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The Cask of Amontillado character
Literary analysis on the cask of amontillado on the narrator
Literary analysis of the cask of amontillado
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The Cask of Amontillado In The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe, the tale is told in 1st person by an extremely vengeful character. This character, Montresor, would first appear to the reader as a victim but in reality, he is plotting to take the life of Fortunato. Montresor is a very manipulative and vengeful person. One would suspect this through his words, "I must not only punish but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong." Through his thoughts, acts and words, we are able to watch his plan for revenge unfold. After reading the tale, I felt as if the clothing of both characters seemed to set the mood for both their personalities. Fortunato wore a "tight fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by a conical cap and bells." This jester type clothing seemed to show the reader that he was a fun and vivacious character, but after reading the text, maybe Poe was foreshadowing about his foolish nature. In my opinion, Fortunato's character was round but flat. He was the unsuspecting victim, and even up until the last moments before Montresor seals up his tomb, he holds on to the idea that a joke is being played on him. "Ha! Ha! Ha!-He! He! He!- a very good joke, indeed an excellent jest," he said. On the other end of the spectrum, we have Montresor. His clothes were not light and lively as Fortunato's were. They were dark and evil. He dons a "mask of black silk" and a heavy knee length cloak. I felt as if this may have foreshadowed death. The clothes of a grim reaper. Montresor's character was both round and static. Round because he was a very developed character but static because he didn't ultimately change throughout the story. He remained vengeful and manipulative to the end. His two-faced nature began with this line, "It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as my wont, to smile in his face." He uses Fortunato's connoisseurship of wine to lead him to his demise.
“The Cask of Amontillado” starts out with the narrator, later discovered to be Montresor, positioning himself as a victim of Fortunato. In the opening line, he states, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could” (714). Instantaneously one feels sympathetic towards a person that has withstood a thousand inflictions. Montresor goes on to tell a parable of sorts about vengeance, and “when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong” (715) he has lost. In this instance Poe has set Montresor apart from being at the least an unsuspecting
By vowing revenge, methodically planning and following through with such a meticulous plan, and the feelings of guilt and remorse fifty years after the fact, Montressor shows that he planned the murder step by step, and proves that he is sane. Montressor premeditates the murder from vowing revenge to having the tools in the catacombs ready and waiting. Montressor vows revenge, but not just revenge, he vows that at length he will be avenged. Montressor states, "That neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good-will (Poe 563). " Montressor shows with this statement that he has the capability of knowing what he has premeditated is wrong.
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.
"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.
Have you ever met someone so clever, determined, and cruel to leave a man to die over an insult? Montresor is the perfect example of these character traits. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor uses all of these character traits to get revenge on Fortunado for insulting his family name. Montresor’s clever planning, determination for revenge, and cruel murder are the perfect combination for his unequaled revenge.
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?
These imply Montresor’s the whole family is filled with acts of revenge. These also illustrate self-esteem or pride hold a critical role in the family that they do not accept anyone try to injure them. If someone does so, they will use their own method to punish their wrongdoings, which they at least find a way to release their discontented against such behavior. Montresor also considers this action as an insult because he perceives that he is not being respect and look down by Fortunato. This is because Montresor is a poor man compared to Fortunato who can afford to buy the entire shipment of Amontilado. Therefore, Montresor says, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (331). This shows Montresor family’s coat of arms and motto can be the key that leads him wants revenge for being insulted by Fortunato. Since no one is able to clear up the internal injuries that have been in his heart for a while, he deems he should take the risk and punishes Fortunato by himself. In some way, he may think that he helps the society to cut weeds and eliminate the roots by killing all the loose end or
Both Montresor and Fortunato are proud of their status in society. This is apparent because Fortunato describes his home, which includes catacombs. He also speaks about his attendants. He asked that his attendants stay in the house during his absence, which represents that he had sleeping quarters for them. In this era, one was considered rich to house servants. Montresor refers to Fortunato as a man that is “respected and even feared” (248). He is also dressed in character for the carnival. This attire would not be typical of someone in a low
In her article, Renee utters that when the thought of vengeance build up in an individual’s brain, it coerces him insane and does not tolerate him to present it a second thought. The first sentence of the story, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge,” clearly describes the whole theme of the story as a deeply enrooted revenge in Montresor’s mind” which is an absolute portrayal of retribution that occurs due to arrogance and jealousy. Author sees himself as a superior individual and was victimized by a superiority complex which is quite visible through the phrases which he wrote in the story that Montressor expresses superiority as showed his victim as a foolish person by attributing weird physical appearance and dress appearance in which he described his dress code of “tight fitting parti striped dress and head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.”
While at the carnival, Montresor bought some of the finest Amontillado wine to use in his vengeful plan to murder Fortunato. He then meets his "friend," Fortunato. Fortunato is wearing "a tight fitting parti-striped dress and head is surmounted by the conical cap and bells" (Poe 528). By him wearing this outfit, makes it great for the narrator because he is going to make a fool out of Fortunato. Montresor is a manipulative person. He challenges Fortunato's connoisseurship on wine tasting and leads him to his family estate.
Through the acts, thoughts, and words of the protagonists Montresor, the reader is able to feel the psychological torment that Fortunato is about to endure. The first line in the story Montresor said “The thousand of injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (553). Revenge remains a constant theme through the entire story. Montresor went to great lengths planning the revenge and murder of Fortunato. He knows that during the carnival everyone will be dressed in costume, mask, and drinking. No-one will be able to recognize them. Montresor himself put on a “mask of black silk” (554) and a “roquelaire” (554). He has also made certain that his attendants’ would not be at home, to be sure that there are no witnesses to his horrendous act.
Poe starts off the story ironically with Montresor finding Fortunato near carnival season, where “[h]e had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells” (156). Most readers can deduce that Fortunato’s outfit was a jester’s costume, which is often worn at festivals and carnivals. Poe deliberately placed him in this costume as a hint of what was to come, for Montresor intended to make a fool out of Fortunato as he had made a fool out of him.
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...
This immediate familiarity helps the reader to see inside the calculating mind of Montresor, whom we later learn is a killer. When talking about the past insults of Fortunato, he takes on a cold, determined tone: “At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitively settled […] I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong” (Poe, 618).
Poe starts out with a man, by the name of Montresor, wanting revenge on another man, named Fortunato. Most of the story takes place deep in the Montresor family catacombs. As Montresor lures Fortunato into the catacombs, he chains Fortunato up to a small hole in a wall, bricks it over, and leaves Fortunato to die. Even through the traits of anger, hatred, and revenge, as the story progresses on, Montresor, the main character in “The Cask of Amontillado”, starts to show signs of feeling guilty for wanting to murder Fortunato.