montresor calls Fortunato his ‘friend’. “It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend.” (Poe). In addition, Montresor is talking about Fortunato, with the term friend being used. Another is, “I was so pleased to see [Fortunato]...” (Poe). In this part of the story, Montresor even says himself that he was happy to see his friend, Fortunato. He shows signs of actually liking Fortunato, but for strongly believing in his family motto and arms of revenge, he feels the need to get revenge on Fortunato for what he did to Montresor. Montresor greets Fortunato kindly and with warmth, “[m]y dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day!” (Poe). Montresor
Fortunato,” ‘I should like your opinion. But if you are too busy, I will get Luchesi’s advice. If anyone is a good judge, he is’”(Poe 68). The citation shows Montresor's deceitfulness since he is trying to guilt Fortunato to come with him. By saying he would like Fortunato's advice, it’s guilting Fortunato to come into the catacombs; only a brilliant and deceitful man could come up with this proposal. I can deduce that without Montresor's deviance, he would’ve never been able to trick Fortunato into the catacombs and to his death. Montresor's deceitfulness also fooled Fortunato to help him in carrying out his own death. Montresor tricks Fortunato into drinking for his cough, intoxicating him more and more with each sip. “I do not wish to alarm you-but you should take care of yourself. A drink of this Medoc will defend you from the damp”( Poe 69). This cite reveals how Montresor is tricking Fortunato into killing himself practically, and helping Montresor succeed. I can summarize that Montresor planned from the beginning to fool Fortunato into helping him by
<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 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.
Once Montresor has Fortunato in his home, he begins to express his dark and deceiving humor. I believe this is a necessity and one of the rules that Montresor must follow in order to feel full retribution. Montresor shows us this ironic behavior when he hands Fortunato a bottle of De Grâve to drink. Another humorous point of the story is
After talking highly about him, Montresor strikes a conversation of the new wine he bought, telling Fortunato that he is much too busy and that he will have Luchesi taste the wine to see if it is real Amontillado, but Fortunato refused. Finally he declares, “ ‘My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature. I perceive you have an engagement. Luchesi-’ ” (152), causing Fortunato to invite him to go down to his vaults and taste wine. Poe’s use of manipulation through Montresor at this point highlights the dark nature of the situation. By Montresor using Fortunato’s weakness against him reveals that he isn’t a true friend of his, which portrays Montresor’s true colors. As the men were traveling down the catacomb, Montresor noticed Fortunato’s “two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication” (152) and urged him to “drink … to the buried that repose around us” (152). Poe’s use of nature depicts Montresor as a bad influence by bringing out his dark side. He makes his friend drink more, when he is clearly intoxicated, instead of having him stop. At the end, when Montresor was finally about to finish the wall that would seal Fortunato chained-up in the room,“[f]or a brief moment [he] hesitated-[and] trembled” (155), showing
Throughout analysis of Edger Alan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado” the readers are able to infer the intentions of the characters through Poe's use of irony. The character Montresor has been insulted by another character, Fortunato. As a result of Fortunato’s insult, Montresor vows to seek revenge on Fortunato by punishing him with impunity during the carnival season. To carry out his plot of revenge, Montresor creates a plan to sneakily rope Fortunato into examining a pipe of Amontillado because Montresor knows Fortunato prides himself on being a wine connoisseur. The Amontillado is supposedly located deep in Montresor's family vault which is where Montresor plans to bury Fortunato alive. Poe implements various examples of verbal irony throughout his story in order for the readers to see Montresor’s devious plan be carried out in a unique way.
During the story, Montresor states “Let us be gone” (Poe 292), merely mocking Fortunato before his death. As you can see, Montresor was cruel to Fortunato, even during the process of murdering him. Although he had said something this mean, Montresor could not stop. He mocked fortunato with cruel his voice, and laughed as he suffered. Not only is Montresor cruel, but he is full of hatred.
Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado is thought to be one of his most popular vengeful short novels. The two main characters, Montresor and Fortunato are re-acquainted friends who meet each other at The Carnival. Montresor has intentionally planned to lure Fortunato to his own death by deceiving him to believe that Fortunato is coming to Montresor's family catacombs to taste a fine wine “Amontillado”. After Montresor leads Fortunato into the crypts, Montresor eventually chains Fortunato up in a secluded section and mortars him behind a brick wall while he is still alive. The story ends with Montresor throwing a flaming torch into the small opening while he continues to put the last brick in place, essentially burning Fortunato alive. Edgar Allan Poe creates conflict between characters Montresor and Fortunato which primarily creates the major theme of revenge in this story. Edgar Allan Poe depicts setting in this novel by portraying death by illustrating human bones, within a cold and damp crypt to contribute to the eerie theme of revenge. Montresor's characterization is expressed through the betrayal of his friend, which adds another element to the theme of revenge in this story. In Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe utilizes conflict, setting, and characterization to create a theme of revenge.
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.
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
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