Character Comparison in
Mashad Lodhy
Dr. D. Smith
ENG4U0
2 March 2015
Character Comparison of Fortunato from Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” and Prince Prospero from “The Masque of the Red Death” In “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Masque of the Red Death”, Edgar Allan Poe shows that the untimely death of a character is based on previous actions and is exaggerated based on the extremity of the actions taken. For example, in “The Cask of Amontillado”, Poe demonstrates that the death of Fortunato is a result of the steps he took to put himself in the position to die. Throughout the story, Fortunato ignores every opportunity of escape presented to him during his meeting with Montresor. Fortunato was enticed to follow his acquaintance Montresor because he had a large amount of a rare wine that he offered Fortunato to drink. Fortunato was already out of his senses because he had other alcoholic drinks at the carnival. The combination of these two factors and Montresor’s behaviour towards Fortunato lead to Fortunato believing that he was in no danger. “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day. But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts.” (Poe, 2) The willingness to try the rare wine in combination with Fortunato ignoring all of the obvious signs eventually leads to the death of Fortunato. Fortunato’s greed also plays a part in how he dies. Montresor was able to lure Fortunato in because he told Fortunato that he was able to get a pipe of amontillado for a bargain of a price. Hearing that, Fortunato thought that he must try the wine to see if what Montresor is saying is true. If it had been true, then he would have been able to buy his own pipe of amontillado and make a fortune off of the pipe by selling it off. These greedy thoughts from Fortunato lead him to his death. In “The Masque of the Red Death”, the deaths that occur are also based on the previous actions and are much more extreme because of
Dr. D. Smith
ENG4U0
2 March 2015
Character Comparison of Fortunato from Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” and Prince Prospero from “The Masque of the Red Death” In “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Masque of the Red Death”, Edgar Allan Poe shows that the untimely death of a character is based on previous actions and is exaggerated based on the extremity of the actions taken. For example, in “The Cask of Amontillado”, Poe demonstrates that the death of Fortunato is a result of the steps he took to put himself in the position to die. Throughout the story, Fortunato ignores every opportunity of escape presented to him during his meeting with Montresor. Fortunato was enticed to follow his acquaintance Montresor because he had a large amount of a rare wine that he offered Fortunato to drink. Fortunato was already out of his senses because he had other alcoholic drinks at the carnival. The combination of these two factors and Montresor’s behaviour towards Fortunato lead to Fortunato believing that he was in no danger. “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day. But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts.” (Poe, 2) The willingness to try the rare wine in combination with Fortunato ignoring all of the obvious signs eventually leads to the death of Fortunato. Fortunato’s greed also plays a part in how he dies. Montresor was able to lure Fortunato in because he told Fortunato that he was able to get a pipe of amontillado for a bargain of a price. Hearing that, Fortunato thought that he must try the wine to see if what Montresor is saying is true. If it had been true, then he would have been able to buy his own pipe of amontillado and make a fortune off of the pipe by selling it off. These greedy thoughts from Fortunato lead him to his death. In “The Masque of the Red Death”, the deaths that occur are also based on the previous actions and are much more extreme because of