The Cask of Amontillado, written by Edgar Allan Poe, is a chilling story about two men named Fortunato and Montresor. The story begins with a narrator voicing his anger and resentment towards a man named Fortunato for “a thousand injuries” and insults. Our narrator sees Fortunato and lures him down into his vaults, or “catacombs,” on the premise of verifying that some wine is a certain type. Fortunato was already drunk, and had a cold. Eventually, the men reach a crypt, and the narrator chains Fortunato to the wall. Not stopping there, the narrator begins to trap him in the hole by filling it with bricks. Fortunato is quiet, until the hole is nearly filled, when he screams and then tells the narrator that it was a good joke. The narrator’s name is revealed to be Montresor. Montresor calmly takes the last brick and prepares to slide it into place, but stops and listens. All he hears are the jingling of bells. Then Montresor puts in the last brick, hence sealing Fotunato’s fate. There is chilling irony woven all throughout The Cask of Amontillado. It isn’t until the end of the story that we discover the tale took place fifty years before. Montresor’s vile deed’s motivation can be largely attributed to social class, fulfilling what he considered to be “just retribution” for the unnamed insult that was given him by Fortunato.
According to Montresor, Fortunato committed “a thousand injuries” against him, but it was Fortunado’s insult against Montresor that fueled Montresor’s hatred enough to commit what is the ultimate crime against another person; the crime of death. The opening paragraph of The Cask of Amontillado says,
The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed reveng...
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...ll 2004): 47-62. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Vol. 111. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 May 2014. .
Benton, Richard P. "The Cask of Amontillado: Overview." Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Ed.
Noelle Watson. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994. Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 May 2014. .
“Fortune.” Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, LLC., N.d. Web. 4 May 2014. reference.com/browse/fortune?s=ts>. “Nemo me impune lacessit.” Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, Inc., N.d. Web. 4 May 2014.
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In Edgar Allen Poe’s, “A Cask of Amontillado” it is filled with symbolism, irony and the suggestion of good versus evil. The narrator of the story, Montresor, hides behind a mask, who is of a different world than others. Some might say that he is slick, diabolical, calculative man who is out for revenge with impunity. Being a descendant from a very powerful aristocratic family, Montresor could not possibly let Fortunato insult him with impunity. As his family motto states, “Nemo me impune lacessit,” which means, no one attacks me with impunity. He never states what Fortunato did to deserve the ultimate punishment. He only states, “ the thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge”
The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado are two stories written by Edgar Allen Poe in the 18th century. Both of these stories are primarily focused on the mysterious and dark ways of the narrator. Since these stories were written by the same author, they tend to have several similarities such as the mood and narrative, but they also have a few differences. For instance, the characteristics of both narrators are different, but both stories portray the same idea of the narrator being obsessive over a certain thing.
University of South Carolina Press, 1988. 152-154. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler. Vol. 8. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991. Literature Resource Center. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
When they arrive at the Montresor estate, Montresor leads Fortunato down the stairs into the catacombs. Down here is where the Amontillado Fortunato is going to taste and where the revenge of Montresor is going to take place. As he get closer and closer, the narrator opens up more and more to how he is going to kill his "friend". It sound like it is a premeditated murder. Montresor seems so inconspicuous that he acts like he cares about Fortunato which is still a part of his plan.
(Sept. 1976): 35-39. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Carol T. Gaffke. Vol. 26. Detroit:
By focusing on Fortunato, one can see how ignorance and greed can lead to physical death. He is a man who is “rich, respected, admired, [and] beloved.” With this social status, he prides himself on being the best wine connoisseur. So, when Montresor came to him to identify this wine of Amontillado, he boasted that only he could correctly distinguish if it is or not. This was his first sign of greed, because Montresor stated that another wine connoisseur, Luchesi, could identify the wine if he did not want to. Fortunato responded by saying, “Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry.” This statement shows how he believes that he is the best and that no other wine connoisseur can compare to his skills. His ignorance starts to show through his false exterior, and with Fortunato saying that he is the best, they venture down into the catacombs to see this precious wine. Now, even though the catacombs are where wine is usually kept, they go extraordinarily deep into them. Fortunato does not even notice the protr...
