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Amontillado Montresor Traits

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Character Analysis of Montresor Toy Phillips Itawamba Community College Character Analysis of Montresor Many, if not all, of the characters featured in Edgar Allan Poe’s writing have an overwhelming cunning paired with an inclination to be lethal. A few decide to face the punishment of the law rather than that of his or her conscience. The vast majority, however, do not. The protagonist of “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor, falls into the second category as he is a loyal and intelligent sociopath. Montresor is willing to kill for his family and is the quintessential Montresor. His family motto is “Nemo me impune lacessit” can be translated to “No one attacks me with impunity;” meaning Montresor must be crazy to kill Fortunato; however, White (1989) has a different view, …show more content…

Montresor follows his family crest well. He has been insulted by Fortunato, represented by the golden foot, and Montresor is the rampant snake biting the heel because he uses creative deception to murder the man who wronged him. Even as he commits a man to die by suffocation, Montresor continually conveys a significant intelligence. Before the murder is committed, Montresor is careful not to arouse the suspicion of his victim. Later, as he escorts Fortunato to the manor of the Montresors, Montresor demonstrates his mental prowess once again by manipulating his servants into being absent during his visit. Given all of the planning put in to the murder by Montresor, the final show of his intelligence is the lack of discovery. According to the information in the story, no one has discovered the body of Fortunato in fifty years (Poe,

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750 Words | 3 Pages

he!” said Fortunato thinking all of this was a joke (Poe 10). But really it was not a joke, and Montresor was planning to kill Fortunato deep inside the eerie catacombs. This foreshadowing that occurs throughout the story creates the suspense that keeps the reader on

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568 Words | 3 Pages

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

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209 Words | 1 Pages

Throughout the story Montresor expressed his extended hatred towards Fortunato, a fellow friend. With great care and patience he meticulously formed a plan to end Fortunato. However,

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532 Words | 3 Pages

Due to the limited perspective of the first person it is first unclear whether Montresor is the protagonist or the antagonist of the story. However through Poe’s phrasing it becomes clear that Montresor is unjustified in his murder of Fortuno. Through Montresor and Fortuno’s first interaction in the story it becomes obvious that

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385 Words | 2 Pages

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.

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212 Words | 1 Pages

While majority of people carry that same opinion about this short story death, Patrick White believes that Montresor murdered Fortunato, as revenge for his family. White explains his beliefs, that Montresor was only being what could be considered “patriotic” during that time. He stressed that Montresor,

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602 Words | 3 Pages

Most psychopaths feel no guilt after they commit crimes, and Montresor was cold hearted throughout the entire story. The thought of Fortunado slowly dying in the old catacombs under his home rather pleased Montresor. It excited him, and Montresor was quite enthusiastic about Fortunato 's death. In the story, Fortunato 's intoxication was wearing off, and after Montresor had laid a few layers of stone to conceal Fortunato, Montresor heard low, agonizing moans from inside. " The noise lasted for several minutes, during which, that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labours and sat down upon the bones."

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729 Words | 3 Pages

In the beginning of the story when Montresor was dressed as an executioner and Fortunato was dressed as a joker that right there is a huge sign of foreshadowing. That showed that Fortunato was a fool and that later in the story Montresor was going to kill him. Throughout the story, Montresor is walking Fortunato through the catacombs leading him to what Fortunato believes to be Amontillado but he is really being lead to his death. As Montresor walked Fortunato through the catacombs there were bones scattered everywhere “We had passed through long walls of piled skeletons, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs” (Poe 181). Here Edgar Allan Poe showed many signs that Fortunato’s death is close to come and that Fortunato’s high level of intoxication wasn’t letting him see anything coming.

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1550 Words | 7 Pages

Though many readers argue for the insanity of Montresor through his brutal and inhumane actions, this claim can be dismissed with the varying levels of textual evidence supporting his rational and calculated steps taken to redress whatever wrong was committed upon him (Baraban 50). The character and actions of Montresor can be attributed to more than mental instability, his personal dialogue in recounting his murderous acts fifty years after their happenings is indicative of his sound mind. Instead the reader must consider the underlying messages Poe included within the text to fully comprehend the complexity of Montresor’ character. The main theme of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado gravitates towards the human flaw of jealousy, lending Montresor the first impression of being slightly irrational, however through further consideration his character can be described as calculative, passionate, and

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712 Words | 3 Pages

I reechoed – I aided – I surpassed them in volume and in strength.” (Poe 1112-1113) Not only does Montresor bury Fortunato alive, but he mimics his screams as he entombs, taking sheer delight in Fortunato 's terror. Montresor is also an unreliable narrator, which, as defined by our text, is “a fictional character... whose knowledge or judgment about events and other characters is so flawed or limited as to make him or her a misleading guide to the reader.” (Charters 1745)

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690 Words | 3 Pages

In life, mostly everyone will want revenge on someone they know that did wrong to them. When Montressor wanted revenge, he went insane and planned to kill the person who did him wrong. In the real world, most people do not try to kill someone if they did them wrong. Montressor is insane because of the way he got revenge on Fortunato. Poe proves in this story that some people use different, harsher ways to get revenge on

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841 Words | 4 Pages

To explain, Montresor was insulted by Fortunato, the resolution to this conflict should have been as simple as confronting Fortunato with his hurt feelings. Instead, Montresor decides “[he] would be avenged” (Poe 543). Because of the dramatic way Montresor decides to resolve the conflict between himself and his friend, his character is shifted towards an unruly one. Montresor has no regards for those around him, he has no insight to anyone but himself. As a result of the way he chooses to resolve conflicts, he allows the conflicts to take control of his every action.

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456 Words | 2 Pages

The cold, ruthless Montresor couldn’t control the evil and found that murder was the last resort. Although Montresor despised of Fortunato he buried the hate with a smile. The jester, Fortunato for he always made jokes was easily tricked to come to the catacombs where he was chained and buried alive by Montresor who plastered a wall right in front of him. The evil within overtook his conscious, enabling him to commit the perfect murder.

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1040 Words | 5 Pages

Once Fortunato had committed his crime revenge was the only thing Montresor could see. Author Po continues to hint at the fact of revenge in taking over Montresor. Montresor's family crest is an example of Po once again insinuating this theme. Fortunato asks Montresor to remind him of his family arms and Montresor swiftly replies, “‘A huge human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel’...’ Nemo me impune lacessit’”

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905 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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