Hawthorne's "The Birthmark": themes and analysis

Jealousy in the Cask of Amontillado

In my opinion, the trait that drives Edgar Allan Poe's short story, "The Cask of Amontillado," is jealousy. The person telling the story is completely obsessed with his jealousy for a man by the name of Fortunato, a man who believes Montresor, the narrator, to be a friend who shares common interests with him.

Montresor begins his story saying that he has suffered "a thousand injuries" at the hand of his supposed friend Fortunato. However, he does not give evidence of these insults or injuries. The story implies that these are insults and not physical injuries; no man would repeatedly be physically harmed by a man and then deliberately place himself in a situation where he was alone with him and could not summon help if he needed it, but this is exactly what Montresor of the story plots to do. He intends to maneuver Fortunato into a vulnerable position where he cannot summon help, and then punish him severely for those "thousand injuries."

Montresor is obsessed with the supposed insults from Fortunato because he is also obsessed with his own imagined greatness. Montresor grudgingly acknowledges that Fortunato is a man of influence. The thing they both have in common is a feeling that they both are true connoisseurs of fine wines. He describes Fortunato's claims of expertise in other fields as quackery but does respect his knowledge of wines. The truth is that Montresor cannot stand the fact that someone is his equal in any way, and so imagines that Fortunato has treated him so badly that he deserves the terrible fate that awaits him.

Montresor lures Fortunato to his home by claiming to have acquired a cask of Amontillado, a Spanish sherry. He pretends that he may have been cheated and should have asked Fortunato his opinion of the sherry before buying it but would still like his opinion now. As the story progresses, we see two things about Montresor. First, he has planned his act of revenge carefully, making sure that his servants are gone and will not return. He has picked a night of celebration and revelry for his crime to lure them away for the entire night. Second, we see his fawning attitude toward his intended victim, putting the victim off guard that anything could possibly be wrong. Montresor inquires after Fortunato's health and suggests that because Fortunato has a cold, this is not the time to visit Montresor's drafty cellars. But he also knows that Fortunato cannot resist a chance to exercise his skills at wine-tasting.

As Montresor and Fortunato trudge deeper into the cellars, Fortunato's cold is aggravated, and once again Montresor makes a great show of looking after his friend's health, which only seems to serve to encourage Fortunato to keep going. Along the walk, Montresor reveals his family's motto: "Nemo me impune lacessit," or "no one attacks me with impunity." But this begs the question once again: what has Fortunato done to deserve the death that awaits him? The only evidence I see is Montresor's considerable ego. He considers him the superior of nearly everyone, but Fortunato matches him in one skill - his knowledge of liquors. For this, apparently, Fortunato must die.

As the two men walk, the situation becomes more grotesque, for now they are walking through family tombs, with the skeletons of Montresor's ancestors visible. Ironically, they both agree that the reason for the trek is the Amontillado. Montresor has actually given his friend multiple opportunities to retreat, to say something like, "Friend, you know as much as I do about spirits. You do not need my opinion to make sure you were not cheated. If you think it is Amontillado, then it surely is." Instead, Fortunato seals his fate, because with all of his actions, he validates the notion that Montresor actually needs his opinion. This is the great injury Fortunato has committed, over and over: he believes that his skills at judging spirits are the equal of, or possibly superior to, those of Montresor. It reminds me of the wicked witch who is compelled to condemn Snow White to death because a magic mirror tells her Snow White is prettier than she, the witch, is.

Montresor has taken precautions all along the way to make sure he will be able to handle his friend when the time comes, plying him with alcohol along the way, so that by the time Fortunato gets to the end of the final passage, he is unsteady on his feet, either from the wine, or his illness, or both. Quickly Montresor shackles him to the wall, and begins cementing the wall that will seal him in with a trowel he had already shown Fortunato.

The final scene is a grisly one. As Montresor works, calmly bricking up the tomb that will hold his friend's body forever, Fortunato realizes that this is no joke. He rattles his chained hands and cries out, but none of this bothers Montresor. In fact, when Montresor is partly done, he sits down -- on a pile of the bones of family members -- to consider what he has done, so far. He has not finished his masonry yet, so it seems that he is staring into the face of the man he is going to suffocate. Fortunato will disappear and no one will know what happened. Because he disappered on a night of revelry while in costume and a mask, no one will even know who it was that strolled away with Montresor. Montresor has planned the perfect person to commit it. He seems to have ice water for blood.