Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” depicts the retaliation of revenge on another human being. Revenge is inflicting harm or pain on someone for an injury that they inflicted on them in the past. Poe demonstrates the process of getting revenge on an individual within the story by utilizing the setting and characterization. Montresor is the one performing the act of revenge, while his friend Fortunato is the unfortunate victim of Montresor’s revenge plan. “Montresor 's revenge was caused by the thousand injuries he had received from Fortunato” (Baraban). Later on though “It becomes immediately clear that the “‘thousand injuries”’ Montresor mentions are less harmful to him than the “‘insult”’ he claims to have suffered” by Fortunato
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With this statement it’s clear that Montresor is going to question his wine tasting abilities against him. Platizky agrees that “Montresor uses Fortunato’s pride in being and a wine connoisseur to entrap his adversary” (Platizky 207). He finds his friend in the carnival already heavily drinking and dressed up as a jester. Montresor tells him he went and paid for Amontillado without consulting with him first and says to him ‘“as you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi”’, who is another well-known Italian wine specialist. As planned, this offends Fortunato and calls Luchesi a fool who can’t tell the difference between Amontillado and Sherry, which is ironic since Fortunato is dressed up as a fool. Montresor tries to negate Fortunato even further by saying ‘“my friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature”’ (544). Fortunato’s pride, however, gets in his way, and he goes with Montresor down to his catacombs without realizing what he’s getting himself …show more content…
Fortunato, after drinking the bottle, demonstrates a gesture only known to the brotherhood of masons. Montresor is unaware of this gesture, but proves by revealing a trowel under his cloak, which foreshadows the way in which he intends to killing Fortunato. After proceeding further, Montresor chains Fortunato and reveals stone and mortar and starts to build a wall sealing Fortunato inside. To make him feel less guilty, he thinks of Fortunato as no longer a human, “a succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form” (Poe 547). He thinks of him as some wild deranged animal being put out of its misery. Montresor also “refers to Fortunato as my “‘my friend”’ and “‘my poor friend”’ six times, and seems to be giving him multiple chances to escape his fate” (Delaney 34). However, this only makes him feel better about what he’s doing for a short time and with Fortunato’s life coming to an end Montresor starts to feel lots of guilt and regret as he put the last stone in and walks away (548). Revenge as shown by Poe towards the end has extreme consequences that follow. One is the feeling of guilt and the other of regret. Even though Montresor accomplished his goal of revenge, the act weighed heavy on his conscience for the rest of his life. This story is told 50 years after
With this statement it’s clear that Montresor is going to question his wine tasting abilities against him. Platizky agrees that “Montresor uses Fortunato’s pride in being and a wine connoisseur to entrap his adversary” (Platizky 207). He finds his friend in the carnival already heavily drinking and dressed up as a jester. Montresor tells him he went and paid for Amontillado without consulting with him first and says to him ‘“as you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi”’, who is another well-known Italian wine specialist. As planned, this offends Fortunato and calls Luchesi a fool who can’t tell the difference between Amontillado and Sherry, which is ironic since Fortunato is dressed up as a fool. Montresor tries to negate Fortunato even further by saying ‘“my friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature”’ (544). Fortunato’s pride, however, gets in his way, and he goes with Montresor down to his catacombs without realizing what he’s getting himself …show more content…
Fortunato, after drinking the bottle, demonstrates a gesture only known to the brotherhood of masons. Montresor is unaware of this gesture, but proves by revealing a trowel under his cloak, which foreshadows the way in which he intends to killing Fortunato. After proceeding further, Montresor chains Fortunato and reveals stone and mortar and starts to build a wall sealing Fortunato inside. To make him feel less guilty, he thinks of Fortunato as no longer a human, “a succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form” (Poe 547). He thinks of him as some wild deranged animal being put out of its misery. Montresor also “refers to Fortunato as my “‘my friend”’ and “‘my poor friend”’ six times, and seems to be giving him multiple chances to escape his fate” (Delaney 34). However, this only makes him feel better about what he’s doing for a short time and with Fortunato’s life coming to an end Montresor starts to feel lots of guilt and regret as he put the last stone in and walks away (548). Revenge as shown by Poe towards the end has extreme consequences that follow. One is the feeling of guilt and the other of regret. Even though Montresor accomplished his goal of revenge, the act weighed heavy on his conscience for the rest of his life. This story is told 50 years after