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character analysis of the story the cask of amontillado
The theme of revenge in The Cask of Amontillado
theme of the cask of amontillado by poe
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Fortunato, Fortune's Fool Who was Fortune's Fool? The answer to that question would be Fortunato. Fortunato is a character in Edgar Allan Poe's short story, "The Cask of Amontillado." Fortunato has wronged Montresor, the narrator of "Cask." The reader can't trust Montresor because he is an unreliable narrator, so the reader can't say for a fact that Fortunato had wronged Montresor. Montresor then seeks revenge on Fortunato. During carnivale season, Fortunato is drinking all types of wine. Montresor knows Fortunato is drunk so he goes to Fortunato and tells him he has Amontillado. Fortunato wants the Amontillado so much, that he is willing to do anything for it, that leads him to his death. Montresor brought Fortunato into the catacombs, chained Fortunato to the wall, walled Fortunato up, and Fortunato was dead. Actually he wasn't dead right then and there. Montresor walled Fortunato up alive, so Fortunato can suffer much pain, then die, die a helpless man. Fortunato was a fun loving/outgoing, alcoholic, boastful/prideful man. Dressed as a jester at the carnivale, Fortunato was getting drunk. He drank and chatted with many people. Fortunato was a very fun-loving and outgoing man, ?He had a weak point- this Fortunato- although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared.? Montresor calls him respected, this shows that Fortunato was a man who many liked, making them respect him. The fear, as the reader might suspect, is that he prides himself too much in his knowledge of wine. Another fear, as the reader can assume, may be that he can get too outgoing. His drinking problems probably make him very distraught and obnoxious. Montresor knows that Fortunato is very outgoing, and that he aims and shoots fo... ... middle of paper ... ...haracteristics bring about Fortunato?s fortune. He was fortune?s fool. His fortunes catch up with him and lead to a bad consequence, Fortunato?s death. If Fortunato wasn?t so enthusiastic when it came to wines, he may have realized Montresor was going to do something bad. If Fortunato wasn?t an alcoholic, he wouldn?t have been drunk. If he wasn?t drunk, he may have known that Montresor was going to hurt him. Finally, if Fortunato wasn?t boastful and prideful, he wouldn?t have wronged Montresor at all. And if he never had done some sort of wrong to Montresor, he wouldn?t be dead. In summary, if Fortunato didn?t have those 3 characteristics, he wouldn?t be dead, and Montresor would have never said he had been ?wronged.? Unfortunately Fortunato was Fortune?s Fool. For his fortune favored him. Fortune was God?s gift to the fools, which is why fortune favors the fools.
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
Fortunato is a man with stature who is “rich, respected, admired” (Baym). Yet, Fortunato decides to wear a “tight- fitting parti-striped dress, and his head [is] surmounted by the conical cap and bells” for the carnival season (Baym ). In comparison, Montresor is darkly dressed as if a priest giving a funeral
Poe describes a change in Montresor, a dynamic character’s attitude, toward Fortunato, where in the beginning of the short story, “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor thought of Fortunato as a living thing but near the end he no longer had this thought. In the beginning of the short story, the author described Montresor’s point of view toward Fortunato as acquaintances, which makes the reader think Montresor wasn’t impacted deeply by the incident between him and his “friend”. According to Poe, my dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day!” (Poe, 2). In this quote, Poe conveys the relationship between Montresor and Fortunato. Montresor is considering Fortunato as a friend and greeting him. He also shows his underhandedness because later in the story his feelings change. By the end of the story Montresor’s point of view changed and had gone from compassionate to heartless. For example, after Montresor buried Fortunato alive he mimicked his “friends” screams. “I reechoed -- I aided -- I surpassed them in volume and in strength” (Poe, 6). Montresor had changed his attitude toward Fortunato by this point in the story, he was now only considering the man as nothing more than a sound in the wind.
Fortunato prided himself in being a connoisseur of fine wines. They were at a carnival and Fortunato approached Montressor at dusk, the madness of the carnival season. Fortunato was very drunk. Fortunato was dressed motley like a jester.
