Montresor Chains Fortunato To The Wall example essay topic

Edgar Allen Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" is a horror story about a carefully thought out and planned act of revenge, and murder. Poe lets the reader know right away and throughout the story that the outcome will be Montresor getting revenge on Fortunato. The story begins with Montresor vowing revenge on Fortunato for an insult, which is not clearly told. Montresor had planned and carefully designed this revenge, and murder.

Planning a murder that could not be traced took a lot of forethought and preparation. One could only imagine the time it took to methodically and with cold calculation plan his revenge. In his plan, Montresor had to be sure that Fortunato would not become aware of his fate. Montresor knew Fortunato had a weakness, and he was going to exploit it to his advantage in order to undertake his plan. Fortunato was a connoisseur of fine wines. He took great pride in his knowledge, taste and smell of wines.

Montresor tempts Fortunato to come visit his vaults to taste his newly purchased Amontillado. Once there, Montresor gets Fortunato drunk and then buries him alive by walling him into a recess in the wall. Evidence that Montresor's revenge was carefully though tout and planned is shown throughout the story. The time of day Montresor chooses to undertake his plan is one aspect of this. At "about dusk" during "the supreme madness of the carnival" is a perfect time for Montresor to disappear with Fortunato unnoticed. The fact that Fortunato is wearing a clown costume only helps ensure that he won't be recognized when in the presence of Montresor.

Just about everything Montresor says is ironic leading one to believe he is saying things in a taunting, sick way. He keeps inquiring about Fortunato's health and says he will not die of a cold. What it seems he is really saying is that Fortunato will not die of a cold but will die a horrible death by his hands. Montresor tells Fortunato that he is a member of the masons. Fortunato thinks he means he is of a fellow member of the society of Masons. What Montresor really means is that he is a mason as in a bricklayer about to brick him in and bury him alive.

More evidence supporting the idea that Montresor had put a lot of thought and planning into the murder is when he pulls the trowel out from the folds in his cloak. Then Montresor " uncovered a quantity of building stone and mortar" from underneath a pile of bones, and just happened to have his trowel inside his cloak seems a little suspicious. The staples and chains that were already attached to the wall, deep in the recess, before the two men arrived seems a little suspicious as well. The ending of the story is very suspenseful and scary.

Montresor chains Fortunato to the wall and begins to layer the bricks. Montresor is committed to finishing what he set out and planned to do despite the desperate pleas from Fortunato. When the last brick is set in place, we know Fortunato's fate has been sealed.

Bibliography

Kirshner and Mandell; Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing Compact Fourth Edition; 2000; Heinle and Heinle.