Montresor And Fortunato example essay topic

Lies, Revenge, and Deceit In the short story "The Cask of Amontillado", by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe writes from the perspective of a man named Montresor, the narrator of this tale, who is out looking for revenge on Fortunato, a friend of sorts. After and insult by Fortunato, Montresor could take the jokes no more and began to develop the perfect plan for revenge. Revenge can drive people to unimaginable lengths and actions. Unfortunately for Fortunato, the plan Montresor had in mind was quite a bit to outlandish, as the revenge ends with Fortunato being buried alive in the catacombs under the city. It was carnival season in Italy where Montresor meet with Fortunato and decided to put his plan to work. Montresor did not want Fortunato's to think anything out of the ordinary was going on, so they began to drink wine, bottle after bottle.

Montresor plays with Fortunato saying things to make him feel comforted. After a while of walking around outside Fortunato begins to cough and Montresor expresses concern about Fortunato's. Montresor acts as if he were so concerned about Fortunato's well being, he even says, "we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter.

We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible" (907). Montresor acts as if the murder he has planned for Fortunato were never to occur. Again unfortunate for Fortunato at this point he has no reason suspect that Montresor would ever commit such a crime. Montresor is a rather sick and twisted man; he makes little jokes when he talks to Fortunato, hinting at what will happen but never giving it away completely.

Montresor wants to be the one that kills Fortunato's off. Perhaps if Fortunato were not so drunk he may have seen what was coming for him. Fortunato says again after a coughing fit, "the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough" (907).

Montresor then says, "True -- true, I replied; and, indeed, I had no intention of alarming you unnecessarily -- but you should use all proper caution" (907). Montresor even warns Fortunato in so few words that he should be cautious, but alas the wine has gotten to him. Fortunato has no idea how honest Montresor is being with him. Fortunato will most defiantly not die of a cough, but of whatever it is Montresor has planned. It almost seems as if the irony that Montresor dishes out will never stop. As Montresor and Fortunato's raise another bottle of wine they dedicate it to long life.

Montresor tells Fortunato to drink, and as he does he says, "I drink, ... to the buried that repose around us". Then again, Montresor states, ' "And I to your long life" ' (907). Montresor knows that Fortunato's life will not last much longer, it is only a little bit farther until the catacombs, and then the plan will be put into full effect. Fortunato still feels that he and Montresor are still friends, when in reality the outcome is about as far from friendship as you can come.

It is not long after this that Montresor and Fortunato make it to the catacombs and Montresor puts his plan into action. Once in the crypt Fortunato searches around for the amontillado, as he looks into a smaller single sized room in the crypt he finds the wine and when he does he is quite astonished. Suddenly Fortunato's good and trusted friend Montresor starts to fill in the open wall with bricks and mortar. Of course by now Fortunato is drunk beyond belief and has no way to stop him. Fortunato becomes sealed in the wall, buried alive and left to die all because he made a few too many jokes in the past.

Fortunato liked to joke and have a good time, seemingly at Montresor's expense. After a while though, those jokes became irritating and even worse than that. They led a man to utter insanity and drove Montresor to kill a man. Things as twisted as this story may not happen in real life, but things close to this do. Revenge and tempers flare and people kill others all the time. It just goes to show how far revenge will drive a man to go, and its actually kind of scary.

Bibliography

Short Fiction Classic and Contemporary. Fifth edition. Edited by Bonner, Charles. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002.