Fortunato exhibits extreme narcissism upon himself and fails to see the bigger picture going on around him. Montresor expended a great amount of time in thinking of a way to defeat his prey in his own world. His target had a weakness of lust for wine, in fact he, prided himself in his connoisseurship. Consequently, too much pride can be harmful according to Jessica Tracy, “hubristic pride is related to narcissistic traits like entitlement, arrogance, and egotism” all which Fortunato exemplified (Oprah). Montresor baited Fortunato into his pleasure “As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi” though we never meet Luchesi his character is of lesser rank when it comes to wine connoisseurship (Poe). Montresor was very clever in this quiet deed; he even took the time to provide many outs for Fortunato whether it was concern for his prey’s health or warnings of harsh conditions ahead. Drunk and prideful he could care less about his health during the cold trot through the vaults “The cold is merely nothing… and as for Luchesi, he cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado” thus his narcissistic ways are even selfish to his own temple (Poe). Fortunato ignores his plethora of coughs and implies to move forward while Montresor ensures him that his health is too precious but again triggers him saying Luchesi is in a
He did not show even by words that he is going to kill. Also, he did not let Fortunato to know that he intended any grudge against him “..neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will... He did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation (8-10).” One night while Fortunato was drunk, Montresor told him that he bought a barrel of wine called Amontillado “But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts (25).” He understood that Fortunato “prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine (12).” He attracted him to going to his house to check the drink by saying that he might invite Luchresi to do it, a seeming rival of Fortunato 's, instead “As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchresi. If any one has a critical turn it is he. He will tell me (37-38).” When they left, Montresor put on a mask and quickly took the way to his property. He was sure nobody could see them together on Fortunato 's last night. Moreover, Montresor completely knew Fortunato and used the knowledge versus him. He planned his deed carefully and carried it out slowly. It seems that Montresor anticipated his revenge with joy. While they traveled down the cavern, Montresor gives Fortunato many opportunities to leave. Fortunato looks weak against the niter, which is growing on the walls, and repeatedly coughs. Montresor commented on Fortunato 's health and asked
For all he knew, he was being invited to his friend’s place to grab a drink and sort their previous beef out. For both of the characters knew they used to not get along, but as Poe conveys his story, the readers is under the impression that Fortunato is ready to look past their quarrel but Montresor on the other hands, does not let go of arguments very well. When Fortunato arrives at Montresor’s door, he is greeted with a warm and friendly smile, little could he tell what was about to come of him. The reader assumes that Fortunato pretends like the past did not happen and allows Montresor to be so friendly, or so he thinks. In honor of the carnival that was happening this very same night, the two get a drink together, Fortunato more than Montresor. (Foy) Montresor offers him more and more wine. At this point, Fortunato is fairly intoxicated and is very gullible. He is offered some very rare wine by Montresor, and him being the wine lover he seems to be, is all in to get this special wine! Even up to his death, Fortunato seems to be a happy, go with the flow kind of person. He then realizes at the end, that he will be no more in the
As the story begins, Fortunato believes he and Montresor are friends or at the very least friendly. However, Montresor is secretly plotting Fortunato’s murder. Montresor believes that Fortunato has given a “thousand injuries” and it is not until he “insults” Montresor that Montresor springs into action. Unfortunately, it is never explained if these injuries and insults really happened or if they are a delusion. Montresor makes an unreliable narrator and one gets the feeling he suffers from a psychological disorder, such as delusional paranoid personality disorder. This disorder causes the victim to become obsessed with a delusion “involving a phenomenon that the person’s culture could conceivably regard as plausible.” They often believe “they have been injured by friends or strangers, and they tend to see other persons as enemies.” Montresor gives the impression he and Fortunato have known each other for an extended amount of time. Montresor knows more about Fortunato than Fortunato knows about Montresor; possibly because Fortunato is constantly drunk.
Montresor, fifty years after it happened, is confessing to the murder of his foe, Fortunato. He justifies his actions by saying that Fortunato caused him a thous...
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
...s a person who has a sagacious mind and his meticulousness leads to a successful murder. For example, the “vaults” where he chose to kill Fortanato, and that those ironic conversations that caused Fortanato fall into Montresor’s clutches. He also satirized Fortanato so much in this story, such as his favorite “Amontillado” and his dignity is his undoing. In contrast, Fortanato has a besotted mind, and his cockiness leads him to die. For example, he was not suspicious in the “vaults”, his envious of “Luchesi”, and his exorbitance in appreciating his connoisseurship, these all leads him to die at the end.
Vengeance and pride are fundamentally important to this short story. From the inception of the tale it is clear that the narrator is a proud, vindictive man; opening with, “the thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge,” the narrator immediately alerts the reader to the dark aspects of his own character. Because “insult” and not “the thousand injuries” caused the narrator to “vow” revenge, the reader can infer Montresor is prideful because, although he already had conflict with Fortunato, insult was what made the tense situation unbearable for Montresor––so much so that he vowed to take action. Use of the word “vow” is significant because it indicates that the grievance was meaningful in the mind of Montresor, allowing for the reader to more easily identify with the actions to be revealed throughout the course of the story; if the reader believes that Montresor was provoked in a profound way, ...
You were not to be found, and I was fearful of losing a bargain (Poe 332)”. This revels Montresor notices that Fortunato is not able to tell Amontillado from Sherry as he is a great wine-lover. When Montresor is coughing, Fortunato is trying to convince him to leave: “Come,” I said with decision, “ we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was”. This shows jealousy and kindness of Montresor against Fortunato at the same time that is quite sarcastic. From this perspective, Montresor envious all of the things that Fortunato has and who is not reconciled to someone surpass him in the status. He mistakenly feels that this is the injury created by Fortunato resulting in his revenge. Therefore, he blame on Fortunato for all fault that he should eradicate him as soon as possible before he become a threatening when it is too late to take any action. Additionally, he does not even regret his choice and believes everything he does is right. This is because he tries so hard to makes an effort to draw Fortunato to his trap and put down his vigilance simultaneously by
In the opening lines Montresor explains what Fortunato has done to him: ?he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge?(75. The next line Montresor explains that he did not threaten him back and he did not reply to the threats. It was not in Montresor?s nature to do return the threat, ?You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat?(75).
The major characteristics of the narrator and main character, Montresor, are anger, hatred, and revenge. In the story, he is angry with Fortunato because he believes that Fortunato has wronged and insulted him many times by saying, “thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could…he ventured upon insult…” (Poe). In addition, Montresor’s hatred for Fortunato goes so far that he believes he must kill Fortunato. He mentions this in the story as, “[y]ou, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat” (Poe). He seems to say that his soul is made of hatred and goes on to say he must give Fortunato the utmost punishment: death. Montresor even shows traits of revenge when he says, “…but when [Fortunato] ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” and “...I would be avenged…” (Poe). He is saying that he will get revenge on Fortunato, whom he is angry with and hates for being insulted by.