Why Is Montresor Important

This is the part that is shocking and morbid, even sadistic, to the average person. What strikes the reader the most is that Montressor, as he narrates his actions, still has the gall to call Fortunato his "friend," even as he builds the walls within which he is to trap Fortunato alive. The last time Montressor calls Fortunato his "friend" is the moment when he leads Fortunato straight to the "bait," which was the wine.

The first thing Montresor does like an expert is finding his victim’s weak point. As Montresor describes, “He had a weak point-Fortunato...He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine” (Poe 84). Because Montresor found out to Fortunato’s weakness, he was able to follow his plan more smoothly. Throughout the night, Montresor acts counterfeit towards Fortunato, tricking him into thinking they were friends. “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking today”(Poe 84). After this, Fortunato believes that they are friends and feels more comfortable around Montresor. ( add transition)

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

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.

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

Montresor teases Fortunato quite a few times while leading him deep into the catacombs. In the beginning of the story, Montresor tells Fortunato that he has purchased a wine called Amontillado but cannot be sure that it

Montresor does this by flattering and acting concerned about the health of Fortunato when really his only concern is killing Fortunato. While in the wine cellar, Montresor says to Fortunato, “Come, we will go back; your health is precious. 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. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchesi-.” Montresor does an excellent job of being Fortunatos’ friend and at the same time convinces him to continue drinking and telling him, “A draught of this Medoc will defend us from the damps.” Montresor was not trying to defend either one of them, his only purpose was to place Fortunato into a higher state of drunkenness. Montresor causes Fortunato to become so drunk that while he was being chained to the wall by Montresor, “He was too much astounded to resist.” “The Cask of Amontillado” is filled with many ironies and also life lessons; such as know who your real friends are. Fortunato thought his real friend was Montresor when, in reality, Montresor was anything but his friend. Not only did Montresor fake his sincerity towards Fortunato, he was also vengeful and very intelligent in his actions to kill Fortunato.

Another device used in this story is foreshadowing, in which we are given small hints throughout the story of Montresor’s heinous plot against his comrade. He gives Fortunato a classic fake out as he encounters Fortunato out on the town he fakes him out pretending to think Fortunato has a prior engagement he does this twice that he must be going somewhere later on and will not be able to see if he paid a good price for the wine Fortunato’s own eagerness seals his fate even more. This fakeout works two ways, if he is expected home by his family he will

In the Cask of Amontillado, Montresor, the protagonist of this story, has been wronged by Fortunato. Montresor feels very strongly about this transgression that Fortunato doesn’t recall. His revenged involved using one of Fortunato’s weaknesses against him. Fortunato boasted that he was a connoisseur of fine wines. One night, Montresor told him about a cask of Amontillado he had recently purchased that he wasn’t sure was genuine. Montresor then says that he was going to meet another friend named Luchesi, who could authenticate the wine. Fortunato in a drunken state, proclaims that they would go to Montresor’s vault which contained the Amontillado. Montresor attempts to convince him that his cough and cold might become worse being down in the cold, damp vaults with the niter. After insisting that he was fine, both men venture into the depths of Montresor’s family catacombs. After being in the catacombs for a short bit, Fortunato begins to cough and Montresor gives him a type of red wine to cover the cough and to continue to intoxicate him. Montresor’s family had a great deal of members and created a long walk. Fortunato asks what his coat of arms is and Montresor replies with their motto that is “No one assails me with impunity”. Fortunato begins to cough against and Montresor opens another bottle of wine, to which he empties it almost immediately. Fortunato then does a hand gesture that Montresor doesn’t understand. Fortunato says that you must not be of the brotherhood of

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

After a couple of drinks Montresor warns Fortunato about the danger of consuming this wine because of the high levels of nitre that it has, foreshadowing for the audience, telling us the venom Fortunato is consuming. When Fortunato starts to feel bad Montresor offers him a drink to make him feel better, this is not an act of sympathy, it's just to keep Fortunato alive until his burial ground; and also to keep the audience waiting for the action to come.

For example, when Fortunato says he will not die of a cough, Montresor knowingly replies, “True, true.” When Fortunato drinks a toast to the dead lying in the catacombs around them, Montresor ironically drinks to Fortunato's long life. When Fortunato makes a gesture indicating that he is a member of the secret society of Masons, Montresor claims that he is also and proves it by revealing a trowel, the sign of his plot to wall up Fortunato.”(May) Montresor offers De Grave, a wine, to Fortunato; at one point, Fortunato makes an elaborate and —to the narrator's eyes —grotesque gesture with an upraised wine bottle. When Montresor appears not to recognize the gesture, Fortunato asks, "You are not of the masons?" Montresor says he is, and when Fortunato, disbelieving, requests a sign, Montresor displays a trowel he had been hiding.

Montresor gave him a bottle of De Grave, which Fortunato emptied and then tossed the bottle into the air with a definite symbolic gesture. At this point, Fortunato was sure that Montresor didn't understand the gesture because it belonged to the secret order of the Masons, an order that Fortunato was certain that Montresor couldn't belong to, thus hitting Montresor another insult and, unsuspectingly, bringing Fortunato closer to his death. Fortunato then showed him another sign of the masons; a trowel, which he brought with him. This is, of course, a double irony since the trowel is not only an instrument used by real masons, but it is one of the emblems of the Masonic Order, and in this case it will become a tool used in the demise of Fortunato. Fortunato implies that Montresor is not worthy enough to be a member of the Masonic Order. Little does Fortunato knows, in a few moments, Montresor will become a Master Mason.

As they walk into Montresor’s damp vaults to get the wine, it is apparent that the narrator sent all his servants to the carnival to guarantee that only he and Fortunato were at the vaults at the time. After Fortunato is heavily intoxicated with wine, Montresor ceases his moment and chains him up to a stone wall, and finally buries him alive. From the moment the two get

The masons were a group of nobles and social elites with high ranks in the society joined together by their common need to influence decisions and policy making in the society, performing in a sort of oligarchy. Montresor could not identify the gesture made by Fortunato because he was not as involved in the politics of his peers as he ought to be in order to maintain his social standing in the society. This proves why Fortunato was quick to assume that he was unaware of the inner workings of the masonry