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A Literary Analysis of “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe
A Literary Analysis of “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe
A Literary Analysis of “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe
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Montresor is very manipulative, using reverse psychology to drag his friend to the catacombs, the future place of his grave. Once Montresor had his sick, drunk friend Fortunato in the palm
He exploits this and deceives the man to go down into the caverns that housed the supposed Amontillado. Furthermore, Montresor never tells the reader what Fortunato actually did. He only states, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (Poe, 360). Insults do not call for homicide.
Montresor states, “I continued , as was my in to smile in his face and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation” (Poe 1). Montresor devises an intricate and well thought out plan to murder someone he considers a friend, he highlights the evil of humanity when the thought of killing Fortunato brings a smile to his face.
As we can see from the evidence, Montresor accomplished murder because of his intelligence, cleverness, and his manipulation skills. Due to the fact that Montressor is clever, he was able to lead Fortunato away to murder him. Based on his actions, we saw that Montresor was very intelligent which made it easier for him to kill Fortunato. Looking closely at how Montresor acted when he talked to his attendants, we saw that he was very manipulative"
Montresor tortures Fortunato, both physiologically and physically. Montresor clearly gives Fortunato “multiple chances to escape his fate” (Delany 34), as he gives Fortunato obvious clues to his true intensions. These include leading Fortunato into a place for the dead, telling Fortunato not to go due to his severe cough that made it “impossible to reply” (Poe 5) at times, reminding Fortunato of his family arms, mentioning Luchesi, and showing Fortunato a trowel. Montresor seems to receive morbid joy out of the fact that Fortunato is so intoxicated that, just like the foot on Montresor’s coat of arms, he is unintentionally “stepping into his own destruction” (Cervo
In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Edgar Allan Poe displays the theme of revenge and manipulation. The narrator Montresor pledges revenge on Fortunato for an insult that is never explained. He maintains an appearance of goodwill towards Fortunato and decides to make use of Fortunato's weakness for fine wines against him. During the carnival season, the narrator approaches Fortunato, telling him that he has come across something that could pass for Amontillado a rare and expensive wine. Fortunato being excited about the news insists on accompanying Montresor to the vaults to determine whether it is Amontillado or not.
Montresor’s plot for revenge more closely reflects the characteristics of a psychopath as opposed to those of a sociopath. Firstly, the premeditation of the murder is a characteristic of a psychopath. Psychopaths tend to plan out their murders and attacks while sociopaths are more impulsive and attack or murder their victims without much of a plan or thought of consequences. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor has obviously at least somewhat planned a murder by carrying a trowel with him and having the masonry prepared when he arrived. Also, keeping Fortunato drunk so that it would be easier to chain him up is a sign that Montresor planned in advance to kill his
Irony Essay: The Cask of Amontillado Irony can bring a lot to the big table of the essence of a story. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, the work of classic American author Edgar Allan Poe, irony is being used to further express the dark essence of the story being told. It is a story of a man named Montressor, who holds a murderous grudge against a renowned connoisseur of fine wine that he calls his friend. The story explains the progress of Montresor's plan to kill or punish Fortunato.
As we see in Edgar Allen Poe's short story " The Cask of Amontillado" Fortunato's pride make him vulnerable to Montresor manipulation.
Is Montresor just a selfish evil genius fueled with revenge, or a good samaritan who wants to give the people the vengeance they deserve? It’s very clear to see why Montresor is the ultimate character of revenge; Montresor indicates that he is going to kill Fortunato, just for the sake of revenge, as seen in this quote, “… He [Fortunato] ventured upon insult, I [Montresor] vowed revenge” (Poe 61). The whole story is based upon the concept of revenge.
The way Montresor sought out his plan to destroy Fortunato makes the reader feel that Montresor possesses a conscience. How can one become a sociopath yet possess a conscience? It all begins with an insult. Montresor begins the narrating the story with “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured insult I vowed revenge” (Poe). Montresor tells the audience that he sustained as many injuries he could, but when Fortunato ridiculed him, he finally had enough and decided to put an end to his
This shows that none of the members really care about the victims even if they are in their own families. Although some may think Montresor’s motive and remorse might prove that he is more evil, they are wrong. Montresor’s motive is that Fortunato insulted him one time so that means he must get revenge. However, as he is begging to brick him up in a wall and finds that Fortunato is most likely dead, he then feels the tiniest bit of remorse. He then acted as if it was only the dampness as he states, “My heart grew sick—on account of the dampness of the catacombs” (Poe 64).
Intentionally misleading a person can result in different outcomes, a negative or a positive, depending on the situation and how a person reacts to it. A time I was misled was when I was growing up and was told about the Tooth Fairy, I was told about the popular myth and was intentionally misled into believing that it was true. Most kids are told about many of these myths when they are young. In fact, almost all of my friends grew up convinced that the Tooth Fairy was real.
After all the years he never forgot how he murdered Fortunato, and throughout the story the reader can see several different characteristics from both Montresor and Fortunato. Montresor is vindictive, manipulative, and murderous. Fortunato believes that he is the best at most crafts. Montresor is able to use his and Fortunato’s characteristics to get exactly what he wants. Once Fortunato pushes Montresor to the edge, he becomes vindictive.
Montresor told Fortunato that he is a “rich, respected, admired, beloved” (86) man. He does not actually think that. When he says he “must not only punish” (83) Fortunato, but he must “punish [him] with impunity” (83), which he does. The first step in Montresor's plan is to get Fortunato to go in the catacombs. He says to Fortunato, “Come, we will go back, your health is precious” (86).
