The Mortal Sin Of Pride In The Cask Of The Amontillado

Poe also specifies similarities between Montresor and Fortunato. For instance, to take revenge from Fortunato, Montresor is using Amontillado. Because Amontillado is Fortunato’s strength and he thinks himself to be a wine expertise. “He pride himself upon his connoisseurship in wine” (Poe 116). Curiously, Montresor sees Fortunato’s pride as a shortcoming (he sees his own as a quality), and like the cunning men he is, Montresor praise upon this point, making a nonexistent container of Amontillado that he knows Fortunato effectively taste. To guarantee that, Montresor goes even above and beyond and pokes Fortunato’s pride by saying that he wants to have Luchresi taste the wine on the grounds that “if anyone has a critical turn, it is he” (Poe 116). Fortunato pride can’t acknowledge that anybody is preferable at wine sampling over he is, so Fortunato affronts both Montresor and Luchresi by saying that “you have been imposed upon; and as for Luchresi, he cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado “(Poe 116). So awesome is Fortunato’s pride that he does not see the impact of his abuse have upon Montresor; he trust that he can state and do anything as a result of his prevalent aptitudes. As a result, his pride makes him fall into Montresor’s trap. Fortunato and Montresor had same skills in identifying Italian vintages. Montresor says that “I did not differ from him materially;-I was skillful in Italian vintages myself, and I can bought largely

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

Some people believe that Fortunato should have seen Montresor’s evil plan coming, and that he deserved this fate. At the very beginning of the story, Montresor “The thousand

Though Fortunato is an intelligent wine expert, his expertise leads him to his death. In Italian the word Fortunato means fortunate, something that he is not by the end of the story. In “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allan Poe uses foreshadowing and dramatic irony and verbal irony to show Fortunato’s misfortunes which eventually lead to his death.

However, in Montresor’s eyes, this “carnival” is a crazy event, since he was going to kill someone in this “carnival”. Therefore, during the event, Montresor wore a “black silk mask” and a “roquelaure”. Here, “black” can symbolize as a dead, evil and unlucky thing. It is just like the conspiracy that he set for Fortanato, without any hope and future. On the other hand, Fortanato wore a “tight-fitting parti-striped dress”, which is full of joy and happiness in the event. At this point, besides the season, the author also shows irony in Fortanato’s costume. It is because nobody would dress in colorful attire in his own funeral. It seems stupid for Fortanato dressed in this way.

According to Desmond, " Fortunato in the Cask of Amontillado is the literary reincarnation of Thomas Dunn English; and Luchesi, the butt of the real sarcasm of the tail is editor , Hiram Fuller. Montressor is Poe careful, crafty and methodically wrecking vengeance on his enemies; and the cask of amontillado is symbolically the Law suit"(144). Poe did not think he had done anything to warrant the attacks of both English and Dunn. Poe had worked in the Evening Mirror so English and Dunn can be taken to be his contemporaries and they had interest in the same field. They prided themselves in "Literary Connoisseurship" (Desmond,!46). Poe did not think English and Fuller knew good Literature even though they prided themselves to be best in the field. This can be associated to Luchesi's ignorance in wine even though some thought his taste was as good as Fortunato's. "Poe felt that English and Fuller were slandering and ridiculing him with impunity because he no longer had a journal in which to defend himself" (Desmond, 145). This can also be seen in the story when he told Fortunato, "You are rich, respected , admired, and beloved. You are as happy as once I was"(Poe, 241). Poe felt he had been insulted

From the very beginning of the story, one can obviously see that Montresor thinks that he has been wronged by Fortunato. His plan for vengeance is easily seen through his actions and his thoughts. "He had a weak

<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

In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor is not the only character who displays an overwhelming and ultimately detrimental sense of pride. Fortunato is also a very prideful man who is willing to go to great lengths to maintain his honor and reputation. For him, it is his reputation as a fine wine expert that he must defend. Fortunato’s pride overrides his common sense and is the driving force of the deadly decisions he makes throughout the story. Montresor claims to possess a bottle of the expensive and highly regarded Amontillado wine. He tells Fortunato that he has called an expert, Luchresi, to inspect the wine. Fortunato forces Montresor to take him to the vaults because he is certain that “‘[Montresor has] been imposed upon. And as for Luchresi, he cannot

One of the main rhetorical devices evident within the short story is the use of dramatic irony, which Poe uses to foreshadow the climax of the story, which is Fortunato's death. For example, one of the most obvious uses of irony in the story is the name of Fortunato himself, which translates to “the fortunate one”. However,

Pride brought out a very dangerous emotion in Montresor, anger. Montresor had suffered "a thousand injuries" or wrong doings from Fortunato, but Montresor was never motivated to speak out against or hurt Fortunato (Poe 221). He was content to tolerate Fortunato's offences silently until he crossed a line. Fortunato "ventured upon insult" or slandered Montresor's name, which Montresor's pride could not let stand (Poe 221). After Montresor heard of Fortunato's slander of his name, he quietly plotted to exact revenge upon Fortunato and take advantage of his two greatest flaws, his excessive drinking and his pride (Poe 222). Montresor made careful plans that ensured he would not raise suspicions, so he would not get caught (Poe 222). Montresor believed that revenge is useless if one gets caught (Poe 222). He allowed pride and anger to cloud his judgment, which caused him to make the dangerous decision to murder Fortunato for an offense that did not

William Doxey believes, "we are told from the beginning that Fortunato's weakness is his pride in his connoisseurship in wine. It is his pride that hooks him"(266). Both Marie Bonaparte and William Doxey believe that it is Fortunato's weakness for wine that gets him in trouble. Montresor also mentions his rival at wines, "As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi. If anyone has a critical turn it is he"(150). When asked about his cough, "Fortunato replies, not with courtesy, but with prideful determination: 'Let us go never the less'"(Doxey 266). Very often a man's prideful remarks or decisions can get the best of him. It seems that Fortunato could not let himself be outdone. There is the theory of perversity that Montresor tried to use to get Fortunato down into the vaults. J. Rea explains, "A part of Poe's theory of perversity is that we want to hurt or kill or to bury alive someone because he has been good to us. It is an unbelievable desire"(59). She also believes, "Montresor inaccurately measures Fortunato's intellect and succeeds in his plan only through the accident of the similarity of perversity and courtesy"(62). She believes that the courtesy of Fortunato, insisting that his cough is nothing to worry about, is what lets them continue their trip to his death. Rea states, "Perversity always makes one do what he should not;

Fortunato makes himself an easy target because he’s a drunk, he’s not smart, and he is unlucky. In this story, Fortunato makes himself an easy target for the fact that he is a drunken man. When Poe states that, “ He had a weak point-this Fortunato-” and “He prided himself on his connoisseurship,” it clearly marks that

In “A Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, Fortunato is shown as snobby, alcoholic, and gullible. Fortunato is shown to be alcoholic in the story when he expresses his love for fine wine. “He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine" (Poe 372). This quote shows that Fortunato is alcoholic because during this part, Montresor even understands how bad his alcoholism is. During the story, Fortunato is also snobby.

Fortunato’s weak point was his pride because he believed he was a connoisseurship in wine although few Italians are mastered in wine. He took pride in being an expert in wine unlife painting and gemmary, but when he was drunk,, he acted a little too prideful. He was too prideful because he doubted Montresor about him buying Amontillado during the carnival season. “He had a weak point-this Fortunato-although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine.