Edger Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado” talks about how Montressor feels like he was insulted by his friend Fortunato. Also Montressor’s family motto is “Nemo me impune lacessit.”(Allan Poe 362), which means “No one insults me with impunity.”, and Montressor doesn’t want to let his family motto down so he uses it as a reason and make his revenge on Fortunato as a goal that has to be accomplished. Montressor tricks his friend Fortunato which was drunk at the moment, by asking him to follow him to his house and to check an expensive wine that he just purchased to be sure that he didn’t get tricked. Fortunato follows Montressor to his house and went down to the down stairs of Montressor’s house. When they get to the catacombs, Montressor chains up Fortunato and places him in a niche in the wall, and started to build a brick wall leaving him sealed inside to die in the catacombs. …show more content…
I personally disagree with May’s hypothesis; Montressor isn’t ashamed of what he has done, but he seems to be proud of the way his plans went, and how he got away with it.
Due to the way he’s narrating the story, making himself look smart and a great mastermind of a great plan. I personally doubt that he was confessing his sins to a priest.
I grew up in an Orthodox church which was very strict, but as I grew up in the church they taught us as long as we repent for our sins that we have committed and don’t repeat them we can be forgiven. So I can say that if Montressor was truly confessing his sins to a priest, then I think that Montressor’s sins must receive forgiveness because it said in the bible: “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” (1 john 1:19). That’s only if he was truly repenting from his mistakes that he had done in the
past. Montressor doesn’t show remorse for his action because he is proud of what he has taken revenge for himself and his family. He is also fulfilling the motto of his family which is “No one assails me without impunity.”(Allan Poe 362). And at the first paragraph Montressor mentions how Fortunato insulted him, “He ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.”(Allan Poe 360). Due to that insult which I think is probably something small, because Montressor didn’t include what happen that makes him feel insulted by Fortunato, so Montressor’s determination on taking action were to maximum limit where he finds it necessary to take revenge upon Fortunato. The one thing that I keep thinking of whom Montressor might be telling his story to would be his grandchildren; I think that Montressor is narrating his story of how he killed Fortunato, so he can teach his grandchildren to not make any one insult them without punishment. So that way Montressor keep his family motto alive and get passed from one generation to the other.
Montresor’s way of revenge is a very slow, painful, and terrifying homicide. As the story tells of Montresor’s planning for his revenge, it makes clear that Montresor knew that this form of murder would be very slow and inhumane. As Montresor tells it, “I found the stones which earlier I had taken down from the wall." (Poe p.71) This quote reveals that Montresor had already taken down this wall in order to trap Fortunado in this room to kill him. Montresor had a very twisted way of getting his revenge.
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 the Cask of Amontillado, our narrator’s situation is one he is quite happy being in. Our narrator is Montresor, an Italian man rich with pride, and you quickly learn through his narration that he is intelligent, conniving, and extremely sinister. Throughout the story, everything Montresor does is motivated by one thing, his own thirst for vengeance. Montresor explains his actions are a result of Fortunato constantly abusing him and finally going too far, but he never explains anything Fortunato has done to insult him. When we meet Fortunato, he is extremely friendly towards Montresor, albeit a little intoxicated, so much that he makes Montresor’s story of “a thousand injuries” seem unbelievable (Cask 1). Compared to Gilman’s narrator whose spiral out of control was triggered by her forced seclusion from the outside world, it seems that Montresor’s insanity come from inside his own head. There is no evidence that suggest any attempts by Fortunato to belittle or insult Montresor in any way. I believe that Montresor may have been jealous of Fortunato’s success in life, and that is what drove him to vengeance. For example, on their way to the catacombs Fortunato makes a hand gesture of the Masons, a secret brotherhood, which Montresor doesn’t understand. Fortunato ask if Montresor is a Mason and for him to prove it, and Montresor lies and shows his trowel (Cask 5). This proves that
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.
Montresor’s anger was probably sensed in the carnival by the people surrounding him and even if the carnival was meant to celebrate and enjoy a good time. There was no way Montresor would forgive and forget Fortunato.
In “The Cask of Amontillado”, written by Edgar Allan Poe, Fortunato is on the verge of discovering exactly what can happen when trust becomes scarce, even amongst those considered to be friends. Montresor outwardly appears friendly with Fortunato, deep down he feels nothing but hate for the other man. Both of these men are proud and opulent, and yet they both have a means of ruination that will eventually lead to tragedy. Edgar Allan Poe’s use of language amplifies and contorts the perception of the way that the two men react to each other due to the situation. Although the two men are perceived differently, they both want to satiate their desire for retribution.
Most readers would agree that Montressor, the protagonist in Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado", is mad to at least some degree. Is Montressor merely a twisted individual bent upon revenge or a man who lacks a superego? Assuming the latter is true, Fortunato was perhaps doomed for no reason discernable to someone possessing an ordered subconscious in which the superego assists the ego in policing the id. The injuries and insults visited by him upon Montressor might have been based on something so trivial as to confound the average man, or perhaps they existed only in the mind of the madman.
