Angry over numerous injuries and an unspecified insult, Montresor resolves to avenge himself without being caught, and also to make sure that Fortunato knows he is responsible.ĭuring the annual Carnival season, Montresor finds a drunken Fortunato and asks for his help in authenticating a recently purchased pipe (about 130 gallons, or 492 litres) of what has been described to him as Amontillado wine. The story's narrator, a nobleman named Montresor, describes his revenge against fellow noble Fortunato. Plot summary Fortunato and Montresor drink in the catacombs. The story has been frequently adapted in multiple forms since its original publication. Poe may have been inspired to write the story by his own real-life desire for revenge against contemporary literary rivals. Further, Fortunato is depicted as an expert on wine, which Montresor exploits in his plot, but he does not display the type of respect towards alcohol expected of such experts. However, Poe also leaves clues that Montresor has lost his family's prior status and blames Fortunato. Scholars have noted that Montresor's reasons for revenge are unclear and that he may simply be insane. At the end of the story, Montresor reveals that 50 years have passed since he took revenge and Fortunato's body has not been disturbed. For unknown reasons, Montresor seeks revenge upon Fortunato and is actually luring him into a trap, entombing him alive within the catacombs. Fortunato follows him into the Montresor family vaults, which also serve as catacombs. ![]() Montresor invites Fortunato to sample amontillado that he has just purchased without proving its authenticity. As in " The Black Cat" and " The Tell-Tale Heart", Poe conveys the story from the murderer's perspective. Like several of Poe's stories, and in keeping with the 19th-century fascination with the subject, the narrative follows a person being buried alive – in this case, by immurement. The story, set in an unnamed Italian city at carnival time, is about a man taking fatal revenge on a friend who, he believes, has insulted him. " The Cask of Amontillado" ( ) is a short story by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book. This choice also suggests that women, as well as men, are capable of displaying sociopathic tendencies and committing gruesome crimes.Illustration of "The Cask of Amontillado" by Harry Clarke, 1919 Consequently, the narrator is meant to be completely anonymous, possibly to allow a wider range of readers to step into their shoes. ![]() Nevertheless, if Poe had wanted to clarify the matter of gender, he could easily have done so by including some telling detail. In the mid-19th century it was unlikely that three policemen would stand around waiting for a woman to move the furniture. Scholars like Gita Rajan actively argue that the murderer is a woman, but the fact that the narrator is able to dismember the body and personally brings chairs for the policemen into the bedroom suggests a man, not a woman. ![]() It is tempting to assume the crime was committed by a younger man, but there is no textual proof to support such an assumption. The reader has no knowledge of the narrator’s gender, age, name, or relation to the victim. The person telling the story remains a mystery.
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