The Cask of Amontillado-Edgar Allan Poe
American Literature
The Cask of Amontillado
Edgar Allan Poe
Summary
"The Cask of Amontillado" has often been considered to be one of the world's most perfect short stories.The narrator, Montresor, opens the story by stating that Fortunato had hurt him a thousand times and he had suffered quietly but what made him seek revenge was when he ventured upon insult. He wants to exact this revenge, with greatest care so that he may not suffer as a result.It must be a perfect revenge, one in which Fortunato will know fully what is happening to him and in which Montresor will be forever undetected. He knew that the greatest weakness of Fortunato was drinking good wine and also he was a trained judge of them.Even Montresor knew old wines well and he bought the best he could find.
One evening about dusk, during the supreme madness of carnival season, Montresor encounters his friend Fortunato. Fortunato was wearing the multi coloured costume of the jester, including a cone cap with bells.He, already half-drunk and costumed as a jester, was particularly vulnerable. Montresor tells Fortunato that he was looking for him as he had received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado and says he have his doubts.,Montresor tells Fortunato that if he is too busy, he will ask a man named Luchesi to taste it. Fortunato apparently considers Luchesi a competitor and claims that this man could not distinguish Sherry from Amontillado. Fortunato becomes anxious to taste the wine and to determine for Montresor whether or not it is truly Amontillado and tells Montresor that they will go to his vaults. Montresor acts like he was concerned about Fortunato's cold and says it will be damp inside the vaults and are encrusted with nitre, Fortunato insists that they should go and they hurried to the great stone palace where Montresors family had lived for centuries.There were no one at home as Montresor had already told servants that they must not leave the palace as he would not return until the morning, which he knew was enough to make it certain that they would all leave as soon as his back was turned.
Asking Fortunato to be careful, Montresor leads him to the catacombs of the Montresors and as he was already drunken his steps were unsteady and was coughing due to nitre.The narrator keeps offering to bring Fortunato back home, but Fortunato refuses. Instead, he accepts wine as the antidote to his cough. .They walked further deeper and Fortunato asked for more wine Montresor gave him another large bottle of wine.He laughed and threw the empty bottle upwards with a gesticulation which was a secret sign of Masons,which Montresor doesn't understands but still he claimed to be a mason. . When Fortunato asks for proof, Montresor shows him his trowel as a proof.
They walked deeper and deeper till finally they reached a vault which had four walls and in the middle of the wall was an opening into another vault which was a small room which was hardly more than a hole in the wall.He tells Fortunato that Amontillado was inside that hole and Fortunato uncertainly moved forward.Soon as he reached the back wall he stood there a moment,facing the wall, surprised and wondering, as there were two heavy iron rings.Before Fortunato could guess what was happening Montresor closed the lock and chained him tightly to the wall .He stepped back and told Fortunato that as he must leave him he wants to do everything he can for him.
Fortunato fumbled and asked about Amontillado and Montresor tells him that it was indeed about Amontillado and as he spoke those words he searched and found stones which he had taken down earlier from the wall and quickly began to build the wall covering the hole where Fortunato stood trembling.He continued working though he could hear him pulling at the chain and shaking it wildly.Only a few more stones remained to be put in place.
Fortunato still thinking that it would be a joke asks Montresor whether they should be going back as it was already late and tells him that they will go.Replying Fortunato that they will go back, Montresor lifts the last stone.At last, after a final plea, “For the love of God, Montresor!” Fortunato stops answering Montresor, who then twice calls out his enemy’s name. and then Montresor replies him "Yes.For the love of God" and he hears no answer from Fortunato and he again cries his name only to hear a soft ,low sound, a half-cry of fear. Montresors heart grew sick and he hurried to force the last stone into its position and puts the old bones in a pile against the wall.For fifty years, he writes, no human hand had touched them.
American Literature Novels
Themes
Revenge, remorse and deception are the main themes of the story and the force that drives Montresor to commit the horrible murder of
Fortunato. The author also brings out the themes of pride and dangers of alcohol.
The story features revenge and secret murder as a way to avoid using legal channels for retribution.The narrator Montresor, opens the story by stating that Fortunato had hurt him a thousand times and he had suffered quietly. The idea of revenge is repeated several times in
the opening paragraph. Montresor is saying that he must not only punish Fortunato, but punish with impunity."The terms of the revenge are quite clear in
Montresor's mind. He goes on to outline his personal standard for revenge that he must not only punish but punish with impunity. He says "A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser.” To him, true revenge must be free of consequences.Again he says that it is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong. A secret, convoluted plot to destroy Fortunato's life won't satisfy Montresor. Even killing him with subterfuge isn't enough. The man must know who has come for him.
