Montresor’s Must Haves for Murder In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” one of the main characters, Fortunato, has insulted the other, Montresor. Acting as if nothing has come between them Montresor requests that his former friend Fortunato journey into the vaults to taste test a wine for authenticity. After several brief delays to gaze at the increasing nitre and drink multiple more wines the pair reaches the conclusion of their journey together. After asking Fortunato to step into a niche and retrieve the Amontillado, Montresor bound him to the wall with shackles and began to rebuild the wall of stones and remains behind Fortunato. After several bouts of conversation which ranged from moans sorrow and silence, to incomprehensible shouting, and then finally peaking at Fortunato begging Montresor to release him, Montresor finished the rampart of the catacombs and silenced Fortunato forever (Poe 1108-1113). Montresor was both vengeful and intelligent, but also cautious which ultimately allowed him to achieve his vengeance and Fortunato’s demise. When Fortunato wronged Montresor in the very beginning of the story Montresor desired vengeance, stating, “but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (Poe 1108). This statement preludes to a dark path for the remainder of the story as Montresor goes on to define his definition of being avenged as: punishing with impunity, punishing without retribution, and punishment the one who has done the wrong as much as the one who was wronged (Poe 1108). Now that Montresor has revealed his wish for darker plans for the misfortunate Fortunato the path that this story will take becomes clearer as the pair progress down into the vaults. Due to Montresor’s vengefulness Fortunato was destined to perish. Whether it be deep underground in Montresor’s trap, or some other reason by his hand Fortunato could not have escaped this fate. However, in this particular instance only Montresor would be allowed to leave the vaults. In order for Montressor to enact his revenge he also required a certain level of intelligence. As the story progresses Poe made it obvious that Montresor possessed this character trait and that he did not use it sparingly. Even though Montresor hated Fortunato to his very core, he, “never gave utterance to a threat” or gave, by word nor deed, Fortunato cause to doubt Montresor’s goodwill (Poe 1108). Planning to enact his revenge Montresor sought out Fortunato and beseeched of him to inspect a pipe of Amontillado. As the pair conversate Montresor never rushes to ask Fortunato to his vaults, and initially protests when Fortunato insists that they go. Montresor continues these protests until it is too late and his despicable plan is in place. Montresor performs these acts of protest in an attempt to conceal his true intentions of luring
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Montresor’s vengefulness is what first enacted his plan to achieve revenge in the form of Fortunato’s death. Montresor’s intelligence was what led to Fortunato entering the vaults with Montresor in arm, completely unaware of the perils that lay deep underground. Lastly, it was Montresor’s cautiousness that allowed him to not only dispose of Fortunato, but to do so discretely and unknowingly to the general public. These three characteristics of Montresor allowed him to dispose of Fortunato in a way that no one would expect, and to achieve vengeance of the highest
Montresor’s vengefulness is what first enacted his plan to achieve revenge in the form of Fortunato’s death. Montresor’s intelligence was what led to Fortunato entering the vaults with Montresor in arm, completely unaware of the perils that lay deep underground. Lastly, it was Montresor’s cautiousness that allowed him to not only dispose of Fortunato, but to do so discretely and unknowingly to the general public. These three characteristics of Montresor allowed him to dispose of Fortunato in a way that no one would expect, and to achieve vengeance of the highest