Exposition: Paragraph one through paragraph fifteen introduce the story. This part of the story explains how M. Lantin met his wife, his wife’s love of false jewelry and the theater, and her tragic passing.
Rising action: The rising action in this story occurs when the author starts to become desperate and decides to sell his late wife’s fake jewelry.
Climax: The climax of this book happens when Lantin gets an offer on his wife’s fake jewelry. Much to his surprise one jeweler is willing to give him 15,000 francs while another is offering 18,000. This is how he comes to learn that the jewelry was never fake at all.
Falling action: Lantin then begins to feverishly sell the rest of his wife’s jewelry,
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Based on the fact that Montressor is able to indulge in fine wines and thinks highly of himself leads me to believe that he is at least of average social class. However, you can tell that people such as Fortunato still look down upon him. Montressor is an unreliable narrator because he never provides proof as to how Fortunato has “injured” him in the past and he always tries to cover up his flaws.
2. The “You” addressed in the first paragraph is the person that Montressor is recounting the murder of Fortunato to. The story is being told fifty years after it occurred. This story is being told either so Montressor can brag about the heinous way in which he killed Fortunato or so he can finally confess to his sins. I personally believe that the auditor is bragging about what he did. The way he still sounds scorned about what Fortunato did to him leads me to believe that recounting his story is like a guilty pleasure to him.
3. Poe is able to build suspense through foreshadowing. Montressor is dressed in black and looks ominous while Fortunato is dressed as a jester, implying that he is about to made a fool of. On their way into the vault, Montressor continues to mention how they should turn back because the potassium nitrate could make Fortunato sick. This leads the readers to believe that it is possible that Fortunato will relent and go back, but deep down inside it’s obvious that Fortunato is never going to make it out of the vault