The Sanity within The Cask of Amontillado
Is Montressor sane? In the story by Edgar Allen Poe, "The Cask of
Amontillado," the narrator, Montressor premeditates the murder of
Fortunato from vowing revenge to having the tools in the catacombs
ready and waiting. When Montressor and Fortunato reach the end of the
catacombs, Montressor continues with his plan and walls Fortunato into
the catacombs returning the previous skeleton to its rightful place.
At the end of the story, Montressor feels guilty as he tells the story
of what happened fifty years prior and tells Fortunato to rest in
peace. By vowing revenge, methodically planning and following through
with such a meticulous plan, and the feelings of guilt and remorse
fifty years after the fact, Montressor shows that he planned the
murder step by step, and proves that he is sane.
Montressor premeditates the murder from vowing revenge to having the
tools in the catacombs ready and waiting. Montressor vows revenge, but
not just revenge, he vows that at length he will be avenged.
Montressor states, "That neither by word nor deed had I given
Fortunato cause to doubt my good-will (Poe 563)." Montressor shows
with this statement that he has the capability of knowing what he has
premeditated is wrong. Montressor waits to get revenge during the
madness of the carnival, a time when it is likely neither will be
missed from the festivities. When Montressor meets Fortunato in the
palazzo, he tells of the Amontillado he has received, and that he has
his doubts on the genuineness. Montressor knows that Fortunato is a
wine connoisseur and will be intrigued at the thought of Amontillado
being so near. Montressor tells Fortunato that since he is otherwise
engaged in the ...
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...n. "The Cask of Amontillado." Literature: An
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Reynolds, David S. "Sources and Analogues of 'The Cask of
Amontillado.'" From "Poe's Art of Transformation: 'The Cask of
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Literature: An Introduction to Readingand Writing. Ed. Edgar V.
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Thompson, G.R. "The Narrator of 'The Cask of Amontillado' and 'The
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Summary: The story begins with Montresor, the narrator, saying how he had been injured by Fortunato “thousands” of times, but when he was insulted by him, he wanted revenge. He decided to use Fortunato’s weak point, fine wines, against him, since Fortunato prided himself on his connoisseurship of wine. So, one day during the carnival season, Montresor sees Fortunato and tells him that he has a pipe of what he believes is Amontillado and would like him to come try it to see if it is. Montresor tells him that if he is busy or his cough is too bad, he can ask Luchresi, but Fortunato says that “Luchresi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry,” and he will be able to go. They start out for Montresor’s house since the wine is in the vaults of his house. None of the servants are home since it is the carnival season and Montresor gave them off and told them not to come back until the morning; so he could get his revenge without them knowing. As they walk through the catacombs, Fortunato’s cough gets worse and worse and Montresor repeatedly asks him if he wants to go back, but Fortunato refuses. Montresor also keeps giving Fortunato more alcohol as they continue to walk through the labrynthic catacombs to get him drunk. When they finally got to the wine, Fortunato began to drink it and as he did, Montresor began to build a brick wall at the entrance to the niche. After he finished the first tier though, he noticed that Fortunato wasn’t as drunk as he though he would be. He began to speed up and built up the wall more and more until he was almost done and Fortunato got to the wall. Fortunato took it as a joke and told him to take it down, but he didn’t and kept going until he had only one more brick to put in. At this point, Montresor tossed the torch in and put the last brick in.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “ The Cask Of Amontillado.” Heritage Of American Literature .Ed. james E. Miller.Vol.2.Austin:Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,1991.20.Print.
The short story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edger Allan Poe, is based on Montresor taking revenge on his old friend Fortunato. The play holds many literary elements that connects to the life of the author as well. It is clear in the short story that the author placed his emotions and personal touch to the aspects of the story and the scenery. Some of the elements in the play that are detailed are; foreshadow, hyperbole, and metaphor. The death of Fortunato is foreshadowed in his eagerness to get the wine and in his cough. The latter matches with Poe’s life with the deaths of both his mother and wife to pneumonia. Furthermore, hyperbole comes in as the narrator speaks about the thousand insults that Fortunato has pronounced over him. This as well can be compared to Poe, as he was an editor during his time and may have been criticized for his work also. Moreover, metaphor is used in stating the drunken look that Fortunato is depicted as having during the trip. This may be a comparison to the drunkenness of Poe himself. Every author places their own experiences into their work to make it more believable, or to give more of a draw to the audience.
In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Poe concocts what seems to be a perfect revenge, even though towards the fulfillment of the master plan Montresor (the main character) may have a bit of guilt about the ordeal. Montresor’s plan is an intricate one. Knowing that Fortunato is a connoisseur of fine wines he offers to taste test some while Fortunato is at a carnival. He also offers for Fortunato to stay at the carnival but that he would present the offer to his rival. Hearing this Fortunato exclaims that his rival would know Amontillado for Sherry and hastens to taste the wine. Using Fortunato’s love of wine against him Montresor leads Fortunato into Montresor’s family catacombs. Throughout the story Montresor gives Fortunato a chance to return to the carnival. Each time Fortunato declines and ask to press forward.
