“The Cask of Amontillado” is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. This story is about a man who commits murder because he was insulted. The saying, “Revenge is a dish best served cold” means that revenge is best served not fresh after the insult occurred, but after enough time has passed so that the target won 't see it coming. Montresor is the man in this story who is repeatedly getting offended by a so-called “friend” named Fortunato. Montresor has had enough of the insults and wants to plot revenge against Fortunato. Montresor knows he must have a thought out plan and in no way can anyone catch him. Montresors wrath towards Fortunato is so strong it drives him to make sure Fortunato suffers. He is cold hearted wanting vengeance and is ready …show more content…
One who is full of wrath towards a “friend” and is seeking revenge, another who is prideful and has gluttony over wine. Fortunato knows his wine as far as the year, the fragrance it has and the different qualities of the wine. He is always insulting Montresor saying he knew nothing about wine like he does. Montresor wants to plan revenge against Fortunato for every insult he has said to him and it being carnival time he sees it’s the perfect time to do so. He must be smart and have a well thought out plan. He sees that Fortunato is prideful he uses that against him by luring him into his homes catacomb. He also sees his gluttony over wine leading him to trick Fortunato knowing he’ll follow him into Montresors catacomb to have him try some fancy wine called “Amontillado” which in the end is never there.
“Revenge is a dish best served cold” is a quote that best suits Montresor and his revenge plan. The kind of revenge he is seeking you must be cold hearted and smart. He did not immediately get back at Fortunato for insulting him countless times he took his time. He continues to be “friendly” to Fortunato smiling in his face waiting for an opportunity to get back at him and when it came it was at carnival. He sees Fortunato drunk, clowning around as well as the servants and the whole town. He figures this is the best time to make his revenge since no one will even notice Fortunato’s
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Montresor is able to say he has a new batch of wine but isn’t sure it’s the real thing called “Amontillado.” Telling Fortunato how smart and knowledgeable he is, certainly you can tell me if it’s the real thing or not. Knowing Fortunato’s weakness Montresor ends up luring him into the catacombs in search of this new wine knowing there isn’t any. Seeing how cold-blooded Montresor is he lures Fortunato who is drunk into the catacombs. The niche on the walls is basically a type of mold that seems to affect people and can give you a bad cough. Fortunato having a bad cough already the niche on the walls makes him even more ill. Montresor begins explaining the moisture on the walls and the bones that are laid out thinking this may scare Fortunato but he proceeds on to look for the
Montresor must trick and manipulate Fortunato to accomplish his goal of revenge. He tells Fortunato the reason he is at the ...
He gives very little information about Fortunato, past that he is a wine connoisseur. There is no mention of what Fortunato does for leisure, his family, or even his job. In fact, the only details the reader receives on Fortunato paint him as a fool, with his costume, his drunken attitude, and obliviousness Montresor is focuses on the facts that make Fortunato look bad; he not only wants Fortunato dead but he also wants Fortunato’s name discredited. Montresor tells the reader even less about himself because there is no background to who Montresor is, what he does, or even what kind of contact he has with Fortunato. The only true details of Montresor that are given must be implied and give a sense of intelligence. In addition, he gives little to no details about the carnival, such as where it was, why the carnival was happening, or even why he chose this particular day to enact his plan. From these details, or lack of details, it seems Montresor doesn’t want his audience to know this information. The audience is supposed to simply look at Fortunato a fool and Montresor a genius, the harbinger of death. The facts such as who these people were, the time, or the setting are not important to Montresor’s focus in the
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
In Edger Allen Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado the narrator, Montresor, seeks revenge against his friend Fortunato who he claims had cause him many injuries. The story takes place during carnival time and many are celebrating even Fortunato who was dressed as a clown and wore a colorful hat with bells. Fortunato had been drinking which made him even less aware of any sort of plot against him. Montresor lures him into his wine vaults and easily chains him to a wall deep inside a small crypt. Fortunato is too drunk to even comprehend what is happening or even resist. Finally Montresor builds a stone wall confining Fortunato inside to die. In the story we can distinguish many notable characteristics of Montresor. He may be perceived as heatless or even bit psychotic. We can learn about his personality through his motives and actions as the story progresses.
Montresor takes full advantage of the fact that Fortunato has a soft spot for fine wines. Montresor seeing that the only opportunity that he would have to exert revenge would be when wine is to be drunk in surplus decides to wait until the Carnival Season. We are told of one evening during the season when Montresor invites Fortunato over to his place. The major reason for the invite is to have Fortunato taste a sample of sherry that he had acquired to ascertain if the s...
