The Cast of Amontillado

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Analysis of the Character Montresor in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” the narrator, Montresor, tells a story of revenge. He is very proud of his accomplishments and wants the reader to marvel at his craftiness. By telling the story from Montresor’s point of view, the reader can see into the frightening mind of a murderer. Edgar Allan Poe wrote the story with Montresor’s perspective. He promises to get revenge against his friend Fortunato. Due to his pride and vanity he thinks his family’s honor is at stake. Poe intends for the reader to judge Montresor’s evil mind. Montresor is not only evil, but he is insane. He says that he has suffered a “thousand injuries” because of Fortunato, and now he has insulted him and that is more than Montresor could take. The reader will never find out what horrible thing Fortunato did to make Montresor want to kill him. The setting of the story is in an Italian city probably during the eighteenth century. It is dusk, just before dark and is during a carnival. Montresor’s friend, Fortunato has somehow insulted him or his family and he seeks revenge. Fortunato thinks that he is a connoisseur of excellent wine and unfortunately for him, he drinks too much on the night of the story. His senses are cloudy and he is lured into the catacombs by Montresor to find the rare Amontillado wine. He has no clue that Montresor is luring him to his death. The events of the story happened about 50 years ago. Poe uses a flashback of telling this story. The reader knows that Montresor has accomplished the perfect murder because he obviously got away with it. If not for the flashback, the reader would never know if Fortunato somehow escaped or if Montresor was blamed with the crime. Montresor tells the reader that the wall has stayed the same for 50 years, so no one ever found
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