Enc. 1102
Prof. Jacobs
12 April 2013
The Cask of Amontillado
Since the beginning of time, deceit has brought the fall of man. Deceit has always been a primary trait of evil. In biblical times, Cain and Abel (The first children ever born) are a perfect example of the situation in “The Cask of Amontillado”. Cain (the older brother) was jealous of his younger brother Abel, because he believed he was God’s favorite. He took Abel to a cliff and tricked him and bashed his head with a stone and pushed him off a cliff. The deceit and trickery of one man caused the death and fall of another. Deceitfulness, trickery, lies, etcetera all bring about a negative outcome to the matter.
“The Cask of Amontillado” is a short fictional story based on the deceitfulness and trickery of one man leading to the fall and death of another. The story is based upon two men. Fortunato a wine Connoisseur, who is dressed like a jester, (I will get more descriptive about that later), and falls to a fate caused by deceit and trickery in what seemed to be a carefree carnival. The second man is Montressor, not much is said about who he is, besides him being the narrator with an envious, dark heart. With Montressor being the narrator you have a more descriptive look at why he does what he does, and what his true motives were. Poe however still skillfully masks his true intensions, making it a surprised ending for the reader as well as Fortunato.
The story begins on the street surface at a carnival somewhere in Italy. The first sentence of the story tells that Montressor wants revenge on Forturnato for insulting him. “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.” (pg. 101) While wanting to exact his revenge on Fortunato he wants to do it in a way that doesn’t put him in risk of being caught. Fortunato who is a wine connoisseur, is approached by Montressor in a black silk mask. Montressor decides to
Cited: 1.) “The Norton Introduction to Literature” (Shorter Tenth Edition) by Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays 2.) http://www.shmoop.com/cask-of-amontillado/summary.html 3.) James W. Gargano, “‘The Cask of Amontillado’: A Masquerade of Motive and Identity,” in Studies in Short Fiction, Vol. IV, October, 2005 - July, 2006, pp. 119-26. 4.) Zondervan NIV Study Bible. Fully rev. ed. Kenneth L. Barker, gen. ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002. Print