Cask of Amontillado

¶ … Cask of Amontillado" Edgar Allen Poe uses a number of elements to increase the shock value of the murder perpetrated by Montresor. The victim is Fortunato, whom Montresor attempts until the very end to convince of nothing but his own friendship and goodwill. There are several elements of setting and situation that aid Montresor in his intention to murder Fortunato. The shock value of this event is further enhanced by the motive, which appears petty at best.

Perhaps it says something of Montresor's nature that he is motivated by nothing better than an unspecified insult to murder a man by enclosing him alive behind a stone wall. Throughout the story Poe shows how the setting, situation, and Fortunato's own flawed nature contribute to his murder. The most devious method that Montresor uses to lure Fortunato to his eventual death is the pretense of his continued friendship. Fortunato's own trusting nature is a further catalyst for the success of this method.

Poe shoes that Montresor, despite his outrage and his desire for revenge, continues to show friendship towards Fortunato. The former succeeds well in this because of his own mental position: "I continued .. To smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my to smile now was at the thought of his immolation." This pretense as well as Fortunato's trusting nature then contribute to the ease with which Montresor lures him to the night of his death.

Several elements of situation furthermore aids Montresor in his aim on the particular night the he chooses for Fortunato's murder. The carnival is the most important element that gives rise to the events that follow. Because of this, Fortunato is perhaps more inebriated than would otherwise have been the case. Furthermore, Montresor has ensured the absence of his servants during this particular night.

This is combined with both Fortunato's relative innocence and his pride in his own connoisseurship -- identified as a weakness earlier in the story -- to lead him into Montresor's trap. Montresor knows that Fortunato would not be able to resist the suggestion that another person may know more about artifacts and treasures than he does. This is the essential weakness that Montresor uses against him by craftily inserting Luchresi's name into the conversation.

The threat of the other connoisseur then is what ensures Fortunato's insistence in following Montresor to his catacombs, despite certain obvious dangers to the former's health. The physical setting is particularly symbolic of Fortunato's situation, and should have perhaps alerted him to Montresor's true intention. Nonetheless, the previous pretense of friendship, as well as the threat of Luchresi, together with Fortunato's drunkenness, ensures that he suspects nothing.

Montresor then lures Fortunato deeper and deeper into his damp catacombs by making continued references to the latter's expertise in matters of culture and art, and by offering him more wine. When they reach their destination, both Fortunato and the reader find that the "pipe" of Amontillado was in fact to be Fortunato's final resting-place -- the cask. The.