Fortunato “takes possession” of Montresor’s arm, for which he suffers (716) in order to carry out his plan. Poe’s use of possession and suffer give the impression that Montresor is being afflicted again by Fortunato. Once Montresor reveals this meeting at this evening is no coincidence by divulging he made sure none of his attendants would be home. By giving the direct orders to be home. Poe shows us that Montresor was not respected or feared by his servants’ actions. The servants’ leaving after being given a direct order to stay does give credence to the fact that Montresor must be very methodical and unyielding to his schedule. Only once Fortunato to the catacombs does he betray his own premise. Montresor refers to Fortunato as his “poor friend” (716). At this point Poe has depicted this instigator of a “thousand injuries” as a drunken jester that can barely catch his breath at this point in the story. Now Montresor is showing some sympathy towards him. At this point the transition is complete. Where the two men stopped at the entrance to Fortunato’s tomb, this is the moment that leaves no doubt that Montresor is the villain and Fortunato is the
Montresor do knows that Fortunato will not die of a cough, but from the dehydration and starvation in the crypt. Fortunato gives excuse as to his cough relates to his love of wine. The motto “nemo me impune lacessit,” which is, “no one attacks me with impunity” means that no one will be able to act against me without worry of punishment. The motto to Montresor has another meaning as that the circumstance must exist, so to support the motto and as Montresor has repeatedly been offended that his motto stands as a warning to others. Even though Montresor is having a revenge on Fortunato, but Fortunato still has no idea about and look into Montresor as a
Edgar A. Poe’s, “The Cask of Amontillado”, is a witty and daring tale based on revenge. The plot of it though is very simple. Montresor, who carries a grudge against Fortunato for an offense that is never explained, leads a drunken Fortunato through a series of chambers beneath his palazzo with the promise of a taste of Amontillado, a wine that Montresor has just purchased. When the two men reach the last underground chamber, Montresor chains Fortunato to the wall, builds a new wall to seal him in, and leaves him to die. After reading this short story I can’t stop but think that Fortunato has a really good reason to say, “It’s not fair. It’s not right.”
The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe describes how Montresor confesses the sequence of his well-designed or nearly flawless murder or revenge against Fortunato due to he is a threat to him. In his confession of a perfect crime, Montresor, who “vowed revenge” because of Fortunato’s “thousand injuries,” first say that his “heart grew sick” and then immediately add, “ it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so because he believes Fortunato insults him many times that his hatred against him become bigger and bigger. This makes him cannot stand for Fortunato’s behavior anymore as well as the setting completely makes everything prefect as he believes Fortunato deserves the punishment. The nature and family hold a significant role
Several times throughout the rest of the story, Montresor asks Fortunato if he would rather turn around and head back because of his cough that is getting more severe by the minute, but Fortunato says that they must continue on to the cask of Amontillado. Fortunato’s self-pride is so great that he will not admit or allow any physical weakness or impurity to affect his wine tasting ability. Knowing that, Montresor continues to lead Fortunato to the nonexistent cask of Amontillado, and ultimately to his death. “Proceed… Herein is the Amontillado” (239) Montresor exclaimed, pointing to the chamber that he was planning to bury Fortunato alive in. Fortunato then enters the chamber that supposedly contained the cask of Amontillado, while Montresor begins to build a stone wall enclosing Fortunato inside. It was at this point that the pride and the price of it are greatly shown. Montresor’s pride caused him to immorally commit a murder of his friend with very little thought. Fortunato’s pride caused him to not be able to recognize the effects that his insults may have on people, especially Montresor, and did not allow him to understand the cause of his own murder. This part of the short story really shows how pride can lead to your own downfall, whether it be drastically like Fortunato’s murder, or not as
Being a teenager is hard, sometimes it feels as if the entire world is fighting against you. Every day the world seems to bombard you with stress, and you become irritated, frustrated, and enraged. In Edgar Allen Poe’s, The Cask of Amontillado, depicts a madman driven by his desire to get revenge. This madman becomes obsessed with this want, and lets it override his thoughts. By examining teenager’s life, while in class, doing homework, and working in groups, one can see that a teenager must remain calm and take negative aspects of life with a grain of salt, rather than to overreact.
In this short story a man named Montresor takes revenge on his enemy Fortunato for insulting him. He uses Fortunato’s soft spot for alcohol to manipulate Fortunato into trusting him. Montresor leads Fortunato into the deep catacombs of his home, getting him more and more drunk the deeper they travel. Once the two men reach a chamber in the home of Montresor’s home, Montresor ties Fortunato to a wall and buries him alive. “ The thousand injuries of Fortunato [Montresor] had borne” were no match for the hate he had for Fortunato (The cask of Amontillado, 1). Edgar Allan Poe uses Irony as a literary device to show the theme of revenge. The irony of forgiveness and compassion shown by Montresor not only gives him more character, but emphasize how true the hatred is toward
He really means that he could not believe that he had just buried an innocent man alive in the catacombs, and when he heard the bells he had wished that he would not have committed a vicious murder. Montresor feels regret and maybe wishes that he did not commit murder or he thinks that he should be the one who is dead and not Fortunato. This is called displacement, where you want to take something horrible that you did and replace with something