The theme of remorse is still having different interpretations from different readers perspective.Some readers think Montresor doesn't regret the murder which .has given rise to interpretations that claim that he's sorry for what he did.The points to support that he regret the murder of Fortunato was the belief that he's telling the story after fifty years as a confession to a priest and his admission that his heart grew sick just before finishing the job, which he attributes to "the dampness of the catacombs."
The author is bringing out the theme of deception also as Montresor is deceiving Fortunato and murdering him by taking advantage of his weakness of good wine. Fortunato is not even for a second is doubting Montresor till the last moment as Montresor acted so well.Even when he was tied to the rings inside the vault he was still thinking Fortunato was playing some joke on him.This was because Montresor never told and acted in a way which make Fortunato realize that he carried revenge for him in his mind and that he was hurt by him.All those times Montresor was carrying the hatred and revenge towards Fortunato in his mind and waited for a good opportunity to come.
The dangers of alcohol is evident throughout in the short story“The Cask of Amontillado”. Montresor's revenge plot is carefully planned; part of it is choosing to strike at Fortunato when his senses are diminished. He picks a day when Fortunato "had been drinking much." which was the carnival season, the season of supreme madness.Even when Montresor is taking him to the vaults in his palace, he is offering Fortunato more and more wine which made him go unnoticed of the trap he was entering.He is not feeling suspicious with the deserted grounds and house, the piles of bones on the descent, and the trowel as the wine had affected his senses.A man in full possession of his faculties might have realized he could be in danger, while Fortunato can only stand "stupidly bewildered".Even Montresor is giving many indirect hints which Fortunato fails to realize as alcohol was playing with his mind.
The theme of pride also becomes important as it was the hurted pride of Montresor which eventually lead him to the idea of murdering Fortunato and Fortunato's pride of his knowledge of good wines made him go with Montresor which eventually led to his death.Believing himself to be a connoisseur of fine wine, Fortunato is easily lured into Montresor’s catacombs by the promise of Amontillado. Though his drunkenness renders him especially foolish and incautious, it is his strong sense of pride that makes him exceptionally vulnerable to Montresor’s flattery. For example, to encourage Fortunato to follow him, Montresor suggests taking another wine expert, Luchesi, to see the Amontillado instead, knowing that Fortunato cannot bear being second to Luchesi. Fortunato follows Montresor deeper and deeper into the catacombs, his inebriation preventing him from picking up on several ominous clues as to his fate.
Characters
Montresor
Montresor narrates “The Cask of Amontillado,” relating the story of Fortunato's death fifty years earlier makes it very clear that Montresor was a very brilliant, manipulative and vindictive person. Also he seems to be patient, confident and very calculated , from the way he seeks revenge. Montresor holds a grudge against his “friend” Fortunato, claiming to have borne Fortunato’s insults to the best of his ability before deciding to seek revenge. Montresor is narrating this story fifty years after the murder of Fortunato but still doesn't seem to having any feeling of regret or guilt.The readers only have Montresor’s vague description of the “injuries” he has suffered at the hands of Fortunato .This brings brings into question Montresor's reliability as a narrator. It still confuses the reader that whether Fortunato could truly have offended Montresor so terribly which made Montresor murder him in such a horrific way, or was the offence only in Montresor’s head On the other hand, Montresor’s cool, detached narration and his methodical planning of Fortunato’s demise suggest that though he is ruthless, he may be quite sane. As Montresor’s story is addressed to an unidentified person who, presumably, knows things as Montresor says "You who so well know the nature of my soul" which can be a priest as some critics say and the fact that the reader does not the nature of his soul, readers cannot be certain to what extent Montresor’s revenge is justified.
Montresor also reveals himself to be a skilled manipulator as he exploits Fortunato’s pride to lure him deep into the catacombs. Montresor’s conversation with Fortunato reveals his ironic and darkly humorous nature is clearly understood from the instance when Fortunato asks him if he is “of the masons,” Montresor pulls out the trowel that he will soon use to bury Fortunato alive. Once he lures the unsuspecting Fortunato into the deepest catacombs, Montresor mercilessly chains him up and walls him into a small alcove, leaving him to die. After Montresor has successfully walled Fortunato in, he appears to have the feeling of sickness in his heart but he does not want to admit that it was due to his guilty consciousness but quickly attributes it to the dampness of the catacombs. The fact that the Montresor is narrating the story with such clarity of events after fifty years without any guilt or regret, indicates the deep-rooted hatred and revenge he had towards Fortunato .By focusing on the events of the murder itself rather than the motive or aftermath, Poe leaves the reader guessing as to the true nature of the characters.
