The_Cask_of_Amontillado

Jon Ort Dr. Camp ENGL 1020 12 July 2012 The Cask of Amontillado The story of The Cask of Amontillado is told from the perspective of the character Montresor. Montresor has seemed to have gone insane due to some action of mischief his friend, Fortunato has put upon him. Montresor proceeds to find Fortunato and tricks him into coming into his family catacombs where in Fortunato’s drunken stupor Montresor chains him into a niche in a wall and proceeds to seal him inside by bricking a wall over the entrance. As the reader precedes though the story you see as Montresor goes from extremely angry to completely insane. At the beginning of the story the reader finds themselves listening to the ramblings of Montresor on how time and time again Fortunato has wronged him and how Montresor shall take no more of his mischief and will have revenge. From what the reader can tell the mischief of Fortunato is minor at best due to no additional information on his trickery. Thus at best the reader can conclude that most likely Montresor has been the butt of several of Fortunato harmless practical jokes. This is the start of the reader seeing Montresor slipping from an angry friend into an insane psychopath. Montresor knows of Fortunato’s weakness to wine and takes advantage of this by locating him at the carnival. He then proceeds to deceive and tempt Fortunato with the hints that he has a nice bottle of wine that he has hidden away at his estate. Making Fortunato very eager to enjoy this wine, Fortunato obliges and begins to follow Montresor to his shadowy estate. As the reader gets further into the story the reader sees how Montresor is going great lengths to keep Fortunato coming and interested. This shows a great deal of conniving and deceit on Montresor’s part. As they enter Montresor’s estate, Fortunato starts beginning to show issues with his health, yet as they continue the reader notices how much planning has gone into this night,. The manor is completely empty due to Montresor tricking the help into thinking he would not be there, so in his supposed absence they departed leaving the estate empty. This really gives a view into how desperate Montresor is into getting revenge on Fortunato for his unnamed insults he placed on Montresor in the past. It seems the deeper into the story the reader goes, the deeper into Montresor’s madness they are immersed. As they first enter the catacombs beneath the manor, Fortunato’s health begins to show its true signs of decay. His coughing increases to the point they have to stop walking in order for him to continue. Yet Montresor continues to deceive by feigning concern for Fortunato’s well-being but continues to entice him by continuing to bring up the wine. Fortunato, acting in true desperation to have the wine, continued down through the catacombs. As they proceed farther into the catacombs Montresor sates Fortunato’s drunken state with a small bottle of wine he had been carrying. As they finally get to the end of the catacombs Montresor leads Fortunato to a niche in the wall where he claims the Amontillado is. As Fortunato blindly stumbles into the niche Montresor swoops down upon him and chains him to the wall. As Fortunato is standing in his drunken stupor, Montresor begins to brick up the wall to cover the niche. Slowly but surely Fortunato starts to realize something is amiss. He begins to speak with Montresor telling him to release him and that the joke is over. Within minutes Fortunato realizes this is no joke or trick and begins to struggle violently against the chains with no avail. As he slowly begins to brick up the niche Montresor begins to work faster and faster into a sort of fervor. He has now gone from simply wishing to get even with Fortunato for his past immature jokes to planning and completing a plan to murder Fortunato. He knowingly took Fortunato down into the catacombs because he knew no one would be around and that due to the bacteria and mold it would quickly overpower Fortunato’s less-than-perfect health. As he finally gets to the last brick in the wall Montresor pauses and gazes into the now covered niche. Fortunato seeming to have realized his fate lets out one last cry of anguish then resigns to his fates and goes into complete silence. Montresor has now gone from one end of the spectrum to the other. As the reader precedes though the story you see as Montresor goes from extremely angry to completely insane.