He uses the precise and cunning tactics to seek revenge against his acquaintance, Fortunato, but wishes to do so in a clever way that he will not get caught. He tells Fortunato that he has obtained a wine that could be Amontillado, but he does not invite Fortunato into his home. He knows Fortunato would never pass up an opportunity to test his intelligence knowledge of wine. By that way, Montresor can complete his plan without putting himself responsible.
Unacceptable insults of Fortunato, apparently seemed it was the motivation of retaliation “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best as could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge (1 – 2).” That was the beginning sentence of Montresor in The Cask of Amontillado story. In addition, it is a statement about the actual relation between Montresor and his friend. It does not reveal what exactly happen between the two friends, so no one can decide what Fortunato’s punishment is. The word ‘insult’ shows that Montresor has not been physically hurt. Probably the relationship has damage his honour. The term ‘borne’ implies that he probably has returned many of these injuries to immortalize the cycle of vengeance, though it indicates that he has merely endured them. However, now Fortunato has ventured upon insult, and Montresor takes this as a moral affront, punishable by death. “A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself as such to him who has done the wrong”(5-7). The revenge, that Montresor is going to follow, has to have two standards. First, it must not be repeated. This means the act of revenge has to be carefully planned to kill Fortunato, which would make it impossible for latter to punish him in return. Second, the person, who is going to punish, has to
In the short story "The Cask of Amontillado" a man that could possibly be insane seeks revenge on another man after being insulted. Montresor, being the one that was insulted conjures up a plan to get vengeance on Fortunato the man that insulted him so terribly. Montresor runs into Fortunato at a carnival purposely, he then mentions a unique rare wine named Amontillado. This rare wine attracts Fortunatos attention immediately and he becomes interested in this wines authenticity. Montresor teases Fortunato by mentioning Luchresi,implying that he didn't think of Fortunato first and was going to see Luchresi about the Amontillado. Fortunato insists that that he must try this wine and while doing so insults Luchresis' skills in wine judging. Montresor then invites Fortunato to try the wine in his "vaults" where the wine is kep...
Throughout the story, Montresor does not justify his reasons for committing murder. He does not disclose anything about the “thousand injuries” (250) done to him by Fortunato, nor does he even reveal the details of the supposed injuries that drove him to vow revenge. Montresor’s family motto, “nemo me impune lacessit” which means “no one insults me with impunity” (252), indicate that Montresor only killed Fortunato to protect his family’s
In response to “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, revenge can get the best of everyone. Like most individuals, I too have found myself once glaring from the sidelines annoyed. It takes a lot to make a calm person like myself resentful, but similar to Montresor, it is possible to become so aggravated that a revengeful plot begins to form.
Montresor meets his fake friend Fortunato and tells him about amontillado. Montresor had probably been humiliated or embarrassed by this jest, because he is angered once he lays eyes on him from a distance. Fortunato was wearing a jester outfit which makes him seem that he is not meant to be taken seriously. Once met he then manipulate Fortunato into following him into the catacombs of the montresor’s. Once in the catacomb, Montresor then precedes to tell Fortunato about his cough. Trying to lead Fortunato into thinking that he deeply cares about his health, but Fortunato not wanting Luchresi to come along he keep moving forward. While walking
Poe's, The Cask of Amontillado is a story about fear and revenge. The story begins with Montressor's vow of revenge, foreshadowing future actions. "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could; but when he ventured upon insult vowed revenge..." Montressor had to be sure not to raise suspicion of what he was going to do Fortunato. Montressor knew that Fortunato had a weakness that he could use towards his advantage.
While at the carnival, Montresor bought some of the finest Amontillado wine to use in his vengeful plan to murder Fortunato. He then meets his "friend," Fortunato. Fortunato is wearing "a tight fitting parti-striped dress and head is surmounted by the conical cap and bells" (Poe 528). By him wearing this outfit, makes it great for the narrator because he is going to make a fool out of Fortunato. Montresor is a manipulative person. He challenges Fortunato's connoisseurship on wine tasting and leads him to his family estate.
Montressor used the amontillado to get Fortunado to go to the catacomb. He uses the amontillado because he knows that Fortunado is a wine conessoir and he will not resist the urge to try the wine that he has not tasted before. Amontillado symbolizes pleasure, and Fortunato is willing to travel through a graveyard to get what he wants. The wine betrays him and the Amontillado signals his death. This is the most important lessons that can be learned by reading this story because Fortunado was lured into the catacomb because of his addiction to wine. If he was
The first indirect factor that could contribute to Montresor’s vengeful act, and thus the story’s theme of revenge, is the character of Montresor. Montresor tends to harbor feelings of resentment and has a hard time not taking things out of context (Womack). He also plans the murder of Fortunato in advance and devises it in such a way that he will not be caught. In killing Fortunato, Montreso...