In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor, the narrator, seeks revenge and justice for being insulted by his friend, Fortunato. Montresor lures Fortunato into the catacombs where a cask of amontillado is kept and buries him alive and then keeps it secret for the half of a century. However, Montresor does not explain how Fortunato insults him and the story seems to be a lack of evidence to support his motivation to kill Fortunato. In additional, the nature of their friendship is never fully explained which makes the readers wonder if they were ever truly friends or not. While Montresor pretends to be a good friend to Fortunato, it is strange that Fortunato does not realize the problems between them. In order to be believable for readers, the insults must be very painful for Montresor, so it urges him to commit such a crime. “The Cask of Amontillado” is missing an important element of Montresor’s motivation to punish Fortunato by burying him alive. Montresor neglects to explain how Fortunato insults him as the story lays the foundation at the opening paragraph, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.” (Poe 866); however, no evidence to be found in the story to support Montresor’s claim. No one would not know what Fortunato did to Montresor and should the insults lead to …show more content…
This one-sided story by the narrator, Montresor, leads to a suspenseful conclusion not only that Fortunato’s insults perhaps are minor, but also that Fortunato may not recognize the issues at all. This lack of evidence and unrealistic friendship lead readers to believe that Fortunato does not deserve to be buried alive. Montresor could be just a sadistic character who wants to murder his enemy for