Montresor And Fortunato

In "The Cask of Amantillado" the dialogue between the Montresor and Fortunato play an integral role in the development of the story. Indeed, it is the primary method used for telling the story in the first place. It seems a heavily emphasized theme in the story is that of falsely-given friendship to achieve your own end goal, as we see Montresor doing throughout. To understand the way in which the two characters interact it is integral we understand the time they lived in. Consequently, the time period can also lead us to greater understanding of why the acts shown in the story were so easy to pull off for Montresor in the first place and why he may have been motivated to commit them at all.
“The Cask of Amantillado” tells the story of a (seemingly)

Montresor tells of a “pipe of Amantillado” to lure Fortunato into his trap. The lure of wine apparently being more than the Italian can resist. Starting immediately we see Montresor’s trickery come into play as in paragraph thirteen he acts as if concerned for Fortunato stating, “As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi. If anyone has a critical turn, it is he.” This, of course, drives Fortunato into further curiosity as Luchesi appears to be a rival of some kind to him. Montresor even takes further gambles to drive his “friend” away by expressing concern for the Italian’s sickness and warning of nitre between paragraphs 30 and

Some hints of the possible cause of Montresor’s grief are offered between paragraphs 55 and 66 as Fortunato does a “grotesque movement” which is seemingly a sign of membership in the Free Masons. When Montresor shows his confusion and proceeds to claim he is a part of the Masons Fortunato’s derision for him seems to come out as he says, “You? Impossible! A Mason?” Whether this seeming air of superiority that Fortunato holds over him is the root cause of his desire for vengeance is never