Montresor's Insanity In The Cask Of Amontillado

497 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Character analysis for montresor

In "The Cask of Amontillado," unreliable narrator Montresor describes his revenge on Fortunato during a carnival in Venice fifty years ago. Montresor doesn't like Fortunato on account of the thousands of injuries he has caused, injuries that he bears magnanimously (yes, that's sarcasm), but when Fortunato resorts to insult, Montresor vows revenge, a revenge which excludes punishment and a revenge which makes Fortunato completely aware of who's getting the revenge. Montresor is easily offended, jealous of Fortunato, and a little strange. His propensity for being offended stems from his insecurity, an insecurity that could lead him to invent a story about masterminding the perfect murder/revenge. His jealousy of Fortunato leads him to slant everything in the story to make Fortunato look stupid--his motley dress, his …show more content…

The story itself indicates Montresor lacks sanity and cannot be trusted. It's his insanity, however, that leads the reader to believe he is capable of such an act.
It's Carnival in Italy and good wine is at a premium. Montresor uses stratagem to lure Fortunato into his underground vaults to exact his revenge. Fortunato, ever so happy to display his wine wisdom, agrees to accompany Montresor into the catacombs to test the wine, hoping to expose Montresor as a fool, ironic considering Fortunato's wearing the fool's costume. When they reach the most remote area of the catacombs, they find a smaller crypt that is lined with human bones. From there, they see a recessed area, about four feet deep, three feet wide, and seven feet high. Fortunato continues into this crypt with Montresor's urging him into the smaller space. Poor Fortunato is so drunk that he is confused as Montresor chains him to the area. Fortunato is still asking for the

Show More
Related

  • Is Montresor Insane

    165 Words  | 1 Pages

    Montresor is insane because he is pleased by the sound of other people's misfortune, he says “ …. And then i heard the furious vibrations of the chain. The

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Hamlet And The Cask Of Amontillado

    965 Words  | 2 Pages

    Montresor is a man who feels pride in himself and in his family, so when Fortunato—an acquaintance of Montresor— “venture[s] upon insult,” Montresor “vow[s] revenge” against him (1). Montresor hastily decides that he must kill Fortunato, even though his use of the word “venture” implies that Fortunato had not yet insulted him, but nearly did. Montresor’s impulsive need for revenge causes him to formulate a plan to murder his acquaintance. He keeps Fortunato intoxicated by “presenting him…[with] wine,” he “fetter[s] him to the granite,” and he “plaster[s] up… [a wall of] new masonry” to trap Fortunato in the catacombs (39, 71, 89). All of these acts are signs that the need for revenge has made Fortunato insane. A person who has any sense of morals would not commit crimes such as Montresor’s. His impetuous decision to exact revenge caused him to lose his

    Read More

  • Cask of Amontillado Sequel

    887 Words  | 2 Pages

    Meanwhile as Fortunato was concocting his plan beneath the earth, Montressor was heading back to his house feeling slightly guilty about what he had done. “He insulted me, he made me to be less that I am, he had it coming.”, Montressor told himself reassuringly. But that did not erase the ominous tone he now felt in the vaults. Something was not quite right since he pushed that last brick into place in Fortunato’s tomb. Shaking the feeling off as best as he could he reached the top of the catacombs and entered his home with a taste for the barrel of wine that he knew was Amontillado all along. After his drink he returned to his bedroom for the night and before he fell asleep he heard a small voice in his head saying that Fortunato was still alive and that he was coming for him.

    Read More

  • Edgar Allen Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado

    1039 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Edgar Allen Poe’s tale, the setting of Montresor’s catacombs provides Montresor with a place where he can kill Fortunato with almost no evidence on who killed him, helping his attempt at making the perfect crime. The catacombs in “The Cask of Amontillado” are old with spider webs as well as “long walls of piled skeletons, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost rec...

    Read More

  • The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor made up in his mind that he would carry out his act of revenge on Fortunato. Whatever offense Fortunato committed against Montresor drove him to the brink. The hatred inside was somewhat poetic. Montresor schemed to every detail how to carry out his revenge. The setting of the story is a dark, gloomy night at a celebration during carnival season. Montresor would be detailed in describing the monetary status of his enemy, his wardrobe or costume he wore to the celebration. He would set the mood as cheerful. Despite the ill feelings he has towards the now drunken Fortunato, Montresor pretends to care for his company to lure him towards his cunning plan. He strokes Fortunato’s ego and his love for wine to draw him towards the cellar. The dark, damp halls, the claustrophobia, and the human skeletons lying about the earth were all a foreshadowing of Motresor’s plan for the drunken Fortunato. It enhanced suspense to the story, building up to the climax which would be Fortunato entering into his grave. As they further enter the hal...

    Read More

  • The Revenge of the Cask of Amontillado

    1274 Words  | 3 Pages

    The author introduces the readers to the narrator who is known as Montresor when he is talking to an unknown audience. In the course of the discussion with the unknown audience, Montresor attests to the fact that Fortunato, who is a close friend of his has morally insulted. Due to the moral insult labeled against him, Montresor intends to revenge. “Part of Montresor's vengeance plan, however, is to ensure that he does not expose himself neither to Fortunato nor to the society at large” (Johnson et.al, 8). To this effect, he does not let open the ill feelings that he harbors against Fortunato. Montresor asserts to the fact that he would consider his vengeance plan a failure if at all Fortunato found out and exerted revenge. That notwithstanding though, he says that he would let Fortunato know that he is the mastermind of all his misfortunes when he will be satisfied that his vengeance plan will not backfire.

