Unreliable narrator in “The Cask of Amontillado” drags attention to the reader. The fictional genre of this short story builds excitement for the theme that Montresor gets away with his crime but his soul is devoured. Poe’s use of an unreliable narrator in his short story successfully creates an anxious effect for his readers. Poe uses unreliable narrator to create suspense for the reader. The unreliable narrator makes the reader wonder what is actually going to happen. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor says, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could: but when ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (Poe 59). In this quote, the unreliable narrator effects the reader because of the expectancy of the revenge. They expect revenge but they do not know what kind of revenge to expect. The reader wonders why he wants the revenge. Balcarrel agrees that Montresor is going to get his revenge eventually. Balcarrel says, “He didn’t …show more content…
immediately get revenge. He fakely remained friends with Fortunato” (Balcarrel). This quote shows that Montresor is waiting for the perfect time to get his revenge. He does not want to rush it and Fortunato figure out what he is planning on doing. Since Montresor stays “friends” with him, Fortunato does not think anything of Montresor trying to get revenge. Montresor knows he wants revenge, and is taking his time to create the perfect one. The way Poe uses unreliable narrator makes his readers interested in what is going to happen. Using the unreliable narrator the reader wonders how Montresor actually feels. Montresor says, “My heart grew sick-on account of the dampness of the catacombs” (Poe 66). This display of unreliable narrator has an effect on the reader because the audience does not think he will feel the guilt of killing Fortunato. The quote shows that he is guilty but he does not want to show it. He has came up with an excuse for the way he was feeling to try to prove that he has no guilt. Benton’s thoughts support Montresor’s feelings with his action and words. Benton mentions, “Montresor’s narrating voice displays an inner satisfaction and a pride in reliving in the present the performance of a masterful trick in the past. He is so pleased with himself that he proudly exhibits every detail- every act,word, and gesture- of his treatment of Fortunato” (Benton par. 8). This piece of detail shows that Montresor is proud of his well thought-out revenge. He is delighted to see his hard work succeed. Montresor’s act against Fortunato makes him appreciative of himself that he actually thought all this through. Overall Montresor tries to hide the guilt but he is also very happy with how he went about doing everything. In “The Cask of Amontillado” Poe uses unreliable narrator to keep the reader questioning.
Poe’s way of incorporating unreliable narrator gets the reader thinking about what he is planning on doing. In the short story Montresor says, “There were no attendance at home; they had absconded to make merry in honor of the time” (Poe 61). This quote really shows his intent. The reader first questions why he makes everyone leave the house. The whole time he made Fortunato think he was coming to try Amontillado just for the rare taste of it. The assessment Baraban makes aids the theory that Montresor was making his revenge slick. Baraban states, “Far from being a mediocre murder, Montresor elaborates a sophisticated philosophy of revenge” (Baraban par. 3). This statement really helps show why Montresor would tell Fortunato nobody is home. He has had his thoughts plotted out for a while. He had taken his time to plan out a revenge that would not be obvious. Montresor knew exactly how he would get his revenge on
Fortunato. Unreliable narrator was used by Poe in “The Cask of Amontillado” to build an anxious effect for his readers throughout the story. Poe wants his readers to stay intrigued to his story. He wants them to keep questioning themselves about what is going to happen next. Overall unreliable narrator helps the reader remain interested in the story and makes Montresor seem brilliant with his planned out revenge without making Fortunato suspicious.
A main theme presented in “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is that Montresor shows obsession with the murder of fortunato. This is exemplified by Montresor’s precise planning, carefulness and slowness of speed in the process.
One of the most horrifying lines in the story is given by Montresor after Fortunato says, “I will not die of a cough” (Baym ). Montresor says, “True— true....” (Baym ). It seems that Montresor 's murder plot became subconsciously manifest in those two words. Dramatic irony is irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the story (“dramatic-irony”) and Poe uses this effectively in this story. For example, Montresor expresses concern about Fortunato and says, "Come, I said, with decision, we will go back; your health is
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” is a short psychological thriller. The murder of Fortunato haunts Montresor so greatly that he feels the compulsion to tell the story some fifty years after the fact. He appears to be in the late stages of life desperately attempting to remove the stain of murder from his mind. That it is still so fresh and rich in specifics is proof that it has plagued him, “Perhaps the most chilling aspect of reading Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ for the first time is not the gruesome tale that Montresor relates, but the sudden, unpredictable, understated revelation that the murder, recounted in its every lurid detail, occurred not yesterday or last week, but a full fifty years prior to the telling” (DiSanza).
In order to fully understand Poe’s use of the narrator the two previously mentioned stories must be summarized. "The Cask of Amontillado" is a tale about the narrator, Montresor, who desires to act revenge on his acquaintance Fortunato. He lures Fortunato into his basement in order for Fortunato to examine a rare wine called an Amontillado. While in the deep crypt Montresor offers Fortunato more and more wine so that by the time Fortunato gets to the area where the cask is kept he is heavily intoxicated. Montresor then chains Fortunato to a stone and begins to build a wall, trapping Fortunato inside the crypt to die while Fortunato screams and pleads for his life. Montresor, hearing his pleas for mercy and life, ignores them and continues to build the wall knowing that no one will ever find the body of the unfortunate Fortunato.
