Examples Of Fortunato In The Cask Of Amontillado

EVIL

The Grandmother in Flannery O 'Connor 's "A Goodman is Hard to Find", fears death. She hopes to convince the Misfit to spare her by begging and telling him that he is a good man and should find Jesus. While the Misfit, who is a convicted murderer, seems to regret murdering the grandmother. In Edgar Allan Poe 's "The Cask of Amontillado", Fortunato the fool also fears his impending death at the hand of the evil Montresor who had borne "The thousand injuries of Fortunato" (Poe 206). But Fortunato had finally gone too far by insulting him. Montresor is unwavering in his pursuit to get revenge on Fortunato. His evil is powered by his pride and his time honoured family motto.

The grandmother fears her impending death and is not prepared for
it. She believes that she can delay her death by pleading to the Misfit, but her counter-arguments to his complaints are trivial and sound like all purpose memorized responses. She tells The Misfit that "You could be honest too if you 'd only try...Think how wonderful it would be to settle down and live a comfortable life and not have to think about somebody chasing you all the time." (O 'Connor 202). When she hears that he went to prison, she says "That 's when you should have started to pray" (O 'Connor 203). She goes on encouraging him to believe in God and to pray, but it becomes clear that she is doing so only in hopes of saving her own life. The grandmother humbled herself and lost the pretenses of her shallow beliefs when confronted with death. If she had been confronted with death every day of her life she would have been a better person.

The Misfit is mentally disturbed and justifies his lifestyle by saying that "crime doesn 't matter... sooner or later you 're going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it" (O ' Connor 203)." He may not have wanted to kill the family at first but the grandmother recognized him. "But it would have been better for all of you, lady, if you hadn 't of reckernized me" (O 'Connor 201). The grandmother made the biggest mistake of her life by recognizing the Misfit aloud. She says "You wouldn 't shoot a lady, would you?" His reply to this is "I would hate to have to" (O 'Connor 201). In the end the Misfit 's had this to say about the grandmother, "She would have been a good woman if someone had been there to shoot her every minute of her life" (O 'Connor 205). This shows that he grasps what he has done and therefore shows that there must be a reason other then reflex surprise for her shooting. The Misfit might have regretted killing the Grandmother. Before he kills the Grandmother, he states that there is "No pleasure but meanness" But after he kills her he says "It 's no real pleasure in life" (O 'Connor 205). This change is attitude suggests that he is unhappy with having killed her. Yet in between these remarks lie his statement "She would have been a good woman..." (O 'Connor 205). Which suggests that he thought what he did was a good thing.

Montresor is Poe 's evil narrator who vows revenge on Fortunato not for the many injuries that Fortunato has caused him but for an insult. His motivation for murder is powered by his pride, which stems from his time-honored family motto: "Nemo me impune lacessit" or "No one harms me unpunished" (Poe 208). He pretends to be Fortunato 's friend from the beginning to the end of the story. Baiting him with a pipe of amontillado that he says he bought and fears that he was cheated. Fortunato considers himself a connoisseur of wine and insists that he be the one to test it and not Luchresi. Montresor says in the beginning that he "must not only punish but punish with impunity" (Poe 206). During the trip in the catacombs Montresor gives Fortunato more then one opportunity to return to the surface. He cites his cough, and says that he will be missed. Montresor continually jokes with Fortunato, hinting at his impending doom, but Fortunato doesn 't see it coming. After Fortunato is chained to the wall Montresor decides to have some fun with him. He asks him again if he would like to return to the surface, but the most disturbing part of all this is when Fortunato tries to fight his way out of the chains. "I heard the vibrations of the chain...during which, that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labors and sat down upon the bones" (Poe 209). When Fortunato yells from his crypt Montresor hesitates but replies by yelling back to mock him. Like the carnival Montresor is truly in a moment of "supreme madness" (Poe 206). In the end Montresor mentions that his "heart grew sick" (Poe 210). He attributes this to the dampness of the catacombs and not remorse.

It seems fitting that Fortunato is wearing a Jesters costume, because in the end he does play the fool.
Montresor baits Fortunato by using his weakness, the love of wine. Another weakness he displays is his ego and Montresor knows this. It doesn 't take much for him to be baited into sampling his supposed newly acquired pipe of amontillado. During the trip in the catacombs Montresor compels him many times to return to the surface because of his cold, but Fortunato being drunk and a fool wants to be the one to sample the amontillado. He fails to understand the foreshadowing that Montresor provides him with the mason 's trowel, even when he asks about the Montresor coat of arms. "A huge human foot d 'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel" (Poe 208). He must not have realized how serious Montresor takes his pride. When he finally has him chained to the wall he is very shocked. His disbelief that his friend lured him to his death leaves him practically speechless. He quickly sobers up and begins to moan and cry, then to pull at the chains trying to escape then in a last ditch effort he begins to scream. Either in hopes that someone would hear him and come to his rescue or upon the realization that he is about to die. He knows that this is no joke, but he gives Montresor a chance at redemption by pretending that it is. Unfortunately whatever insult Fortunato had given, it leads to his demise. In the end all he can do is beg
for his life. "For the love of God, Montresor" (Poe 210).

The grandmother and Fortunato can only beg for their lives when confronted with the evil people that will end their lives.
The grandmother shows her shallow religious values and Fortunato doesn 't really understand why Montresor is doing this but knows that he is serious. Montresor is driven by insult and family pride. He must exact revenge on Fortunato with impunity. The Misfit seems to just be disturbed, killing the grandmother in the end while feeling remorse and maybe pleasure that he had to kill her but she would have been a better person if confronted with death every moment of her
life.

Works Cited

Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Cask of Amontillado." ENE 101: Literature and Composition I

Course Reader. Kingston: Royal Military College of Canada, Division of

Continuing Studies, 2001. 206-210.

O 'Connor, Flannery. "A Goodman is Hard to Find." ENE 101: Literature and

Composition I Course Reader. Kingston: Royal Military College of Canada, Division of Continuing Studies, 2001. 194-205.