The Fortunato : A Short Story : Montresor

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,

“There isn’t much to say, one day Mr. Fortunato decided to give us the day off for the Mardi Gras festival, we found it very strange since he never gave us days off but we ignored it and enjoyed the festival. After that I never saw Mr. Fortunato again.” “Do you know if Mr. Fortunato had any enemies?” I asked. “Not that I know of…” she stopped and hesitated. “Go on” I encouraged her, “Mr. Fortunato hated Luchesi but I never heard of Luchesi having problems with Mr. Fortunato?” she paused then continued. “Maybe Montresor can help you out with that, her used to work for Mr. Fortunato as well.” “Okay, well thank you so much… uh?” “Irma” she said with half a smile “well thank so much Irma, I will try not to bother you no more.” I walked her over to the door and watched her disappear into village.

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.

Mr. Montresor stated that he intended to murder Mr. Fortunato, and even went as far as planning Mr. Fortunato’s tedious death, I find this very questionable of Mr. Montresor’s innocence. Mr. Montresor also hadn’t received a harmful threat from Mr. Fortunato, just insults; nor did Mr. Montresor receive any physical harm that would endanger Mr. Montresor’s life, therefore Mr. Fortunato was an innocent man, which is also quite questionable to Mr. Montresor’s innocence.

<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

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

It seems like every passing day there is a shadow that is after me. I’m left with parts of me eaten away and left my mind corrupted from its everyday thoughts. The darkness steadily dissolves me away from the eyes that are known to be inquisitive. The burden that was left on me has more pressure than I expected for what i have completed. I discovered that revenge is made to be short lived. What i did was completely horrifying. The inferior thing is that I was able to acquire with my crime. It doesn’t matter what time it is, everyday there will always be a small voice in my head reminding me of the defenseless cries performed by fortunato. The man that I caused to perish, immersed in the catacombs. A month has passed since fortunato's disappearance, and the town still wonders where he has disappeared to. Examining the difficulty of mourning families caused me to really think, specifically today. The events leading up to fortunato's death played in my mind like a movie. It sends me back to the time when I was young and no one loved me, including my mother. When fortunato entered my life he made a big mistake which ended him in misery.

Throughout the short story, Montresor appears to be murderous and mentally insane. As Montresor continues to tell his story, the reader learns that Montresor is not only a murder and insane, but he is a narcissist as well. Montresor displays the characteristics for this to be true. When Montresor decided to take revenge on Fortunato, he was persistent in doing it himself for his own satisfaction. As his plan began to go along perfectly, he was very pleased with himself. In addition, the cause for Montresor’s revenge plan was because of an insult. The death of Fortunato was not justifiable by his actions. It was merely a prize for Montresor

“Where is everyone?!” shouted Fortunato. “And where’s all the drinks?! Ahhh, there they are!” Fortunato exclaimed.

Another indirect factor that could contribute to Montresor’s vengeful act, and thus the story’s theme of revenge, is his state of mind. Some critics have analyzed the opening line of this short story and have determined that it could contribute to an insane state of mind. When the opening line states, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge,” it does not describe what the insult is. The fact that Montresor does not give a specific description of the insult leads many critics to believe that Montresor has acted irrationally in murdering Fortunato and that he is insane. Another example of Montresor’s insanity is found when he replies to Fortunato’s screams (Baraban). In the story, Montresor states, “I replied to the yells of him who clamoured. I re-echoed, I aided, I surpassed them in volume and in strength” (Poe 1616). Critics view this statement as contributing to Montresor’s unstable state of mind, and thus contributing to his act of revenge (Baraban).

In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, Montresor is shown as clever, revengeful, and prepared. Montresor is shown to be clever in the story when he uses Fortunado’s knowledge of wine against him to kill him.“He had a weak point- this Fortunado-although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine” (Poe 372). This quote shows that Montresor is clever because during this part, he was able to find a way to trick Fortunado so he could kill him. He knew of Fortunado’s knowledge of wine and used that as a advantage for himself. During the story, Rainsford is also revengeful. He shows that he is revengeful when this happens:Fortunado made fun of Montresor and made him quite

In Edger Allen Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado the narrator, Montresor, seeks revenge against his friend Fortunato who he claims had cause him many injuries. The story takes place during carnival time and many are celebrating even Fortunato who was dressed as a clown and wore a colorful hat with bells. Fortunato had been drinking which made him even less aware of any sort of plot against him. Montresor lures him into his wine vaults and easily chains him to a wall deep inside a small crypt. Fortunato is too drunk to even comprehend what is happening or even resist. Finally Montresor builds a stone wall confining Fortunato inside to die. In the story we can distinguish many notable characteristics of Montresor. He may be perceived as heatless

When looked at for the first time, Montresor in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado may seem disturbing. Montresor has plans to murder a man, Fortunato, for insulting him and plans on doing so by walling him up in the catacombs under his home. Montresor devises a clever plan that will leave Fortunato clueless as to his intensions. Upon a closer look, this character is admirable. Montresor carries out his plan successfully without being caught. He does this by using traits that are commendable at the very least. Montresor is Poe’s most admirable character because he is patient, extremely confident, and very calculated.

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.