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Theme Of Ignorance In The Cask Of Amontillado

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Martin Luther King Junior once said, “There is nothing more dangerous in all the world than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity” (Luther 1963) While blunt, Luther beautifully explains that ignorance is not a human virtue and instead is dangerous. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is another example of how sincere ignorance is dangerous to the individual. Fortunato is well liked among his peers and is a respected individual when it comes to the connoisseurship of wine. However, unbenounced to him, he has also made an enemy of Montresor. The night of a great carnival, Fortunato is found highly intoxicated and eager to follow Montresor by any means to acquire the taste of the rare amontillado that was promised (Poe 3-4). Through Montresor’s narration of this classic tale, the theme ignorance is dangerous, exemplified through the …show more content…

Fortunato is a fun loving character who is able to live life almost carefreely. However, Fortunato is also full of ignorance in regards to his current position with Montresor, especially when he is drunk. Due to his persistent ignorance and pride, Fortunato fails to see any danger or harm that he faces; instead, he only sees the hope of tasting a rare wine despite the obvious signs to the contrary. He misses his chances to turn back and his chances to escape, instead, Fortunato invests himself fully in the venture. By the time he realizes his ignorance, Fortunato finds himself chained to a wall while another one is being built in front of him. When Fortunato realizes there is no further hope, he stops his attempts to sway Montresor to release him, and instead of hanging his head in defeat signaling the final jingle of his bells. Fortunato let his ignorance take the best of him, which ultimately leads to his demise. It is this pressing theme of ignorance leading to detrimental situations that Poe conveyed through this

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190 Words | 1 Pages

Montresor begins his story by expressing his excitement over the future events that would culminate in Fortunato’s death. When he sees Fortunato one day during carnival season, he is so overcome with excitement that he says, “I was so pleased to see him, that I thought I never should have done wringing his hand” (1). Montresor reveals his true conscience by showcasing his enthusiasm for Fortunato’s future demise; in doing so, he shows that he is incapable of compassion and has no guilt. Because of his inability to feel guilty over what is to come, Montresor’s confession of the crime has no remorse. It lacks the grief associated with remorse and is more of a brag.

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960 Words | 4 Pages

In the “Cask of Amontillado” Montressor is a very angry and vengeful man. He says that he was insulted by Fortunato, but fails to give a reason as to why or how. He begins to enact his revenge by luring Fortunato in with the rare wine and when his “friend” Fortunato is drunk, he t proceeds to bring him deeper and deeper underground, while telling him to turn around repeatedly. Once he reached a place where no one can hear them, Fortunato walked into what he thought was another corridor, but it would turn out to be his grave! For as soon as Fortunato hit the wall, Montressor chains him against it.

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864 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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532 Words | 3 Pages

Due to the use of first person in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” Montresor’s syntax and diction are the only mechanisms used to characterize Fortuno in the story. This subjects the perception of both Fortuno and Montresor to a great deal of bias. Although Montresor claims that Fortuno has committed “a thousand injuries” (127) there are never any specific instances of his treachery cited within the text.

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385 Words | 2 Pages

“He had a weak point… He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine…” (Poe, 360). Montresor use of verbal irony demonstrates that the murder is premeditated. “... the cough… it will not kill me…” states Fortunato who receives “True-true…” as a response from Montresor (Poe, 362).

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665 Words | 3 Pages

Unfortunate Fate in “The Cask of Amontillado” From the beginning of the of the story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator, Montresor, opens the story stating that the “thousand injuries” and irreparable insult caused by Fortunato won’t stay unpunished, and he seeks for revenge (Poe 467). Poe creates a sense of terror while he guides the audience to the unexpected revenge. The terror that Poe creates in the audience is only successful due to the use of literary elements. The use of symbolism, foreshadowing, and irony are essential to build the suspense that guides the reader throughout the story to a tragic ending.

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Montresor asks Fortunato to use his expert wine test tasting skills to tell if a bottle of wine is authentic or not. Since Fortunato is an arrogant person, he does not suspect or have any suspicion to his ‘friends’ request. Once Montresor and Fortunato make their way down deep into the catacombs, Montresor tricks Fortunato into a corner. Then, Montresor handcuffs Fortunato to the wall. Fortunato is fasten to the wall with no escape.

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97 Words | 1 Pages

In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Edgar Allan Poe displays the theme of revenge and manipulation. The narrator Montresor pledges revenge on Fortunato for an insult that is never explained. He maintains an appearance of goodwill towards Fortunato and decides to make use of Fortunato's weakness for fine wines against him. During the carnival season, the narrator approaches Fortunato, telling him that he has come across something that could pass for Amontillado a rare and expensive wine. Fortunato being excited about the news insists on accompanying Montresor to the vaults to determine whether it is Amontillado or not.

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108 Words | 1 Pages

As we see in Edgar Allen Poe's short story " The Cask of Amontillado" Fortunato's pride make him vulnerable to Montresor manipulation.

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712 Words | 3 Pages

I reechoed – I aided – I surpassed them in volume and in strength.” (Poe 1112-1113) Not only does Montresor bury Fortunato alive, but he mimics his screams as he entombs, taking sheer delight in Fortunato 's terror. Montresor is also an unreliable narrator, which, as defined by our text, is “a fictional character... whose knowledge or judgment about events and other characters is so flawed or limited as to make him or her a misleading guide to the reader.” (Charters 1745)

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690 Words | 3 Pages

Montressor, from the story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, is insane because he lies about wine to get Fortunato into the catacombs, he plays off of Fortunato’s ego, and he buries Fortunato alive. To begin, Montressor is insane because he lies to Fortunato about a very expensive wine to lure him into the catacombs. Montressor’s revenge is played throughout the story, starting with a lie as the first step. Montressor knows that Fortunato is an expert in wine, so he tells him this to lure Fortunato into the catacombs: “But I have received a pipe of what passes for amontillado, and I have my doubts” (Poe 212).

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917 Words | 4 Pages

The Irony of ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ ‘The Cask of Amontillado’(Poe, 173) is a revenge story that involves two men named Fortunato and Montresor. Our main antagonist is Montresor, who fools and triumphs over the drunken prideful fool Fortunato. Edgar Allen Poe uses irony in a setting and action to foreshadow the demise of Fortunato. He uses a lot of foreshadowing along with verbal irony, dramatic irony, and situational irony to show Fortunato’s misfortunes which eventually lead to his death.

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1054 Words | 5 Pages

The author's choice of words helps create the mood of shock because he describes Montresor’s actions after Fortunato gets a sense of what is being done to him. The author’s description keeps readers in shock because they can’t believe how cold Montresor was. Even though he never showed the side of him, he had it all along. The author’s use of words in the description makes the readers feel like they are in the story wondering what will happen next. Poe wanted the reader to understand what was going on in the “Cask of Amontillado”, so he wrote a detailed story choosing words that connected with his readers.

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2044 Words | 9 Pages

Therefore, I believe that Montresor’s motive for murdering Fortunato is not as important to the story as the method he uses, and that Poe’s is using the method of binding a victim as a an allegory of the triumph of providence over the concept of a

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597 Words | 3 Pages

In this essay I will explain how Montresor’s execution of Fortunato was carried out like an expert. I will list examples of how Montresor manipulated Fortunato, and how he enjoys his revenge. In this story Montresor, the murderer, used reverse psychology, and utilized cunning precondition to fulfill his scheme. He also used clever paronomasia to deceive Fortunato. Montresor first manipulated Fortunato when he met him at the carnival.

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