Research Paper On The Cask Of Amontillado

Hannah-Joy Simms, Freeport, Bahamas
Student Number: 52396473
Literature: LA01A01
Assignment Number: 0242A03S

Edgar Allan Poe, an American poet, and writer, has fabricated hundreds of stories and poems, each of which are literary masterpieces warped with horror, mystery, and suspense. One of these, which is also one of his most well-known pieces, is the 1846 short story “The Cask of Amontillado”. This short story recounts the twisted terror of the comradery of two men and how one of them was determined to exact his wrongs/ to seek revenge. However, like any story, although it may not be displayed, this diabolical tale possesses two sides. For years, many literary experts have analyzed the story’s protagonist, Montresor, and studied his perspective
of the story. Countless believe that he is “unreliable” and that if taken from a different point of view, perhaps that of Fortunato, the story’s other protagonist, the outlook of this story would be extremely different. Suppose Poe’s story could be told from both perspectives. Would it significantly affect the story? Would it be altered if the point of view was different? Through my research, I discovered the answer to these questions and uncovered the motive behind one of literature’s most devious characters and the untold perspective of Fortunato.
Immediately, we are submerged into the first-person point of view with the story commencing with Montresor, a protagonist in the story, expressing the many unrepairable insults that his associate Fortunato has done to him. With Montresor being the first person narrator, it already deems him unreliable. When a person in a story or everyday life is recounting an event, they tend to omit their faults and leave out negative attributes of themselves. Often, their version of the story is how they, in a sense, want it to be; it sheds light on the positive aspects of themselves and what they have done. In most cases, they make themselves appear more heroic, brave or strong than they actually are. There are also instances where the storyteller would, sometimes unintentionally, make a friend or enemy seem less than they are. Sometimes, the storyteller would lie as a way to improve the story or how others perceive them.
“The thousand injuries Fortunato I had borne as I best could” is how Montresor delineated his acquaintance’s insults towards him.
“But when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.” By reading the first few lines of this story, one begins to believe that Fortunato’s fate is justifiable. Told from Montresor’s point of view, the reader is given the impression that Fortunato has insulted him beyond measure and that his, although somewhat extreme method of punishment, is well deserved… is it? Throughout the story, however, it does not take the reader long to become cognizant of Montresor’s unreliability, and his propensity to exaggerate and have animosity towards others. The crafty tongue of Montresor could be apprising the story in the way he desires to. This description of the story also adds to Montresor’s unreliability. Not only is Montresor ambiguous to what Fortunato did to anger him, other than the metaphorical “straw that broke the camel’s back” being an “insult” towards him, no other information is given of Fortunato’s wrong-doings. These are important details that are left out of the story as a result of Montresor’s perspective. If these details were included, we would not only better know what kind of a person Fortunato is, but we would also know if Montresor’s actions toward him are
tenable.
Montresor has a vendetta against his acquaintance and desires vengeance. “He wants to exact this revenge, however, in a measured way, without placing himself at risk. He decides to utilize Fortunato’s fondness of wine against him” (SparkNotes n.d.). Throughout the time of the carnival season, Montresor seeks out Fortunato and finds him wearing a motley jester costume accompanied with a belled cap. Montresor, on the other hand, dresses in all black affixed with a mask covering his face. Upon spotting his companion, Montresor continues his wont by smiling at Fortunato knowing that he is unaware that his smile is driven by the notion of his death. While Montresor is lodged in the thought of his companion’s demolition, when Fortunato accosts his beaming friend, his accounts of the night would be extremely different.
