The Unreliable Narrator Of Montresor

From what kind of story he is telling the reader, to how he describes other characters, and from his actions, Montresor is an extremely unreliable source of information. Vengeance and pride both play a large role in “The Cask of Amontillado” and because of that Montresor loses credibility. Telling the story through the eyes of the one acting on revenge makes it so we are to believe he

Montresor seems to be hurt very easily since he says that Fortunato insulted, yet could not remember how. Also the way Montresor thinks helps the reader decide that he is deceitful. Again the quote“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” (Poe 3) helps prove this. His smile seems completely friendly and harmless. But little does Fortunato know it is for his end showing Montresor as untrustworthy character. Even the story being told after fifty years should not be trusted. The time between the actual events and the story being told is far apart to be believed as a hundred percent accurate. “ I forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up. Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them” (Poe 10). This excerpt proves that the story is being told after fifty years and that it cannot be fully accurate. Montresor’s state of mind and intentions show us his true personality as a deceitful and easily offended

Conclusion: It’s impossible to know how old Montresor is when he kills Fortunato, but in the second to the last line of the story, we learn that the murder happened fifty years ago. So Montresor is probably pushing eighty when he’s telling the story. And he could be far more ancient. More importantly, this conclusion lets us know that Montresor has gotten away with his crime so far. His vengeance has been a success, and he wants us to know it.

Revenge can bring out many people’s inner evil. In Edgar Allan Poe’s “Cask of Amontillado”, the main character, Montresor carefully plans revenge against Fortunato. Montresor is a man who vows vengeance against a professional wine taster named Fortunato. The wine taster insults Montresor, and he had enough of it. The insult sets him off and he plans a deadly and successful revenge. Throughout the story, Montresor attentively plans his revenge against Fortunato just like an expert.

Montresor is trying to lure Fortunato to his vaults by telling him that Luchresi can just come and taste the Amontillado because he knows best. He knows Fortunato will freak out by this statement, and then show Montresor that he is wrong in saying that. Indeed, this leads Fortunato down into the catacombs, just so he can prove Montresor wrong. That 's when Montresor will take his final step in his plan to end Fortunato. This event leads to the most suspenseful part in the short story. The reader doesn’t know what Montresor’s next step is going to be in his plan, along with what stupid move is Fortunato going to take to leading himself closer to his death.

Cask of amontillado is on of Edgar Allan Poe’s best works it tells of deception and murder. In the cask of amontillado Edgar Allan Poe uses gothic literature to describe murder. Poe’s use of an unreliable narrator in his short story successfully creates a eerie effect for his reader.

All of these images of the setting and characters come together with the idea of Montresor’s premeditated demise for Fortunado. From the beginning we know that Montresor is upset with Fortuado and he is seeking revenge. With all of Montresor’s comments we see that this is not just talk but a reality. When the two men are discussing turning around due to Fortunado’s cough, Fortunado says, “I shall not die of a cough” which in reply Montresor says “true.” (Poe page 3) This foreshadows the demise of Fortunado, and what Montresor has in mind for him. Another example of this is when they discuss Montresor’s family crest, that his family moto is “Nemo me impune lacessit” (Poe page 3) which means no one attacks me without paying dearly. Along with this statement, is when he tells Fortunado that his family are of the masons, foreshadowing the way he will kill Fortunado.

Montresor is the brutally insensitive narrator and presents his story from a unique first person perspective. Poe was intricate in telling this story from his point of view. He could have chosen to paint a picture for the readers through the eyes of Fortunato or possibly an outside narrator’s perspective. Poe makes an interesting decision as to who was going to tell the story. Significantly, he does not explain the nature of Fortunato’s transgression through Montresor's point of view. To explain further, Montresor tells the story in the first person, the reader is able to be directly aware of his thoughts therefore

Later on the story Montresor is offended by Fortunato when the fortuned one tells him that he

Montresor shows that he is a very astute and intelligent person throughout The Cask of Amontillado by using people so no one would discover his stealthy plan. An astute action that Montresor does is when he uses reverse psychology to get the attendants out of the Palazzo I know he knows that he is doing this on purpose because he says, “I had told them that I should not return until the morning, and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house. These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappearance, one and all, as soon as my back was turned.” Another intelligent thing he does to insure that his plan succeeds is when he keeps bringing up Luchesi when talking to Fortunado, he does this to make Fortunado stubborn and insist on following him into the catacombs. Therefore, we now know that Montresor was extremely clever and could easily play people to his advantage which made him even more dangerous since he's a ruthless lunatic.

The last indirect factor that could contribute to Montresor’s vengeful act, and thus the story’s theme of revenge, is the short story’s social class aspects and how they relate to both Montresor and Fortunato. At this

Montresor is considered an unreliable narrator since he misrepresents events either on purpose or unintentionally. From my understanding of the reading that Montresor was simply an unreasonable, cold-blooded murderer. His presents were only a vague understanding of his motivations, and his pretense of good will and careful manipulation of Fortunato indicated the care with which he has planned Fortunato’s death. That is why I said that Poe’s is an unreliable narrator, because his quilt and occasional irrationality prevents him from presenting himself truthfully to the reader. Also, I believe that Montresor played a black sense of humor.

The third characteristic we see in Montresor is pride. He isn’t modest and boasts even after fifty years about his perfect crime. His pride is what leads him to seek revenge against Fortunato because he doesn’t want him to think he can go with impunity after insulting him. The murder may have not been just out of anger for the insult but more of because he didn’t want to be seen as weak. Montresor takes pride in his extensively planned out scheme and how he plans out all the details.

     Montresor is admirable because throughout the story, he is very patient. In the beginning of the story,

Montresor's Characteristics Montresor is a flat and static character in The Cask of Amontillado. He may be the protagonist, but he never changes and we also know next to nothing about his life before the story. All we know about his past is “THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could” (Poe). All he tells us about his past is how many times Fortunato has hurt him. This could also be very easily and exaggeration.