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
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,
The significance between Ray Bradbury and Edgar Allan Poe could range from their forms of literature. For instance “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe and “Chrysalis” by Ray Bradbury. They are two different stories with very little in common. Of course, with that being said Poe and Bradbury do have some common ground when writing horror, but both have their own way of telling it. Even a genre such as horror is viewed in many different ways.
He has plotted a revenge for him so that Fortunato could get what he deserved. Montresor planned for Fortunato to get drunk and then lure him to his home where he will kill him . After Fortunato is led back to Montresor’s house be deceiving him and took him to the catacombs of the Mansion where the supposed Amontillado wine is. Montresor was planning to trap Fortunato in the catacombs to kill him, this is an extremely horrible death. Dying of starvation or thirst would be a painful way to go especially in a dark catacomb surrounded by skeletons and the smell of rot and dampness.
Fortunato couldn’t have a competitor assist Montresor. His hubris was a leading aspect that led to his death. Lastly, his willingness to drink the continuous offerings of alcohol was an act of manipulation on Montresor’s part.
Fortunato already had too much wine, and shouldn’t be going for more. At the festival Montresor told Fortunato the wine would be in the basement. While Montresor shows Fortunato to the wine, Fortunato begins to cough badly. “Montresor insist they return to the festival, as he worried about the
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
The story opens with Montresor explaining that he feels disrespected by Fortunato and he is planning on taking revenge. During the carnival, Montresor approaches Fortunato to taste some wine, in which Fortunato cannot resist. Montresor and Fortunato go into Montresor’s vaults. While traveling through the vaults Fortunato is aggravated by the setting and begins to cough. Montresor insists on returning but Fortunato is determined to taste the wine.
Too much pride can lead to one’s downfall. The short story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is riddled with the underlying theme of pride that the narrator, Montresor, and his victim, Fortunato, experiences throughout the narrator’s deliberate plan of revenge. The theme of pride plays a role in Fortunato’s affection with his wine and in Montresor’s emotions leading up to killing Fortunato. During the events leading up to Fortunato's death, pride plays a role in Montresor’s emotions.
As the story progresses it becomes exceptionally evident the role external conflict plays in creating Montresor’s character. To begin, Montresor mentions “the thousand injuries of Fortunato” and the revenge he is determined to get from the most recent injury, an insult (Poe 543). By Montresor choosing to open the story with remarks about Fortunato’s wrong doings towards him, it’s clear that he holds a grudge. These conflicts between the two men throughout their friendship have had such an impression on Montresor that it’s over taken him – it’s all he can think about; thus, he immediately mentions these conflicts at the beginning of the story. In result, Montresor as a character appears quite hostile and as a narrator appears unreliable.
Do you think you could ever get away with murder? For Montresor, he thought he could. But he will soon realize the past can not be easily forgotten. Following the events after “The Cask of Amontillado”, you will see a man spiral into an abyss of fear as he comes to terms with killing(?) Fortunato, and the people close to him.
Montresor is fully aware that any invitation having to pertain to alcohol will pique Fortunato’s interest and afterwards it is just a simple matter of getting Fortunato down into the catacombs so that Montresor can commit the murder, which is where appealing to Fortunato’s pride comes in. It is worth noting that Montresor knew Fortunato would be inebriated on that specific night of the carnival as “There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honor of the time. I had told them that I should not return until the morning, and had given explicit orders not to stir from the house” (Poe). This means that there would be no witnesses to the murder, or at least no one that could testify that they saw Montresor with Fortunato that night. While in the catacombs Montresor tells Fortunato to drink some Medoc, a type of wine, to alleviate his cough.
Montresor then starts to easily manipulate Fortunato. Montresor uses Fortunato’s vanity against him to get what he wants. Fortunato thinks that Montresor has nothing against him and just wants him to taste wine. Fortunato goes with Montresor, and in doing this Fortunato becomes complicit in his own demise by insisting on sampling the amontillado. This allows Montresor to take control and lure Fortunato to the vaults, where Montresor becomes murderous.
Montresor is a grudge holder. In the beginning, Montresor, explains why he is angry with Fortunato, but didn’t come into detail of what he did to him. Evidently, Fortunato injured and insulted Montresor, who says that he has endured peacefully as Fortunato repeatedly offended him thousands of time. Fifty year ago, Fortunato use to deny what Montresor would say about, who he was or what he had done, as if it was untrue. Montresor would argue back and forth with him explaining that it was true.
At the carnival he informs Fortunato that he has a pipe of Amontillado, and he has his doubts. Then, using reverse psychology, he says he can see that Fortunato is engaged in something, and he will turn to Luchresi for connoisseur services. This makes Fortunato’s desire to taste the wine even deeper. Fortunato refuses and insists he taste the wine, completing step one in Montresor’s master plan. Then Montresor manipulates him a second time, says it’s not the engagement, but the severe cold Fortunato has.
