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Character analysis Montresor the cask of amontillado
Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado
Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado
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Recommended: Character analysis Montresor the cask of amontillado
I see eye to eye on how the story portrays a theme of love and hate towards the readers. I would also like to point out on how this story expresses that you cannot trust anyone. Fortunato constantly insults Montresor, yet he never complains until, Fortunato took it to far by disrespecting his holy family name.Thus making this, the final straw causing Montresor to seek revenge for his actions, along with his desires to make it permanent. He doesn’t want Fortunato to ever get a chance to hurt him back after his retribution (so he plans to kill him). Montresor finds his weakness (alcohol) and uses it towards his advantage, luring him with the Amontillado; he claims that he bought some but isn't sure if it is the real deal. As they make their way
to the location of the Amontillado, Fortunato doesn’t suspect an inch of regret, until he notices Montresor showing him a trowel; but quickly brushes it off due to his desire for the alcohol, and in my perceptive, the trust he has in Montresor. All the painful deeds he did to his so called friend in the past was always brushed off, so nothing made him believe that this person would do anything to harm him. Montresor hides his passion of vengeance with a smile (hence fake friendship). As Montresor lures him to his death, he has no shame or remorse for his actions.
Montresor, fifty years after it happened, confesses to the murder of his foe, Fortunato. He justifies his actions by saying that Fortunato caused him a thousand injuries and therefore is seeking revenge.... ... middle of paper ... ... He tempts her by offering to give her independence from them, saying he is her lover, playing into her weakness of men.
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
In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor made up in his mind that he would carry out his act of revenge on Fortunato. Whatever offense Fortunato committed against Montresor drove him to the brink. The hatred inside was somewhat poetic. Montresor schemed to every detail how to carry out his revenge. The setting of the story is a dark, gloomy night at a celebration during carnival season. Montresor would be detailed in describing the monetary status of his enemy, his wardrobe or costume he wore to the celebration. He would set the mood as cheerful. Despite the ill feelings he has towards the now drunken Fortunato, Montresor pretends to care for his company to lure him towards his cunning plan. He strokes Fortunato’s ego and his love for wine to draw him towards the cellar. The dark, damp halls, the claustrophobia, and the human skeletons lying about the earth were all a foreshadowing of Motresor’s plan for the drunken Fortunato. It enhanced suspense to the story, building up to the climax which would be Fortunato entering into his grave. As they further enter the hal...
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 is a man who like to get revenge back to the people that did something to him. Montresor like to get back at the people when they are no longer thinking about what they have done. Because Montresor is that way Fortunato insulted him and he reacted to what was said about him. Yet, Fortunato was saying all these things about Montresor and thought it was okay. The personalities that Montresor have is that he don’t play about what people say to or about him, and don’t take it lightly. He is also that person that like to take care of business and get things done. Fortunato is a man that loves to run his mouth and has these emotion when he wants to say things and later think about what he has said. Fortunato act like it doesn’t matter
The carnival, a public event, displays Montresor’s actions and feelings towards Fortunato in a public setting. He is very cheerful and still jokes around with Fortunato as if nothing is wrong between them “It must be understood, that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good-will. I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation.” (1118). During their descent into the Montresor’s family catacombs Montresor’s actions begin to show his true feelings towards Fortunato, as he gives him some Medoc even though Fortunato is already drunk. Montresor is not acting bitter towards Fortunato yet because they are not close enough to where his revenge will take place, Montresor shows false friendship in a sense by continuing to say that Luchresi can tell him if the cask of Amontillado is real or a fake to keep him going deeper into the damp catacombs. Knowing that Fortunato will demand that they continue Montresor is leading him to his death by Fortunato’s own hubris to his
Vengeance and pride are fundamentally important to this short story. From the inception of the tale it is clear that the narrator is a proud, vindictive man; opening with, “the thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge,” the narrator immediately alerts the reader to the dark aspects of his own character. Because “insult” and not “the thousand injuries” caused the narrator to “vow” revenge, the reader can infer Montresor is prideful because, although he already had conflict with Fortunato, insult was what made the tense situation unbearable for Montresor––so much so that he vowed to take action. Use of the word “vow” is significant because it indicates that the grievance was meaningful in the mind of Montresor, allowing for the reader to more easily identify with the actions to be revealed throughout the course of the story; if the reader believes that Montresor was provoked in a profound way, ...
