"The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe
"The Cask of Amontillado" is a short horror story by Edgar Allan Poe, narrated from the perspective of Montresor, an Italian aristocrat seeking revenge against a man named Fortunato. The narrative unfolds during the lively carnival season, a time characterized by chaos and revelry, which serves as a backdrop for Montresor's dark intentions. He believes Fortunato has wronged him through a series of insults and seeks to exact a meticulously crafted revenge that will remain undetected. Montresor lures Fortunato into the depths of his family catacombs under the pretense of validating a rare wine, Amontillado, which Fortunato, a self-proclaimed wine expert, is eager to taste. As they descend into the eerie, wine-filled corridors, the atmosphere grows increasingly sinister. Ultimately, Montresor chains Fortunato in a crypt and walls him in with stones, leaving him to confront his fate alone. The story explores themes of pride, revenge, and the psychological complexities of its characters, making it a haunting exploration of human motivations and morality.
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"The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe
First published: 1846
Type of plot: Horror
Time of work: Unspecified
Locale: Italy
The Story
Edgar Allan Poe wrote the horror story "The Cask of Amontillado.” Told in the first person by an Italian aristocrat, “The Cask of Amontillado” engages the reader by making him or her a confidant to Montresor’s macabre tale of revenge. The victim is Fortunato, who, the narrator claims, gave him a thousand injuries that he endured patiently, but when Fortunato dared insult him, he vowed revenge. It must be a perfect revenge, one in which Fortunato will know fully what is happening to him and in which Montresor will be forever undetected. To accomplish it, Montresor waits until carnival season, a time of “supreme madness,” when Fortunato, already half-drunk and costumed as a jester, is particularly vulnerable. Montresor then informs him that he has purchased a pipe of Amontillado wine but is not sure he has gotten the genuine article. He should, he says, have consulted Fortunato, who prides himself on being an expert on wine, adding that because Fortunato is engaged, he will go instead to Luchesi. Knowing his victim’s vanity, Montresor baits him by saying that some fools argue that Luchesi’s taste is as fine as Fortunato’s. The latter is hooked, and Montresor conducts him to his empty palazzo and leads him down into the family catacombs, all the while plying him with drink. Through underground corridors with piles of skeletons alternating with wine casks, Montresor leads Fortunato, whose jester’s bells jingle grotesquely in the funereal atmosphere. In the deepest crypt there is a small recess, and there Montresor chains Fortunato to a pair of iron staples and then begins to lay a wall of stone and mortar, with which he buries his enemy alive. While he does so, he relishes the mental torment of his victim, whom he then leaves alone in the dark, waiting in terror for his death.
Principal Characters:
Montresor , the narrator, an Italian noblemanFortunato , a connoisseur of wine
Bibliography
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