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What Makes Montresor A Misleading Narrator

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Montresor: A Misleading Narrator
The narrator, Montresor, in Edgar Allan Poe's unsettling short story "The Cask of Amontillado," designs a web of deception and manipulation to mislead and misdirect the reader. As the story progresses, the reader is increasingly lured into Montresor's troubled mind, questioning the narrator's honesty and becoming immersed in the disturbing atmosphere of approaching tragedy. Montresor's deceptive skills not only confuse the reader but also serve to justify his vengeful deeds, providing a lingering impression of psychological manipulation and the deadly depths to which human dishonesty may go. Montresor misleads and misdirects the reader with irony, verbal manipulation, and a false sense of friendliness, ultimately disguising his genuine goals and justifying his spiteful deeds.
Montresor opens the story by portraying himself as a friendly and pleasant individual. He addresses …show more content…

For instance, he repeatedly states that he has no intention of taking revenge while simultaneously describing his detailed plans for retribution against Fortunato. “This cough will not kill me. I will not die of a cough ” (Mays 176). The quote is ironic because Fortunato will actually die. He will die from following Montresor into the Catacombs, not from the cough. This verbal irony creates a gap between Montresor's words and his true intentions, keeping the reader off-guard and uncertain. “ I said to him--'My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met ” (Mays 174). This is ironic because Fortunato is unlucky to have met Montresor at Carnival and to have followed him into the catacombs, where something horrible is about to happen. This irony not only heightens the story's tension and suspense but also supports the idea that dishonesty and duplicity can thrive under the pretense of friendship, eventually leading to a surprising and ironic twist that makes a lasting impression on the

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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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Poe creates Montresor’s character cunning, secretive, and evil which helps create the suspense in the story. Poe is able to create and sustain a suspenseful mood in “The Cask of Amontillado” using setting, foreshadowing, and the characterization of Montresor. One way Poe creates suspense in his

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Montresor is very manipulative, using reverse psychology to drag his friend to the catacombs, the future place of his grave. Once Montresor had his sick, drunk friend Fortunato in the palm

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In the story ¨The Cask of Amontillado¨ by Edgar Allan Poe is a powerful story about revenge that takes readers into the mind of a murderer. Montresor is a perfect example of an unreliable narrator because he was capable of burying Fortunato into a vault. He vows revenge on Fortunato for an insult. He can’t be trusted, even if he’d be lying about Fortunato’s death. Fortunato´s name means ¨fortunate¨ which in reality, he didn 't really turn out that way.

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Edgar Allen Poe uses irony to create suspense in "The Cask of Amontillado", by using Montresosr plotted revenge against

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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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When the two encounter at “about dusk” (166), Montresor welcomes his friend exclaiming warmly, “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met” (166). However, Fortunato is oblivious to how Montresor intends to murder within the coming hours. Thus, Montresor’s greeting of his friends is a form of verbal irony. Fortunato is not at all “luckily met” (166) as Montresor claims since Fortunato would have been better off not seeing his friend at all. By having Montresor great his friend using verbal irony, the author is able to emphasize the theme of betrayal among friends.

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He’s the embodiment of the sneaky, vengeful part of human beings. By examining these qualities in his extreme personality, we can better analyze some of the less pleasant aspects of our own. If we pretend we can’t relate to Montresor at all, we miss this opportunity for self-reflection. This is another area where we can totally identify with Montresor.

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This declaration not only showcases his arrogance, but his superiority as well. Furthermore, Fortunato's arrogance is evident in his dismissal of Montresor's concerns about the dampness of the catacombs, as he proudly proclaims, "The cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough" (Poe, "The Cask of Amontillado"). This statement underscores Fortunato's disdain for weakness and his unwavering confidence in his own resilience. However, this arrogance ultimately proves to be his undoing, as it blinds him to the true danger lurking beneath Montresor's friendly facade.

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Poe’s Use of Unreliable Narrator in “The Cask of Amontillado” The unreliable narrator in the short story “ The Cask of Amontillado” draws the reader's attention. Edgar Allan Poe uses an unreliable narrator in “The Cask Amontillado” and his theme is revenge. Poe’s use of an unreliable narrator in his short story successfully creates a nervous effect for his readers. Poe uses an unreliable narrator by how he is very sneaky with his ways and how he wants to get back at someone for insulting him he is probably going to kill them.

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As the story progresses it becomes exceptionally evident the role external conflict plays in creating Montresor’s character. To begin, Montresor mentions “the thousand injuries of Fortunato” and the revenge he is determined to get from the most recent injury, an insult (Poe 543). By Montresor choosing to open the story with remarks about Fortunato’s wrong doings towards him, it’s clear that he holds a grudge. These conflicts between the two men throughout their friendship have had such an impression on Montresor that it’s over taken him – it’s all he can think about; thus, he immediately mentions these conflicts at the beginning of the story. In result, Montresor as a character appears quite hostile and as a narrator appears unreliable.

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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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Characterization proves the theme that Fortunato's insults make an enemy of Montresor. Montresor becomes vindictive when Fortunato’s insults start turning towards his family. Montresor’s family motto is no one punishes him and gets away with it (Fields). This gives reason to believe that honor dictated that Montresor avenge the insults Fortunato laid at his feet. Montresor says, “THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as

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This is one other time that Montresor uses reverses psychology to get what he wants. He knows that it will only make Fortunato want to keep on going. Montresor does not want a little cough to be responsible for Fortunato’s death as he wants to take full credit. Fortunato even says, “Enough… the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough,” only to have Montresor reply “True – true,” (Poe).

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I shall not die from a cough” (86). He insisted to go to the catacombs. Fortunato does know he will not die from a cough, but he does not know he will die from something bigger that night. On the way to the catacombs, Montresor asks Fortunato what the motto is. Fortunato says that it is, “Nemo me impune lacessit” (86).

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