Unlike his acquaintance’s fiendish intentions, when Fortunato expresses his point of view provided by the “Knowing Poe” website, we perceive his jovial spirit and exhilaration for the carnival he is attending. When he spots his friend in the crowd he ponders on how a man of his sort had even come out to an event like this. Evidently drunk, he stumbles towards him and embraces him. Studies show that when a person is guilty, that person would tend to avoid the person whom they have wronged. Thus, Fortunato’s behavior implies that he probably did not insult Montresor as much as he had claimed earlier. This is another indication that Montresor exaggerates petty offenses done to him. Additionally, this adds evidence to Fortunato being a more reliable narrator. Due to Fortunato not being the narrator of this story, any accounts from his perspective would most likely be truthful.
After heeding his friend’s presence, Montresor formulates a scheme that will lure Fortunato into his inevitable fate.
Being aware of his strong, virtuoso spirit towards his connoisseurship in wine, Montresor utilizes this fondness against him. He approaches Fortunato and tells him that he’s obtained “a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts.” He also adds that if Fortunato is preoccupied that Luchesi, a man whom Fortunato regarded a rival, would be able to decipher it for him. Evidently slighted, Fortunato becomes defensive and states that “Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry.” Anxious and zealous to judge Montresor’s wine and to really deem it as the Amontillado, Fortunato persists that he and Montresor travel to Montresor’s vaults. Montresor’s steps to his plan are calculated immaculately and are evident as he and Fortunato are greeted to an empty home. His servants, according to adroit steps he had taken previous to his and Fortunato’s encounter, have fled. Montresor knew the significance of their absence, but his unsuspecting victim, although surprised initially, dismissed it as the insanity of the carnival season. They travel through Montresor’s vaults and during their jaunt while viewing the expansive crypts of the Montresors’, Fortunato asks him of his family’s coat of arms and their motto. “A huge human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are embedded in the heel.” The motto: “nemo me impune lacessit;
no one attacks me with impunity.” His family’s coat of arms and motto is Montrsor’s reasoning behind him wanting to kill Fortunato. He does not allow anyone to insult him without them paying for what they have done. However, due to Montresor’s unreliability, it is difficult to believe that he is fulfilling his family’s motto or if he is just reacting irrationally to a minor offense that Fortunato has done to him. Additionally, if Fortunato had insulted him “a thousand times” the reading of Montresor’s family motto would have alerted him to Montresor’s harbored resentment against him. Rather, he exclaims with a good-humored “Good!”. Due to Fortunato not becoming anxious or guilty after the reading of the Montresor motto or coat of arms, one can conclude that Fortunato has no record of wrong-doings to his acquaintance. In fact, the “insults” he had done to Montresor were probably so minor that he had long forgotten them assuming it was all “water under the bridge.” However, his thin-skinned companion takes these trifling offenses to heart and desires Fortunato’s destruction. This also adds additional information to Montrsor’s character. He is not only ruthless and heartless but he enjoys to kill.
As they continue their journey through the vaults, Montresor constantly insists the Fortunato go back as he is “concerned” for his health. After guzzling down a whole bottle of wine, Fortunato is extremely intoxicated. They suddenly reach a recess where Montresor binds Fortunato with chains on a stone. He jeers Fortunato with a proposal to leave once again while he walls Fortunato inside of the crypt. The alcohol quickly dwindles away and a frightened and feeble Fortunato moans in anguish. After falling silent for a moment, he erupts into a deranged laughter insinuating that his friend is jesting with him. As he watches the bricks ascend, he realizes Montresor is serious. As a final supplication, he screams “For the love of God, Montresor!” to which Montresor replies “Yes, for the love of God!” Montresor seals Fortunato’s fate completely as he cements the final brick. He states that “his heart grows sick--on account of the dampness of the catacombs.” Montresor’s unreliability is revealed in this statement in that he states his true emotions, but he quickly denies it relating to him murdering Fortunato. Him quickly stating that this unexpected pang of remorse is the “dampness of the catacombs” rather than what he has done displays his absence of “self-awareness.” This makes all of Montresor’s actions questionable and makes us wonder if anything he has said is real or is it a false concoction fabricated in his imagination. After shifting the bones on the wall he inscribes: “In pace requiescat! May he rest in peace!”