The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe Essay -- Papers Edgar Allan

The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe ?The Cask of Amontillado? by Edgar Allan Poe is a story about two men at a carnival, the narrator Montresor, who is being eaten by jealousy, and Fortunato, a rich drunk man that has a weakness for wine. It is through deception that Montresor achieves his revenge against Fortunato. He did not believe that killing Fortunato is wrong because of the insults and injures Fortunato brought against him. ?The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne.? (Poe, 75) says Montresor. Montresor brought Fortunato down into the catacomb. This was his chance for revenge. In the opening lines Montresor explains what Fortunato has done to him: ?he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge?(75. The next line Montresor explains that he did not threaten him back and he did not reply to the threats. It was not in Montresor?s nature to do return the threat, ?You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat?(75). Montresor went out of his way to be nice to Fortunato; meanwhile inside of him the jealousy burned. ?Neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will?(75), he did things for Fortunato and continued on making everything seem normal so that Fortunato would not expect Montresor to do anything to him. ?I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation?(75,76), Montresor continued to smile as he has been doing all the time, but now he smiled when he saw him because he was thinking of his demise. Montresor tricked Fortunato into believing that he has Amontillado because if Fortunato was drunk it would be easier to kill him. ?My dear F... ...racter is displayed like he cares for Fortunato but he is just doing these things to get him to go to he catacombs with him. Montresor in the end when Fortunato was dead, Montresor walks away saying ?In pace requiescat?(75), may he rest in peace. Montresor does not really care if he is at peace now. He just does not want to get caught. With Fortunado dead and buried, Montresor has won. Thanks to his deception he has the revenge he wanted for so long. There are no more insults or injuries for Montresor to tolerate. Fortunato is dead, never to be seen again. Because Montresor believes what he has done is not wrong he does not have to worry about the guilt or shame afterwards. Works Cited: Poe, Edgar Allan. "A Cask of Amontillado." Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Orlando: Harcourt, 1997. 209-14.