...also muddles the conflict’s resolution. A gloating tone is noticeable with the story’s ending, “In pace requiescat!”, or “May he rest in peace!”. Instead of a sincere condolence to Fortunato’s death, this line hints at Montresor’s pride in killing him. Although he succeeded in killing Fortunato to amend the injustices, the narrator remains fixated on the event. This suggests an attachment, or obsession, that leaves the conflict unresolved.
As the story begins, Fortunato believes he and Montresor are friends or at the very least friendly. However, Montresor is secretly plotting Fortunato’s murder. Montresor believes that Fortunato has given a “thousand injuries” and it is not until he “insults” Montresor that Montresor springs into action. Unfortunately, it is never explained if these injuries and insults really happened or if they are a delusion. Montresor makes an unreliable narrator and one gets the feeling he suffers from a psychological disorder, such as delusional paranoid personality disorder. This disorder causes the victim to become obsessed with a delusion “involving a phenomenon that the person’s culture could conceivably regard as plausible.” They often believe “they have been injured by friends or strangers, and they tend to see other persons as enemies.” Montresor gives the impression he and Fortunato have known each other for an extended amount of time. Montresor knows more about Fortunato than Fortunato knows about Montresor; possibly because Fortunato is constantly drunk.
Unlike “The Tell Tale Heart” were the narrator loved the old man just hated his eye, the narrator of “The Cask of Amontillado” hated Fortunato but did things that make it look like he loved him. Montresor approaches Fortunato with claiming to have acquired something that could pass for Amontillado. Here Montresor may seem like he is being nice but he really just using Fortunato’s love for wine against him. As they went through the catacombs Montresor gave Fortunato enough wine so that he would be drunk and would be oblivious of what was happening as they went deeper and deeper into the catacombs. Fortunato never expected this to be the plan but just as a simple act of kindness from Montresor. As mentioned in the introduction of this paper the narrator of this story wanted revenge. Why does the Montresor want revenge? Well it is mention in the story on page three “THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” but never gives us a full reason just that Fortunato insulted the Montresor in some
Montresor meets his fake friend Fortunato and tells him about amontillado. Montresor had probably been humiliated or embarrassed by this jest, because he is angered once he lays eyes on him from a distance. Fortunato was wearing a jester outfit which makes him seem that he is not meant to be taken seriously. Once met he then manipulate Fortunato into following him into the catacombs of the montresor’s. Once in the catacomb, Montresor then precedes to tell Fortunato about his cough. Trying to lead Fortunato into thinking that he deeply cares about his health, but Fortunato not wanting Luchresi to come along he keep moving forward. While walking
The first indirect factor that could contribute to Montresor’s vengeful act, and thus the story’s theme of revenge, is the character of Montresor. Montresor tends to harbor feelings of resentment and has a hard time not taking things out of context (Womack). He also plans the murder of Fortunato in advance and devises it in such a way that he will not be caught. In killing Fortunato, Montreso...
The “Cask of Amontillado” starts off with a foreshadow. It tells the reader from the very beginning that Montresor is planning his revenge on Fortunado. So from the opening we are already interested of how Montresor will carry out his idea as we follow him on his journey. An example of foreshadowing is when Montresor said “...You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy as once I was...” (Poe, 304). Poor Fortundao was too busy getting more and more intoxicated that he did not get the significance of Montresor words. He fell right into his trap just as Montresor wanted and predicted he
Montresor’s suppression of his sexuality due to living in a culture that admonishes such behavior leads to the events described in the story. In an effort to be normal and fit in with society, the narrator constructs a plan to forever rid himself of his same-sex desire. He personifies his sexuality as his friend Fortunato who he then directs all of his hatred for having homoerotic aspects and the ostracization that comes with them. Montresor’s literal sealing away of Fortunato symbolizes the complete suppression of that aspect of his identity, something that he does not truly despise nor want to lose, but knows he must in order to reintegrate himself back into normal society. The distress Montresor experiences and ultimate feeling the need
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.