Themes Of The Cask Of Amontillado

The title “The Cask of Amontillado” represents the themes of revenge, foolishness, and intense irony. The story is rife with examples of these three themes, from the names of the characters to the numerous examples of symbolism. Edgar Allan Poe chose this title to guide the reader towards the main message that he wanted to convey. Poe wanted to influence the reader from the time that he or she read the title, and to also highlight the main focus of the story, the cask.
The major theme of “The Cask of Amontillado” is revenge. Montreseur is motivated by his hate to take revenge on Fortunato, after Fortunato greatly insulted his family and caused him “a thousand injuries” (Poe). To lure Fortunato in, Montreseur tells him that he ran across a cask of Amontillado, a wine that Fortunato longs for, and needs for him to verify its legitimacy. The cask itself …show more content…
Fortunato’s foolishness also caused him to unknowingly insult Montreseur and his family. Fortunato caused Montreseur “ a thousand injuries” (Poe) through his insults, which it seems he was to naïve to even perceive. The night of the murder, on Carnival, Fortunato was ironically wearing a clown’s costume. Fortunato’s costume symbolized his ultimate flaw, his clown-like, naïve, foolishness. Poe added this symbol to add to the overall irony of the story, it added to the jubilant atmosphere of the carnival and represented Fortunato’s foolishness. The title “ The Cask of Amontillado” represents how foolish Fortunato is in that he was gullible enough to believe that Montreseur had procured a cask and that he was willing to share it with him. Fortunato was not the only foolish one however; Montreseur was foolish in thinking that killing Fortunato would make them even after his family was insulted, a fact he seemed to regret at the end of the story when he says let Fortunato “in pace requiescat” (Poe) or rest in