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“Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.”(Edgar Alan Poe). In the stories, “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Black Cat”, both stories demonstrate the horror of reality. Poe explains in one of the stories how Montresor solely focuses on killing Fortunato no matter what. While, in the other story, the man is attempting to rid himself of the black cat haunting him. In a way, this causes both men to go insane in their own ways by the end of their stories. However, the differences in the stories with the murders of Fortunato and the wife, the main characters reasons for the murders and how Montresor’s murder is far clever than the man’s murder. In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor …show more content…
In "The Cask of Amontillado" the reader sees that Montresor has some sort of issue with Fortunato and wants to see the man dead. Montresor even says in the story, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” (Poe) It is clear that Montresor has been wanting revenge for quite some time with intentions that Fortunato had made a fool of him for the last time. Now, the man from “The Black Cat” had zero intentions of killing his wife. The man’s reason behind his wife’s death is due to the fact that his insanity with his dead black cat makes him insane. Causing him to accidentally killing his wife with an axe to her head, because he was attempting to get rid of the black cat once and for all. Since Montresor actually plans to kill Fortunato, his murder ends up being more clever and successful than the …show more content…
In “The Black Cat," the man attempts to hide his wife's body behind a brick wall that he creates after accidentally killing her, but he also ends up trapping the cat behind the wall. In “The Cask of Amontillado," Montresor knowingly buries Fortunato behind a brick wall while he is still alive. However, Montresor knew the plan to bury Fortunato in the basement with him still being alive and with no evidence of the incident. Also, considering that Montresor was not insane, he was able to live with his decision. While, the man from “The Black Cat” could not hold himself together after the deed he accidentally did. Montresor’s murder is far clever because, “For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them.”(Pow 89), No one found Fortunate's body for fifty years, which makes Montresor’s murder much more successful. Considering all of this is true, these are just the main differences between Montresor and the man in “The Black
It is constantly seen that people take revenge on each other in the real world so it comes to no surprise that Montresor is taking revenge on Fortunato. Specifically in this story Montresor will feel better if he “not only punish but punish with impunity” (108 Poe). But further on what I found to even more realistic was that this wasn’t normal revenge, this was pure mastermind torture. Montresor knew that Fortunato was sick with Montresor saying “…but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted”(109 Poe) regarding that he didn’t want Fortunato to come down to his vaults, but Montresor true intentions were wanting Fortunato to fight Montresor request of not coming, and it worked. Montresor also knew how well Fortunato was at differencing wine “I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter” (109 Poe). By Montresor exploiting Fortunato’s sickness and skill of wines, Montresor knew that he could get Fortunato in the vaults where he could execute his revenge. At a first glance this may not seem lifelike because there’s an assumption to be made that people aren’t this immoral. But the truth is that the revenge that Montresor conducted is seen constantly in our culture. It’s undeniably real of the monstrosity that was made by Montresor when comparing it to the wicked
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.
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.
In The Cask of Amontillado, the theme of revenge is established at the start of the story, when the narrator states that he suffered irreversible insult by his associate, Fortunato, thus he vowed to avenge this action. This is evident in the following statement in the opening paragraph of the story, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (Poe 7). Therefore, it is apparent to the reader from the onset of the story that revenge is a major driving force for Montresor for him to dreadfully murder his acquaintance,...
He shows absolutely no remorse or any true interest in the effect that his actions will have. Even to go as far to make jokes at the expense of the future murder of his so called “friend.” Like Dr. Stout said, sociopaths can lead people to their impaling doom with much ease. The sheer ease of his master plan of revenge unfolding. His use of reverse psychology on people to have them ultimately do his true bidding. Playing with Fortunado’s trust to his own satisfaction and gain. He exhibits many traits of a sociopath throughout the story. Edgar Allan Poe is well known for doing this in many of his works as seen in classic works like The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart. The protagonists of these stories are also sociopathic, insane, vengeful and blood thirsty people who in reality are in fact the true antagonists. In each of their minds they believe they’re rightfully exacting justice and don’t see any error in their actions or just simply don’t care. They’re also cold, unfeeling, persuasive, and sinister murders who escalate small issues out of proportion. A sinister character is a recurring theme in Poe’s work and Montresor is surely no exception to this
"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.
Montresor in "The Cask of Amontillado" is similar to the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" in that his obsession with consuming the soul of Fortunato influences his every action. However, it is with Fortunato himself that he is obsessed. He feeds off of Fortunato's pain, unlike the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" who's obsession is with destroying a menacing inanimate object. Montresor's entire conspiracy is focused around making Fortunato suffer, and for him to know just who is causing this suffering. This is why he goes to such lengths to put together this intricate strategy. It could have been so much easier to kill Fortunato in some easier, quicker way. Instead, he dedicates himself to torturing Fortunato. He creates a plan that leads Fortunato into the depths of the catacombs beneath his home, and kills him in an excruciating manner.
In his article “On Memory Forgetting, and Complicity in “the Cask of Amontillado”” Raymond DiSanza suggests that an act of wrongdoing is always at the heart of good horror stories. (194) DiSanza’s article on “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe describes Poe’s writing in a way I didn’t think of myself. DiSanza finds Poe’s language in this story to “taste like amontillado: smooth, slightly sweet, and appropriately chilled”. (DiSanza 195) Throughout his article he mostly talks about what possibly could have been Montresor’s motive to kill Fortunato? And why did Montresor wait fifty years to tell the story?
In the story "The Cask of Amontillado", Edgar Allen Poe tells the story of Montresor and Fortunato. This story has a much lighter mood to it, but from the beginning there is some tension between Fortunato and Montresor. The story its self has a
In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor sets out on a vengeful mission that will end Fortunato’s life in an untimely fate. Montresor appeals to Fortunato’s love for wine to tempt the unsuspecting fellow to his impending doom. While Montresor tricks the foolish Fortunato frightfully, it is ultimately Fortunato’s pride that leads to his demise in the crypt. Poe uses several literary devices to foreshadow this murderous exploit of Montresor. Through the use of irony, symbolism, and imagery, the story entices readers to delve into the relationships and differences between Montresor and Fortunato.
Edgar Allen Poe’s tale of murder and revenge, “The Cask of Amontillado”, offers a unique perspective into the mind of a deranged murderer. The effectiveness of the story is largely due to its first person point of view, which allows the reader a deeper involvement into the thoughts and motivations of the protagonist, Montresor. The first person narration results in an unbalanced viewpoint on the central conflict of the story, man versus man, because the reader knows very little about the thoughts of the antagonist, Fortunato. The setting of “The Cask of Amontillado”, in the dark catacombs of Montresor’s wine cellar, contributes to the story’s theme that some people will go to great lengths to fanatically defend their honor.
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
In “The Cask of Amontillado” it’s a premeditated murder and in “The Black Cat” it’s an outburst of rage leading to him killing his wife. The man in “The Black Cat” was only planning on killing the cat until his wife interfered with his fair bidding launching him into a rage. “I aimed a blow at the animal which of course, would have instantly proved fatal had it descended as I wished, but the blow arrested with my wife’s hand…. I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain.” He wasn’t aiming for his wife originally, but in a rage of her interference, he killed her. In “The Cask of Amontillado” he gets away with killing Fortunato with a planned murder scheme for vengeance and retribution. “A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its repressor. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make as such who has done him wrong.” Montresor had the whole scheme planned, hence premeditated murder. Even though both characters are crazy one character had an evil scheme and one couldn’t control his