Murder In Montresor's The Cask Of Amontillado

Our culture is fascinated by the macabre and taboo. Murder in particular fascinates us, and we frequently ask the following questions: “who, what, when, where, why, and how”. With murders we want to know who committed the murder, what happened, when the murder happened, where the murder took place, why the murderer decided to murder, how they murdered their victim and how the people who commit such a heinous act evade arrest for so long or are never caught, such as Jack the Ripper. Montresor in The Cask of Amontillado uses his physical surroundings and mental attributes to plan and execute the perfect murder.

The first thing needed to commit a murder is motive. All murders involve a motive of some sort, even if it is not immediately known.

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. A few more steps down the catacombs and Fortunato is drinking Medoc again. This is a strategic move by Montresor to get Fortunato more inebriated so that he is not cognizant enough to resist being put in chains and walled into his own final resting place within the catacombs. The best way to sum this up is “…Montresor’s crime was premeditated appears from

This was not due to Fortunato being inebriated or inattentive, it is a careful decision made by Montresor to deceive Fortunato and give no indication as to Montresor’s true intentions toward Fortunato. Montresor states “It must be understood that neither by word or by deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will” (Poe). Deceiving Fortunato was a quintessential element of Montresor’s plan as having a complete change in demeanor toward Fortunato could make Fortunato suspicious of Montresor’s plan at worst and just push Fortunato away from Montresor due to Montresor’s callous demeanor toward Fortunato at best. Montresor also deceives Fortunato in that Montresor is a Freemason, yet Fortunato does not believe Montresor. This is classified as a deception on the obvious basis that if Montresor is indeed not a Freemason then he is presenting himself as one, or if Montresor is indeed a Freemason, as it is obvious that Fortunato is, Montresor is using an organization which values loyalty to the brotherhood. This deceives the perception of trust that one would feel toward the other members of their brotherhood. Montresor acts civil and friendly toward Fortunato even at the end as he leaves Fortunato to die in the