    Read More

  • Montresor Character Analysis Essay

    431 Words  | 1 Pages

    Have you ever met someone so clever, determined, and cruel to leave a man to die over an insult? Montresor is the perfect example of these character traits. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor uses all of these character traits to get revenge on Fortunado for insulting his family name. Montresor’s clever planning, determination for revenge, and cruel murder are the perfect combination for his unequaled revenge.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Yellow Wallpaper And Cask Of Amontillado

    1420 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the Cask of Amontillado, our narrator’s situation is one he is quite happy being in. Our narrator is Montresor, an Italian man rich with pride, and you quickly learn through his narration that he is intelligent, conniving, and extremely sinister. Throughout the story, everything Montresor does is motivated by one thing, his own thirst for vengeance. Montresor explains his actions are a result of Fortunato constantly abusing him and finally going too far, but he never explains anything Fortunato has done to insult him. When we meet Fortunato, he is extremely friendly towards Montresor, albeit a little intoxicated, so much that he makes Montresor’s story of “a thousand injuries” seem unbelievable (Cask 1). Compared to Gilman’s narrator whose spiral out of control was triggered by her forced seclusion from the outside world, it seems that Montresor’s insanity come from inside his own head. There is no evidence that suggest any attempts by Fortunato to belittle or insult Montresor in any way. I believe that Montresor may have been jealous of Fortunato’s success in life, and that is what drove him to vengeance. For example, on their way to the catacombs Fortunato makes a hand gesture of the Masons, a secret brotherhood, which Montresor doesn’t understand. Fortunato ask if Montresor is a Mason and for him to prove it, and Montresor lies and shows his trowel (Cask 5). This proves that

    Read More

  • Importance of Setting in The Cask of Amontillado and Hills Like White Elephants

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    Clearly, Fortunato is intoxicated because he is having a merry time at the carnival. Upon meeting, Montressor takes advantage of Fortunato’s excessive drinking in that he will be taking revenge on Fortunato on that night. Therefore, the carnival setting emphasizes on the theme of revenge. Montressor takes benefit from the catacombs setting, where he uses deception against Fortunato:

    Read More

  • The Cask Of Amontillado Essay

    1348 Words  | 3 Pages

    In her article, Renee utters that when the thought of vengeance build up in an individual’s brain, it coerces him insane and does not tolerate him to present it a second thought. The first sentence of the story, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge,” clearly describes the whole theme of the story as a deeply enrooted revenge in Montresor’s mind” which is an absolute portrayal of retribution that occurs due to arrogance and jealousy. Author sees himself as a superior individual and was victimized by a superiority complex which is quite visible through the phrases which he wrote in the story that Montressor expresses superiority as showed his victim as a foolish person by attributing weird physical appearance and dress appearance in which he described his dress code of “tight fitting parti striped dress and head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.”

    Read More

  • Comparing the Narration of The Cask of Amontillado and The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe

    1322 Words  | 3 Pages

    In "Cask of Amontillado", Montresor is the narrator. "The thousand of injuries of Fortunato he has borne as he best could; but when he ventures upon insult, Montresor vows revenge" (Poe 528). As the story unfolds, "Montresor's idea of perfect revenge" is "characteristically precise and logical in detail" as to how he commits his crime (Delaney 1).

    Read More

  • Theme Of Conscience In The Cask Of Amontillado

    768 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “The Cask of Amontillado” Fortunato meets his untimely death in the hands of Montresor. Some may argue that Montresor is insane for why he murdered his friend, but it can be argued that he fits the build of being sane. Sanity is defined as “the condition of being based on reason or good judgement” (“sanity”). A sane murderer Montresor in “The Cask of Amontillado” models the characteristics of a sane murderer by portraying a motive, plan, and conscience.

    Read More

  • The Theme of Revenge in “The Cask of Amontillado”

    1638 Words  | 4 Pages

    The theme of revenge in “The Cask of Amontillado” is the driving force for the entire short story. The main character, Montresor, vows to take revenge against the other main character, Fortunato, because of an “insult” that Fortunato has apparently made against Montresor (Baraban). This is evident in the opening line of the short story when the narrator Montresor states, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge (Poe 1612). This opening line makes it obvious that the insult is what directly led to Montresor’s insatiable desire for revenge, but there are also some underlying factors that could have indirectly led to this revenge as well.

    Read More

  • Theme Of The Tell Tale Heart And The Cask Of Amontillado

    1030 Words  | 3 Pages

    Unlike “The Tell Tale Heart” were the narrator loved the old man just hated his eye, the narrator of “The Cask of Amontillado” hated Fortunato but did things that make it look like he loved him. Montresor approaches Fortunato with claiming to have acquired something that could pass for Amontillado. Here Montresor may seem like he is being nice but he really just using Fortunato’s love for wine against him. As they went through the catacombs Montresor gave Fortunato enough wine so that he would be drunk and would be oblivious of what was happening as they went deeper and deeper into the catacombs. Fortunato never expected this to be the plan but just as a simple act of kindness from Montresor. As mentioned in the introduction of this paper the narrator of this story wanted revenge. Why does the Montresor want revenge? Well it is mention in the story on page three “THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” but never gives us a full reason just that Fortunato insulted the Montresor in some

    Read More

  • Montresor

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story begins with Montresor’s monologue, explaining why he wants to take revenge on Fortunado, actually a friend of him. “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge”. Although the writer doesn’t give the detail explanation of what, on earth, Fortunato did by the “thousand injuries”, we can still feel the anger of Montresor, burning in his mind. He wants to revenge, using his own way. “It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. 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.” He knew Fortunato’s characteristics well, including the weak point. That is how he did the whole revenge.

    Read More

More about Montresor's Insanity In The Cask Of Amontillado

Open Document