Unfortunate Fate in “The Cask of Amontillado” From the beginning of the of the story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator, Montresor, opens the story stating that the “thousand injuries” and irreparable insult caused by Fortunato won’t stay unpunished, and he seeks for revenge (Poe 467). Poe creates a sense of terror while he guides the audience to the unexpected revenge. The terror that Poe creates in the audience is only successful due to the use of literary elements. The use of symbolism, foreshadowing, and irony are essential to build the suspense that guides the reader throughout the story to a tragic ending. Poe’s use of symbolism plays a major role in understanding the story. One of the symbols that Poe uses in …show more content…
At the beginning of the story the narrator chooses the setting of Carnival. When one thinks of the carnival, the thought of joyful people, celebration and social interaction comes to mind. No one would have thought that that was the precise moment for Montresor to take revenge. The name of Fortunato itself is ironic, because the name of Fortunato means fortune in Italy. When Montresor reveals the audience that he “had fettered [Fortunato] to the granite”, the scene sends chills throughout the reader’s body (Poe 471). The terror grows when the narrator throws aside a “pile of bones of which [he had] before spoken” declaring that Fortunato was not the first person he had murder before (Poe 471). For Montresor fettering his victim to the wall was not his fully revenge, he “began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche” ignoring Fortunato’s pleas, who maintains the hope that Montresor is playing a joke (Poe 471). Although at the end of the story Montresor seems to reflect on what he is doing stating that his “heart grew sick”, giving the reader time and a sense of relief (Poe 472). But he finishes building the wall and his scheme is complete. For over fifty years and counting the murder remains a mystery. One man’s ego and another’s quest for revenge are played against each other during the time of