Montresor's Downfall

Edgar Allen Poe was a mysterious man that exemplified in gothic horror on his short stories and poems. He is best known for his use of dark, eerie, and emotionally haunted characters and elements of the supernatural in American Literature. Although, not much is mentioned from his biography, his subjective like qualities in his short stories captured the public’s attention. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as his nostalgic poetry. The meaning of the lives in his characters all portray an eerie subconscious of the narrator before he commits heinous crimes of premeditated murder. The psychological aspect of his main characters in his literature, contributes to the immoral behavior that the protagonist endures

Thus, Montresor manipulates the man without placing himself at risk of being caught. Poe’s criticism fails to emphasize that Fortunato and Montresor are friends, and Fortunato follows Montresor trustingly into the vaults of the catacombes. In the article critics such as Whatley, “Point out that there is no remorse in Montresor’s heart” however, instead of Montresor it is as if Fortunato’s all-consuming ego is hurling him into the darkest abyss (Web). Montresor has Fortunato’s burial on his mind. His single focus makes him lead his willing victim into his family’s catacombs. Dumfounded and resigned, Fortunato is choking to death because of the dampness of the crypt and the lack of air. Thus, this is where he’s buried behind a wall and is slowly being tortured to death. In the story Montresor says, “but now there came from out the niche a low laugh that erected the hairs upon my head…it was the succeeded by a sad voice, which I had difficulty in recognizing as that of the noble Fortunato” (Poe 252). While Fortunato wanted to be released from an excruciatingly painful joke, Montresor is paining to hear Fortunato beg for his life or apologize for the insult. Instead, Montresor walks away from the catacombs and lives his life without a regret or remorse for burying his friend. As a result, this shows the reader why the characters individual characteristics and cognitive thinking lead to do what he