Amontillado Essay, Research Paper
In Edgar Allan Poe s short story The Cask of Amontillado , an insane narrator tells
how he devises and carries out his plot of revenge. His victim is a former friend who
goes by the name Fortunato who has unknowingly insulted the narrator. The narrator s
plan is to lure Fortunato down into the depths of his family s catacomb and kill him.
The narrator decides that the best time to put his plan into action would be during the
carnival season. He tells his servants not to leave knowing that the temptation of the
carnival season was too much for the servants to listen. Once his servants have cleared
the house the narrator waits for Fortunato to arrive. Fortunato arrives and then learns that
the narrator has purchased a large quantity of Amontillado wine and needs someone to
verify that he has indeed purchased Amontillado. The narrator suggests that another
wine tester try the wine knowing that Fortunato s deep prides in his knowledge of wines
would push him into insisting that he be the one to test it. Several times the narrator
suggests that they turn back but this just feeds Fortunato s determination.
Midway through their journey through the catacombs Fortunato makes note of the
order of the Masons, a elite society, to which the narrator reveals a trowel. Fortunato
takes it as a joke and they continue on.
As they reach their destination, the narrator tells Fortunato that the wine is stowed
inside of a niche at the very end of the catacomb. Once Fortunato is inside of the niche,
the narrator secures Fortunato to the wall using a chain. The narrator then begins to erect
a wall using building supplies that he had previously hauled down and covered with some
bones. While building Fortunato let s out a scream to which the narrator, at first worried
someone might hear but is reassured by the thickness of the walls, screams even louder
than Fortunato. He goes back to building and some time later Fortunato begins rattling
his chains. The narrator once again stops to gloat at his accomplishment. Just as he
finishes the wall he hears the jingling of the bell on Fortunato s hat which signifies his
death. The narrator quickly puts in the last brick and places the bones up against the new
wall and he leaves the catacombs.
He s gotten away with the revenge for 50 years, but he s not gotten away from his
guilt.