Fortunato
In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Fortunato is Montresor’s wealthy Italian “friend” and the object of his revenge. Fortunato’s name means “blessed” in Italian though, in an ironic twist, he ends up being the victim of murder. The story takes place during a carnival season and Fortunato is dressed in a jester costume complete with bells that jingle. It is an appropriate outfit and reinforces Fortunato’s foolish nature. Montresor’s well-thought-out crime shows a deep understanding of Fortunato’s temperament and personality. Believing himself to be a connoisseur of fine wine, Fortunato is easily lured into Montresor’s catacombs by the promise of Amontillado. Though his drunkenness renders him especially foolish and incautious, it is his strong sense of pride that makes him exceptionally vulnerable to Montresor’s flattery. For example, to encourage Fortunato to follow him, Montresor suggests taking another wine expert, Luchesi, to see the Amontillado instead, knowing that Fortunato cannot bear being second to Luchesi. Fortunato follows Montresor deeper and deeper into the catacombs, his inebriation preventing him from picking up on several ominous clues as to his fate. Indeed, Montresor suggests multiple times that they turn back, knowing that the stubborn and single-minded Fortunato will insist on pressing forward. Though it seems likely that Fortunato’s murder is undeserved, the story suggests that he is somewhat oblivious or even insensitive. We see from their conversation that Fortunato often subtly insults Montresor, casually mentioning that he has forgotten Montresor’s family arms and expressing incredulity at the thought of Montresor belonging to the same exclusive brotherhood as himself. Throughout their conversation, Montresor’s sycophantic and friendly comments to Fortunato are not reciprocated. Indeed, it is worth noting that Fortunato only addresses Montresor by name once he has realized that Montresor means to trap him. It is perhaps this insensitivity that prevents Fortunato from recognizing Montresor’s grudge in the first place. Through the character of Fortunato, Poe dramatically illustrates how weaknesses of character can lead to one’s demise.
Luchesi
Luchesi is the only other character in “The Cask of Amontillado" who is not seen in the story.But from Montresor's description ,he too like Fortunato, was a connoisseur of fine wines—a fact Montresor exploits to convince Fortunato to leave the carnival. Fortunato evidently believes that Luchesi’s expertise cannot match his own when he says Luchesi cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado. Cleverly combining his knowledge of Fortunato’s pride with reverse psychology, Montresor tells Fortunato that he will probably go consult Luchesi about the Amontillado. Just as Montresor expects, Fortunato’s response is to insist that he be shown the Amontillado first.
Analysis
In the short story "The Cask of Amontillado"by Edgar Allan Poe, is mainly focused on revenge.The narrator Montresor, opens the story by stating that Fortunato had hurt him a thousand times and he had suffered quietly.But as pointed out by many critics , the nature of the injuries and offences which Montresor says that Fortunato has done to him was never revealed. Montresor
appears to be writing his story to someone who may be assumed to know something of Fortunato's conduct
before the fateful night. However, the reader has no basis for judging
the extent to which Montresor's actions are reasonable. Since the deed was committed some fifty years ago, Montresor must now be very old and therefore the focus, is not on the reason for revenge,
but on the revenge itself.
Just as Montresor does not reveal his motive for the crime, other than to identify it as a crime of revenge,
neither does he share with his audience his response when the deed is done. The reader is not left with any clue whether Montresor felt better once
Fortunato had paid for his insult or he smiles inwardly years later when he remembers how he was able to "punish with
impunity.The author is not hinting anything about that.He leaves the reader with almost no hints of whether Montresor feels sorry for committing murder or whether he regret his actions. Poe's intention is to
focus on his story tightly. Poe explores neither the events leading up to the crime nor the results of the crime, but
focuses the story narrowly on the act of revenge itself.Although the action of the story revolves almost entirely around the deception and killing of Fortunato, the
questions in readers' minds have revolved around Fortunato's thoughts and deeds before the crime and
Montresor's thoughts and deeds afterwards.
While the time between their chance meeting and the laying of the
last stone would have been only five or six hours, the fifty years following are perhaps more intriguing. There are so many questions arising in the minds of the reader as to what might have happened to Montresor over the intervening years, and what could have been the reason for him to tell the story after fifty years of crime or was it that he was hoping for forgiveness. For forgiveness to occur, there must first be guilt and then remorse.
Some critics believes
that Montresor tells the story of his crime "as he presumably lies on his deathbed, confessing his crime to an
old friend, the 'You' of the story's first paragraph who is perhaps his priest as Montresor says "You who so well know the nature of my soul",.The question still remains as whether Montresor was ever sorry for what he did to Fortunato. Poe does not appear interested in answering the question, although he surely as he is mentioning in the beginning of the story knew that he was raising it and knew that he had placed the answer tantalisingly out of reach.
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