Why Is Montresor Wrong

1. The entire story is based on the fact that Fortunato has wronged Montresor many times, and Montresor dealt with them until Fortunato “ventured upon insult,” which caused Montresor to “vow revenge.” Though it seems the “insult” must be so terrible that Montresor is willing to murder him for it, the reader can not be entirely sure that the killing is justified since Montresor is not of sound mind. Because Montresor is the narrator, and unreliable at that, the reader is forced to learn about the events through a perspective tainted by emotions and bias. For example, the person telling the tale may embellish or downplay events in the story in order to look like the “good guy” without completely lying. Montresor could be making up the entire story, or he could be embellishing or downplaying the story so that he could defend his actions. If Montresor knew he did wrong, he may have left out exactly what Fortunato did, so he could embellish the wrongs to make them seem terrible, when they are the smallest of sins. Embellishing the wrongs helps to justify to the reader that the killing of Fortunato was a suitable thing to do based on the “thousand injuries of Fortunato.” Due to the unreliable narrator, the reader may not be reading the events as they happened, but rather Montresor’s

Montresor’s plot for revenge more closely reflects the characteristics of a psychopath as opposed to those of a sociopath. Firstly, the premeditation of the murder is a characteristic of a psychopath. Psychopaths tend to plan out their murders and attacks while sociopaths are more impulsive and attack or murder their victims without much of a plan or thought of consequences. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor has obviously at least somewhat planned a murder by carrying a trowel with him and having the masonry prepared when he arrived. Also, keeping Fortunato drunk so that it would be easier to chain him up is a sign that Montresor planned in advance to kill his