Wascana Review 21.1 (Spring 1986): 62-72. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anja Barnard and Anna Sheets-Nesbitt. Vol. 37. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. Literature Resource Center. Web. 6 Dec. 2011.
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...
Matuz, Cathy Falk, and Mary K. Gillis. Vol. 59. Detroit: Gale Research, 1990. 89-99. Free Library of Philadelphia. Gale. Literature Criticism Online. 5 May 2014
The story is narrated by Montresor and is told from his point of view. Such an occurrence is not new, but considering it is a tale of vengeance one must question the reliability of the narrator. From the tales beginning to end the audience discovers that the motivation behind the cold murder that takes place in the crypt is rather ambiguous. Montresor in the beginning claims, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (Poe, 108). Yet for such a bold statement Montresor does very little to illustrate the thousand injuries in question, nor the insult that serves as a tipping point. Everything the audience knows about Fortunato and his alleged actions comes from the mouth of Montresor, and there is no one else to verify these statements as true. “The Cask of Amontillado” is told by a biased narrator, and thus there should be skepticism revolving around the nobility of the crime committed. The story contains shocking elements of horror in Fortunato being buried in alive, but the true horror stems from the fact that it is unclear why he was punished at all. Justice is the ally of the righteous but the line between justice and raw vengeance is thin, this is made evident by the bias presented by
Thompson states, “He similarly shows confidence in the rightness of his action in his last words to Fortunato. Fortunato, desperate for his life, pleads, ‘For the love of God, Montresor!’ Montresor, with what must strike Fortunato as biting irony, replies, ‘Yes,... for the love of God!’. He is doing this ... not ‘For God and Country!’but for ..., "For God and family!"(555) This shows the irony of the situation. Fortunato expected this all to be a joke, but he soon realizes that it is not. This also shows the final example of poetic justice. Montresor commits murder for the love and the name of his family which Fortunato has disgraced.
Despite being urged against it several times; he ventures on willingly to his tomb. The warnings also serve another purpose; Montresor offers his prey a way out in exchange for Fortunato’s pride to be injured. Accepting the invitation of heading back would mean weakness, but possibly would have saved Fortunato’s life for losing his pride.
211-25. Rpt in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jenny Cromie. Vol 39 Farmington Hills: Gale, 2000. 181-185
When asked to sample wine, Fortunato eagerly wishes to do so for Montresor as a way to show off his skills in wine tasting. When the thought of another competitor, Luchresi, being chosen over Fortunato himself, it is enough willpower for Fortunato to happily lead to his own death. It is clear that his envious nature was a blindsiding factor to the evil plot that was unfolding against himself. His snide comment about “Luchresi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry” is evidence that he would rather die than have someone be considered more superior than his skill (Poe). Even as the sickness that is caused from the nitre that is completely covering the small cavern, Fortunato refuses to return for his own safety. This is a symbolic way to show that Fortunato chokes on his own jealousy within himself. “With the promise to taste a cask of extremely rare Amontillado sherry, Montresor lures Fortunato into the catacombs…” revealing this characteristic of jealousy was all Montresor had to do to entice Fortunato to follow him to his death (Sylvester). His envy is another factor that contributes to Fortunato’s overall personality of
To start, a very intense part in The Cask of Amontillado is when Montresor leads Fortunato deeper and deeper into the underground. We might ask ourselves, why would Fortunato follow him down there anyway? In the back of Fortunato’s mind, the best wine is kept below ground, so it almost makes sense to him. Yet, the readers see that something else might be going on. As they continue their journey, we recognize skulls and dead remains lying all around. Yet, it still does not affect Fortunato. We feel for him because as they go farther and farther, we are questioning what is actually going on, while Fortunato on the other hand has no clue and is completely oblivious to what he is getting himself into. In the Cask of Amontillado it reads, “I drink, to the buried that repose around us.” “And I to your long life.” The irony in those two lines that were shared was incredible. Montresor...