Montressor Chains Fortunato To The Stone example essay topic

Summary The narrator, Montressor, states that he has been insulted by his acquaintance Fortunato, and he seeks revenge. He wants to do so in a measured way, without any risk to himself. He decides to use Fortunato's fondness for Italian wine against him. During the carnival season, the narrator approaches Fortunato, telling him that he has acquired something that could pass for Amontillado (a light Spanish sherry). He tells Fortunato that since he was not around, a man named Luchesi tasted it. Fortunato is apparently competitive with Luchresi and claims that this man could not "tell Amontillado from Sherry".

Fortunato is anxious to taste the wine and to determine for Montressor whether it is Amontillado or not. Fortunato insists that they go to the narrator's vaults. When the two men arrive at the narrator's house, no servants are around. They descend into the vaults, which are very damp and full of notre (saltpeter, a whitish mineral), which makes Fortunato cough. The narrator keeps offering to bring Fortunato back home, but Fortunato refuses. The men go deep into the long vaults, which are full of the dead bodies of the Montressor family.

At one point in their journey, Fortunato makes a movement that is a secret sign of the Masons, an exclusive, fraternity-like organization. Montressor does not recognize this hand signal, but claims that he is a Mason. When Fortunato asks for proof, Montressor shows him his trowel. (The implication is that Montressor is a stonemason.) Fortunato says that he must be jesting and the two men continue onward. The men walk into a crypt, where human bones decorate three of the four walls (the bones from the fourth having been thrown down on the ground).

On the exposed wall is a small recess, where Montressor tells Fortunato that the Amontillado is being stored. Fortunato starts to try to move a stone blocking the recess. Montressor chains Fortunato to the stone. Then, taunting Fortunato with an offer to leave, Montressor begins to wall up the entrance to this small crypt, leaving Fortunato inside. Fortunato screams as Montressor builds layer upon layer of the wall. Just as Montressor is about to finish, Fortunato laughs as if Montressor were playing a joke on him, but Montressor is not joking.

Finally, Fortunato stops answering Montressor, who claims that his heart feels sick because of the dampness of the catacombs. He fits the last stone into place and plasters the wall closed. He repositions the bones on the wall. For fifty years, he writes, no one has disturbed them. The final line is Latin for "May he rest in peace.".