Introduction
Edgar Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado is a short story about how Montresor and Fortunato turned on each other, resulting in a gruesome death. The central theme of the story is the human desire for revenge. The story is set in 19th-century Italy during a carnival event. Montresor begins the story by stating how he feels offended by the insults hurled at him by Fortunato and is baying for revenge but in a measured way.
Discussion
Montresor is so sensitive about other people’s remarks that he decides to go on a killing spree stating, “but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (Poe, 2021, p. 3). An insult initiates the murder as Montresor declares that the insult made him the judge, jury, and executioner (Elhefnawy, 2018). His pessimistic attitude gave him assurances that the servants would abscond duty after he left for the carnival. This was a perfect scenario as there would be no one to implicate him in Fortunato’s disappearance. Montresor’s use of insults as a spark to kill Fortunato offers readers an insight into the mind of a murderer, his thoughts, and motivations in performing the act.
Montresor leveraged Fortuna’s ambition to prove he was the best wine taster in Italy to lure him to the crypt. At the carnival, Montresor meets Fortunato and informs him about his most recent purchase: an Amontillado pipe. He, however, wants to get an expert opinion of the originality of the wine as Montessori. Montresor decides to lure Fortunato into a trap by suggesting he would seek an opinion from another expert, Luchesi, since he is busy (p. 4). Fortuna, blinded by the desire to prove himself as the best between him and Luchesi, sees this as a challenge and insists that he taste the wine (Saxton, 2017). His numerous attempts to get Fortunato to quit delving deeper into the crypt encouraged him not to give up for them to reach the wine. As Montresor and Fortunato descend deeper into the vaults covered by nitre, Fortunato’s cough illness continues to aggravate. Montresor leveraged Fortunato’s love for wine by offering him two wines, Medoc and De grave, as an antidote for the cold (Saxton, 2017). Fortunato became more inebriated and thus did not resist when Montresor was chaining him to the walls.
Montresor was well organized in his act, as he worked out all the finer details to avoid getting caught. He had found a crypt and placed bricks within the carnival vicinity to ensure easy accessibility to the crypt. When Fortunato reveals that he is a freemason by gestures, Montresor claims he was a member and proceeds to produce evidence of a trowel (Saxton, 2017). The trowel was the equipment used to seal the crypt with bricks. Montresor’s timing was perfect as he used the carnival as a disguise. When disappearing with Fortunato to the vault, he wore a black silk mask and thus could not be identified by any visitor as the aggressor. In the end, Montresor and Fortunato wander into the vaults until they reach a crypt with dead bodies decorating the walls. Fortunato steps inside and is restrained by Montresor, who immediately starts sealing the opening trapping him inside to death.
Conclusion
The essay analyzed Montresor’s actions that precipitated his revenge, his use of enemy weaknesses, and the organizational skills that enabled him to kill Fortunato. Montresor used Fortunato’s love for wine tasting to lure him into a death trap precipitated by insults. The story’s main subject is retribution, as Montresor organizes a plot to kill Fortunato as retaliation for an unspoken remark. Montresor’s actions demonstrate the extent humans are willing to go to get their revenge.
References
Elhefnawy, N. (2018). Edgar Allan Poe’s the cask Of Amontillado. The Explicator, 76(2), 103–105. Web.
Poe, E. A. (2021). The cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe. Beyond Books Hub.
Saxton, A. (2017). The devil’s in the details: A characterization of Montresor in Poe’s “the cask of Amontillado.” Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism, 10(1). Web.