With a premeditated motive to commit such an act, the culprit, Montressor, thinks, constructs and orchestrates a presumed murder against his insulter, Fortunado. “Poe begins by describing, in characteristically precise and logical detail, Montresor’s (and Poe’s) idea of perfect revenge. At the same time, he needed to end his story by telling how his revenge had affected him. When Fortunatosays, “For the love of god, Montresor!” and Montresor repeats, “Yes, for the love of God,” Poe is indicating that Montresor is already experiencing the closure he sought”(Delaney 39) Unbeknownst why he wants retribution, or what it is that his victim has done to compel Montressor to kill him. What is given is a recount of the night under discussion.
"The Cask of Amontillado" is one of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest stories. In this story Poe introduces two central characters and unfolds a tale of horror and perversion. Montresor, the narrator, and Fortunato, one of Montresor's friends, are doomed to the fate of their actions and will pay the price for their pride and jealousy. One pays the price with his life and the other pays the price with living with regret for the rest of his life. Poe uses mystery, irony, and imagery to create a horrifying, deceptive, and perverse story.
In “The Cask of Amontillado,” the narrator shows the reader a lot about how he feels and his thoughts. In the
In his article, he mainly wanted to answer two questions; 1) What could have been Montresor’s motive to kill Fortunato? And 2) Why did he wait fifty years to tell the story? As I finished DiSanza’s article, neither of those questions were actually answered. I guess that’s because no one but Poe himself could really tell us readers why. Bales, Kent and Gargano were DiSanza’s most used sources and even those authors couldn’t answer his main questions, which he based his article around. I found that while reading “On Memory, Forgetting, and Complicity in “The Cask of Amontillado”” by Raymond DiSanza, Edgar Allan Poe’s short story causes the reader to ask many questions. In which, those questions interconnect more frequently than you’d think. DiSanza makes you realize Poe never mentions Montresor’s motive because he knew exactly how the readers would react. A great tactic Poe brilliantly uses, purposefully leaving out information in order to create suspense and mystery; causing the reader to wonder. Poe wanted us to overanalyze and try to figure out the many possibilities behind these questions, he wanted us to think in a way we wouldn’t have. He is able to avoid giving examples of what these injuries Fortunato put upon Montresor were. Poe 's problem in writing this story include keeping the reader somewhat sympathetic for a man who was able to bury another man
... carnival, so that the narrator would not consult another supposed wine connoisseur about the cask of amontillado, the reader must identify with the dark parts of their character and learn from the mistakes of the characters in this story. Like Montresor, all people have faults and by illustrating this extremely flawed character, Poe allows the reader a glimpse at the flaws in their own. Even Montresor recognizes that he must hares his crime, whether to confess or brag, the story could not die with him. Montresor is a vehicle that allows the reader to identify with their own shortcomings. He was consumed by a thirst for revenge, driven by pride, aided by intelligence, and suffering from a sense of inadequacy which created jealousy. Montresor demonstrates that vengeance and pride are impure motivators that lead to sinister thoughts and actions unfit for judgement day.
Because Montresor narrates the story in the first person, the reader is able to perceive his thoughts and understand his motivations and justifications for his ruthless murder in a manner which a third person point of view would not allow. Montresor’s personal narration of the events of the story does not justify his crime in the audience’s eyes, but it does offer a unique opportunity for the audience to view a murder from the perspective of a madman killer. It is Poe’s usage of this unique angle that causes the story to be so captivating and gruesomely fascinating. As the story opens, Montresor explains why it is necessary that he “not only punish but punish with impunity” to avenge for Fortunado’s insult to him. This justification for his crime is a piece of information that the audience is able to learn only because they are permitted inside the mind of the protagonist. In the final scene, when Montresor is carrying out his murder pl...
Montresor is the main character who is narrating from the viewpoint of someone in the story that is being told. This gives bias towards Montresor because the audience feels the need to root for him since he is telling the story. Montresor, in the beginning, is able to justify the acts he is about to do, while we are not able to hear Fortunato defend or explain what he has done to Montresor that would cause him to take those actions. “…but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.” (Poe 108). Since it is told through Montresor, the readers are also able to hear what his thoughts are. This adds an extra layer to the story by giving not only what he is saying to Fortunato to get him to do what he wants, but also his true intentions and thought processes while he is executing his master plan. He explains to the readers that he manipulated his servants into leaving his house for the night so that no one would witness Fortunato at his home. “These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappearance…” (Poe
?The Cask of Amontillado? is a powerful tale of revenge. Poe does not disappoint us as his audience, as we are invited to visit the inner workings of a sinister mind. Telling the story from Montressor?s point of view, intensifies the effect of the moral shock and horror. Through Poe?s use of irony, this short story is a carefully crafted story of revenge with ironic wordplay. Montressor seeks revenge in an effort to support his time-honored family motto: ?nemo me impune lacessit? or (no one attack me without being punished). Montressor, the sinister narrator of this tale, pledges revenge on Fortunato for an insult. The character of Montressor provides the pinnacle of deceit and belligerence needed to portray the story?s sin. ...
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
Edgar Allan Poe is a famous writer in writing detective stories and horror stories. One of his horror stories, “The Cask of Amontillado” was talking about how a man took his revenge to his friend. However, to look deeply in this story, I found that this story was not just simply a horror tale about how a man gets his revenge in the safest way. Instead, it also demonstrates much irony in several areas: the title, the event, the season, the costume, the environment, the characters’ personalities, a man’s dignity and cockiness and at the end, the public order. he are
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.