Montresor Personality

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Ruminations on the Psychological State and Personality of the Character Montresor

By examining his direct characterization, indirect characterization, morality, and type and function, it becomes clear that in “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, Poe is characterizing Montresor as a murderous, cold-hearted psychopath who demonstrates that true evil that people are capable of. The story is unfortunately lacking many physical details of Montresor. Nonetheless, there are several direct details given. For one, we know that Montresor is dressed in Carnival wear, with a black silk mask and roquelaure on. The black mask represents the facade of normality that Montresor hides behind during his daily life. Most people who interact with him would have no idea of the true person “behind the mask”. Montresor also informs the reader “I …show more content…

It is clear that Montresor really does not care about the Fortunato’s pained cries. However, he also remarks “There came forth in reply only a jingling of the bells. My heart grew sick on account of the dampness of the catacombs.” This seems to show at least a twinge of guilt on the part of Montresor. He may well be feeling guilt, but dismisses it as being caused by the dampness in order to carry on with the task at hand. This furthers his characterization as a cold-hearted psychopath. Montresor could best be described as a round, unchanging character. His motivation for killing Fortunato is said to be an insult that Fortunato had said or done to him. Through the end of the story, however, Fortunato seems to have no idea of what he has done to wrong Montresor, and shows no dislike toward him. Montresor never changes in his motivations over the course of the story, and succeeds in his goal of killing Fortunato. His unflinching devotion to murdering a man who may not even know what he has done wrong is a very disturbing aspect of Montresor, and is a major part of his

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