Why Montresor Is Insane

Montresor is insane
Some people would like to think that just because you kill somebody, it does not make you a bad person or insane. That is not the case. If you can get so mad over something that you are going to take a life, there is something wrong going on in your mind. You obviously cannot think for yourself to make good rational decisions. In this story Montresor,who is insane, never shows any remorse, never reveals a good reason for why he is mad at Fortunato, and never, even after half a century, thinks his desire for vengeance is excessive or abnormal.

Montresor never shows any signs of remorse. In the story, Montresor describes his efforts to hurry up and finish his job: “I hastened to make and end of my labor. I forced the last

stone in position; I plastered it up” (Poe 217). This passage states not only that Montresor does not even view what he is doing as a murder, he views it as labor, or a job, but also something that had to be done. This is not something someone experiencing remorse would be thinking. Also, Montresor thinks that Fortunato is getting in the way of what he is trying to accomplish. Any Time that Fortunato screams or tries to talk to Montresor, he either gets a sarcastic response or Montresor screams back. Not to mention, if Montresor feels remorse he would unchain his friend and let him go, but he never does that.The less remorse Montresor feels the faster he tries to finish killing Fortunato. If you were sane, you would stop yourself before you finished and would try to undo your mistake. That's not what Montresor does. He keeps on, uniquely going faster and faster because he is not sane and he is feeling no remorse.

Montresor never reveals a good logical reason for why is upset with Fortunato.This story explains how Montresor is angry at Fortunato, but he never gives exact details about what he really says: “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (Poe 212). What kind of person can take one insult and get so angry that he is wanting to murder that person? He says nothing of what Fortunato truly did, and he still wants to kill him. That is just wrong. Someone who can not even reveal what the person actually says is clearly insane.

Even after half a century, Montresor still does not think his vengeance was excessive or abnormal. He almost sees the murder as some kind of funny thing he did when he was young. This is proved in the story when Poe writes : “For half a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat”(Poe 217). Poe is informing us in this passage not only that no one will mess with the bones, because they are probably afraid of him. Poe also states that Montresor says “In pace requiescat” (Poe 217). This means, may he rest in peace, in latin. What Montresor is saying is not sincere, he is being sarcastic and is unquestionably grinning when he says this. That is not the kind of person that would think his vengeance was excessive or abnormal. If Montresor had thought his vengeance was abnormal, he probably would not have killed his friend in the first place, furthermore proving that Montresor is insane.

The evidence that is provided here is overwhelming: Montresor never shows remorse or regret, or seems to think his revenge was a little too much. He definitely does not provide a good enough reason to explain what he did. There is more evidence of his insanity than sanity. Obviously Montresor is insane.