The Amontillado-Personal Narrative

The readers can pick up on Montresor’s crazy and vengeful, yet cunning, character from the feelings Montresor expresses on revenge. He is clever as he executes his plan to annihilate Fortunato. Montresor treats revenge very seriously. Montresor says when he plans to get revenge he has to follow through, it is never just a threat. He feels so strongly towards revenge and so insecure that when he says something he feels he has to do it; otherwise, others will think he just issues empty threats. Although he does not want to get caught, he says the victim needs to know who is getting the revenge. It should not be small it should be planned well. “I must not only punish, but punish with impunity” (87). Throughout the whole time leading up to Fortunato's immolation, Montresor says he must make sure Fortunato does not doubt his goodness. Montresor deceives Fortunato by smiling at him and continuing to act the same, all friendly like nothing happened. Montresor takes revenge so seriously, that

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

The lavish black roquelaire absorbed nearly all of the light in the surrounding area which perfectly made a silhouette of Montresor’s figure. The smell of nitre permeated throughout the air like a plague. The smell was so overpowering that I nearly passed out. As I hung there, bound to the wall by cold rusted chains, I could make out the twisted smile of Montresor as he removed his silken mask. I looked him in the eye and could see the hate behind them. It seemed to be more primal and real than anything else I had ever seen. After staring me down, Montresor hastily produced that godforsaken trowel from underneath his cloak and started to lay layer after layer of brick, starting to enclose me into this horrible room. My last view of Montresor

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

“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

Montresor is hurt from what Fortunato caused him and that is pain due to the things he has done to lead up to the events. It states “ THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat.”(Poe 1).  Montresor has hatred towards Fortunato, who caused damage inside him mentally making him want a form of revenge back at him. The mood of the story starts off with hatred, but now as Montresor and Fortunato are the catacombs causing the scene go to spooky. It says “Its walls had been lined with human remains piled to the vaults overhead in the fashion of the great catacombs of  Paris.”(Poe 5). Catacombs is a very odd place to look for wine because of what’s stored inside of it. One can see from this that Montresor and Fortunato have arrived to the catacombs which causes the mood of the story to change due to dead bodies surrounding them. Edgar Allan Poe expressed every detail and helped the readers envision the events with his mood changes.

This alone shows that Montresor is trying to get the unknown person whom he is speaking with to sympathize with him.

We soon see foreshadowing of Fortunato's impending doom when the issue of Montresor's shield of arms is brought into the conversation as "A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.". Even more appropriate is Montresor's family motto, translated as, "No one wounds me with impunity". Such a visual depiction and mental conviction due to family honor and history creates all the more impetus in Montresor to carry out the punishment that Fortunato deserves for wronging him, and more likely the family honor. When Montresor finally captures Fortunato in the catacombs, the climax of his precisely calculated deed, he revels in the sound of Fortunato's chains rattling, and "that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labors and sat down upon the bones". However, his satisfaction soon turns to apprehension when suddenly "a succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting from the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me violently back". He hesitates at this moment, when his revenge is sweetest, when he should bask in the suffering of his "enemy", and finds himself contemplating the shrill screams of his captive! He does eventually compose

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 is a main character in “The Cask of Amontillado.” In the story, Montresor seeks revenge on his once friend Fortunato. Fortunato has made fun of and hurt Montresor one too many times. Montresor claims that he has been a victim of Fortunato’s jokes many times and when he mocked Montresor’s name it pushed him over the limit. Montresor contrives a plan to kill Fortunato and follows through with it. He is able to lure his friend into his wine cellar where he buries him alive. This horrendous action demonstrates how intelligent and convincing Montresor is. Analyzing Montresor reveals that he is a smart, envious, insecure, and insane man.

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.

“I can show you some of the finest wines, much finer than the one you had. But they’re in a secret place”! I exclaimed.

Angered by their actions, Fortunato raises his voice. Montresor froze. The mask he put on is perfect, perfect except his eyes. No matter how much he smiles or how good he dresses, he cannot stop his eyes from emmitting misery. People began to

“For the love of God, Montressor.” I looked through the remaining opening but I couldn’t see anything. All I could hear was the jingling of bells as I put the last stone in place. I finally got my revenge; finally put an end to Fortuanto. Proceeding out of the vaults I started for the carnival. “Montressor! Where have you been? You missed the show.”

As the story progresses, so does Montresor and Fortunato’s hell-like descent into the vaults, and also the “nitre” which “hangs like moss upon the vaults” (DiYanni, 2004). Montresor tells Fortunato “We are below the river’s bed” where “The drops of moisture trickle among the bones” and warns him to “Come, we will go back ere it’s too late” (DiYanni, 2004). The foulness of the air around them had “caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame”, and created a feeling of suffocation (DiYanni, 2004). By using simple but descriptive passages such as these, the reader is transported to the chilly vaults and can feel what the narrator and his companion sense. Every detail of the caves is explored through dialogue and as one scholar noted, “Poe’s strict attention to the geology and chemistry of the subterranean passages of Montresor’s chateau serves a much larger purpose than a simple description, the creation of atmosphere, and the selection of an ideal place to conceal a murder” (Benton, 1991). With the centuries of buried dead around them and the dripping walls, it is literally a place of death and the reader becomes aware of this even