The cask of amontillado - Essay Example

Sir Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado is a story of personal slight and a man’s revenge. The plot to which Montresor was able to lure Fortunato and implement his murderous scheme was exceptionally easy as he plays on the latter’s caprices. Montresor finds Fortunato in an uncompromising position as he had his defenses down by being drunk with alcohol as he enjoys the carnival. The promise of Amontillado which Montresor offers to him as a sign of goodwill and an invitation to his expertise in wine because of his social stature was an effective way of deceiving him to go along to the dungeons.

The narrator was cunning in his use of self-deprecation to keep his victim at ease. Montresor constantly employed stroking Fortunato’s ego and commending his fortune while belittling himself which the latter enjoyed and Montresor secretly disdained. “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” (Poe 11). Relentlessly, Montresor put on the show of bowing down to Fortunato and emphasizing their polar place in society.

Both born of noble blood, the obvious loss of Montresor’s money and place in society became a source of his envy and spite. But though he may have been suffering from poverty, the inherent conceit of an aristocrat remains with him and throughout the story he hints of an insult that Fortunato committed against him. Though it was not spoken in specific terms exactly what humiliation Montresor had suffered, his lust for revenge was enough to fuel murder. Work CitedPoe, Edgar Allan. The Cask of Amontillado.

Minnesota: Creative Education, 2008. Google Books. Web. 22 September 2014.