In the story, “The Cask of Amontillado”, Edgar Allen uses many writing styles but the most commonly used style in this story is the use of irony. Since this short story is a complicating story to understand reading the first time, I believe the writer made a good choice to use irony to express characters individual's feelings and thoughts, mainly Montresor. In the beginning of the story, Montresor, the narrator of the story, explains his intentions to murder Fortunato, a guilty person who hurt him. This automatically creates a dramatic irony, for the reason that the reader now knows more than the character. An example of this is shown in the fifth paragraph. “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met,” (Paragraph 5). This statement is a type
If proceeding in a cold dark cask, surrounded by the mysterious thoughts of the antagonist, and learning a dark side of a character is an ideal increasing horror story mood, “The Cask of Amontillado,” by Edgar Allen Poe descriptively brings the imagery to life. The story event pours some devastating news about when two ‘friendships’ die in a horrible revenge full of a dying protagonist. Both characters, Montresor and Fortunato emphasize their personalities from a journey of a drunk or someone who loves revenge. Poe’s first person point of view, characterization and setting in “The Cask of Amontillado” creates the mood of a horror story.
Edgar Allen Poe is known for his exceptional works in writing, one of his particular short story named “The cask of Amontillado” is a true contemporary master piece. The settings that take place in this short story are brilliantly dark descriptions of scenery, that all set the tone of madness and revenge. The settings of “the cask of amontillado” plays a very large role in the story, from the central point of this story guiding the setting changes, to the setting of the crypt that shows a lot of insight into Montresor’s character, and the symbolism that the setting of the crypt represents.
“The Cask of Amontillado” written by Edgar Allan Poe, takes place during carnival in Italy. The reader can figure out that it is in Italy because of the Italian names of the characters. Based on the description of the character’s costumes and the type of the language that they speak, the reader can assume that the story was in the renaissance era. Catacombs, where the characters’ journey takes place, can even be considered as a character. It is damp and dark and it is apart from the rest of the society. No one can hears Fortunato’s screams and also no one can realizes what was happened down there for fifty years until the time that Montresor confesses in his dead bed. Montresor commits the crime
In Author Edgar Allan Poe's story, "The Cask of Amontillado", the main character, Montresor, is determined to seek his revenge on his fellow friend Fortunado due to his rude remarks towards him. Montresor comes up with a very treacherous and sneaky plan in which he would strategically bump into Fortunado at the carnival. After this, Montresor would lower Fortunado into his house, take him down to the catacombs, and then bury him alive in one of the caves, no mercy would be had for him. This story is rather sinister in the way it is portrayed, tying in the themes of honor and revenge. Montresor never really tells the reader what insults Fortunado told against him, but it is made quite obvious that Montresor is engulfed into seeking revenge against
In the short horror story “The Cask of Amontillado,” Edgar Allan Poe exhibits demonic evil, the evil of harming others for enjoyment and pleasure of their pain, through the character Montresor. Fifty years after the events occur, Montresor informs the readers of his descent with Fortunato into his family’s catacombs, leading Fortunato to what he anticipates is a cask of Amontillado—but what is actually his death. Montresor is the embodiment of humanity’s malevolence for he takes it upon himself to chain his “friend” to a wall in the catacombs. Throughout his text, Poe exemplifies demonic evil with the use of irony and first-person narration; he instills horror into readers by bringing to light to the evil in the world.First person narration allows the reader to witness Montresor’s demonic nature through his pleasure in killing Fortunato and his lack of guilt in doing so.
Edgar Allen Poe’s gruesomely fascinating tale of vengeance and murder, “The Cask of Amontillado”, achieves its effect only through its usage of the first person point of view. This unusual perspective enables the reader to view the characters and conflicts through the eyes of the narrator, as he first discusses and justifies, and eventually, carries out his plans for the ruthless murder of his friend. The eerie tone and disorienting and materialistically-related setting of the story contribute to its theme of defending one’s honor and name and avenging all wrongdoings, even something so small as an insult.
Jason Voorhees, Freddy Kruger, and Michael Myers. Demonic Possession, Ghost, and Aliens. All of these people and things are associated with one thing nowadays. The horror genre. It was always like that though. Horror wasn’t based off of slashing someone to pieces, or turning a corner and something pops out making you jump. What about the genre of horror in writing? Who would be considered the forerunner in horror writing? Today a lot of people would probably name Stephen King for that, and would probably place the book “It” at the top of the list for best horror writings of all time, while a few would give mention to Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar Allan Poe was an American author in the early 1800’s. While he has written so many poems and short stories, arguably his most famous one to date is “The Raven.” Even The Simpsons have made a spin-off episode of it for their Treehouse of Horror Series.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Cask of Amontillado.” The Norton Anthology: American Literature. Ed. Wayne Franklin, Philip F. Gurpa, Arnold Krupat. New York: Norton, 2007. 1612-1613, 1616. Print.
In this short story “The Cask Of Amontillado” I think that there is a lesson and that lesson is be careful who you trust and don’t let what you love kill you. Edgar Allan Poe shows that what you love can kill you and the people you know and may trust my not be the ones that you should trust after all.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “That Cask of Amontillado.” Ibiblio. U of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.d.