The Questioning Of Montresor's The Cask Of Amont

The story of “The Cask of Amontillado,” has the lack of evidence that goes along with Montresor’s claims to Fortunato’s “thousand injuries” and “insult.” The story is about revenge and secret murder as a way to avoid using the proper channels for justice. The law is nowhere on Montresor’s mind, and the horror of the story is the fact of punishment without proof. Montresor uses his unfortunate experience of Fortunato’s insult to name himself judge, jury, and executioner in this short story, which also makes him a hard to believe narrator. Montresor confesses this story fifty years after it happens and such a significant time between the event and the story of the event makes his story all the more unbelievable. Montresor’s believability is very low and it makes one question the rational consideration of evidence, such as the specific insult that would necessarily have to come before any guilty sentence in the real world. “The Cask of Amontillado” takes interpretation and the fact that some people interpret things differently, to a terrible end.

The use of color imagery is very important to the questioning of Montresor’s reasoning.

His face covered in a black silk mask, Montresor represents not blind justice but it’s opposite which is revenge. In contrast, Fortunato is wearing the multicolored costume of the court fool, who gets literally and deathly fooled by Montresor’s plot to kill him. The color schemes represent the irony of Fortunato’s death sentence. Fortunato faces the reality that even the carnival season can be murderously serious. Montresor chooses the setting of the carnival for his cover up to his murderous plan. While the carnival usually means a joyful and fun time for people, Montresor uses it in a very dark way. The repeated focus drawn to the bones of Montresor’s family that line the vaults foreshadow the story’s path into death. The two men’s underground travels are a metaphor for their trip to a deathly

end.
To build the suspense in the story, there is a use foreshadowing. For example, when Fortunato says, “I shall not die of a cough,” Montresor replies, “True,” because he knows that Fortunato will most definitely die because of being trapped in the crypt. Montresor’s description of his family’s coat of arms also foreshadows future events. The shield features a human foot crushing a serpent. In this image, the foot represents Montresor and the serpent represents Fortunato. Although Fortunato has hurt Montresor with terrible insults, Montresor will be the one to crush him. The conversation about Masons also foreshadows Fortunato’s death. Fortunato challenged Montresor when he claimed that he is a member of the Masons, and Montresor replies with a pun. When he declares that he is a mason by showing Fortunato his trowel, he means that he is a literal stonemason. Who will construct Fortunato’s grave out of stone.

The final moments of conversation between Montresor and Fortunato suggest that Fortunato ultimately and ironically gets some type of upper hand over Montresor. Fortunato’s plea, “For the love of God, Montresor!” has raised a lot of critical controversy. Some critics suggest that Montresor has at last brought Fortunato to the point of desperation and despair, indicated by his belief that God has left him behind. Other critics argue that Fortunato ultimately mocks the “love of God,” and uses the same irony that Montresor has used to lure him to the crypts. These are Fortunato’s final words, and strangely Montresor realizes that he may need Fortunato more than he wants to admit. Only when he twice screams Fortunato’s name with no response, does Montresor all of a sudden have a sick heart. The reasons for Fortunato’s silence are really not known, but maybe his refusal to answer Montresor is a type of victory in his deathly circumstance.