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English 8
17 November, 2015
Revenge in "The Cask of Amontillado"
Revenge is defined as "to take vengeance for; inflict punishment for; avenge"
(www.dictionary.com). Revenge is the theme of Edgar Allen Poe's, "The Cask of Amontillado."
In this story Montresor takes revenge on his "friend," Fortunato , a man who prides himself in
"his connoisseurship in wine" (Poe), after Fortunato insults him. He lures Fortunato down into
his wine vaults with the tempting prospect of a cask of Amontillado, where he then walls him up
inside a vault. In the beginning of the story he states, "I must not only punish, but punish with
impunity" (Poe). Montresor sought to take his ultimate revenge on Fortunato and not get
punished himself. Though Montresor intended to take revenge upon Fortunato and his insults, he
only succeeded in creating, for himself, a guilty conscience.
It is apparent that Montresor planned for a while how to trick Fortunato when he says,
"At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely settled" (Poe). He wanted his revenge
to be thorough and satisfactory. He never gave Fortunato any inkling to be wary of him and
continued his friendly charade. Montresor meets up with Fortunato, who was dressed as a
festive jester, at a carnival. He then proceeds to tell him about the cask of Amontillado wine that
he had bought and that he is on his way to see Luchesi, another connoisseur of wine. Fortunato
ridicules him, believing Montresor stupid for buying the Amontillado with out first checking if it
was genuine. He insists on seeing the wine, partly because he believes Luchesi to be a fool and
perhaps hoping to humiliate Montresor for buying a fake cask of wine. Fortunato is a vain man
who is always wanting to show his knowledge of wine; Montresor knows this and uses it to lure
him to the vaults by suggesting that he will have Luchesi check the wine. It is important in their
dialogue here when Fortunato says, "I have no engagement" (Poe). This is how Montresor
checks that Fortunato is not to be expected somewhere later that night.
In the beginning of the story Montresor states, "A wrong is unredressed when retribution
overtakes its redresser" (Poe). This means a wrong is righted when the victim punishes the
assailant. It also means that any one that witnesses Montresor harming Fortunato can punish
Montresor back. So when Montresor left the carnival with Fortunato, he cloaked himself, and
since the vaults are near his house and he can not have any witnesses, he released his staff for the
night. After they have been in the vaults for a little, Fortunato then asks Montresor what his
family motto is. "Nemo me impune lacessit" (Poe), Montresor replies. His family motto means
"no one attacks me with impunity," this means that no one shall punish him without being
punished back. They enter the antique vaults with only their torches and as they get farther
along, Fortunato begins to cough. Montresor offers Fortunato a draught of Medoc, another type
of wine. Montresor pretends to be concerned about Fortunato's health when he is really only
using it to his advantage by getting him drunk. Getting Fortunato drunk helped Montresor to
chain him to the wall, but it in no way helped him get satisfactory revenge. When Montresor
says they should turn back for fear of Fortunato's health, Fortunato says his most memorable
line, " 'I shall not die of a cough!' 'True, true' " (Poe) replies Montresor. It is here in the story
where we first get a hint of what is going to happen to Fortunato.
Just before they reach the vault where the Amontillado is, Fortunato makes a grotesque
gesture with his hands. When Montresor does not understand the gesture, Fortunato repeats it,
when Montresor still does not understand Fortunato proclaims that he is not in the brotherhood
of masons.
"Yes, yes," I said; "yes, yes."
"You? Impossible! A mason?"
"A mason," I replied.
"A sign," he said, "a sign."
"It is this," I answered, producing a trowel from beneath the folds of
my roquelaire.
By showing Fortunato the trowel, or murder weapon, perhaps he was giving him a chance to beg
forgiveness, but since Fortunato was drunk, Montresor knew that he wouldn't recognize what it
meant. This conversation is also important because Montresor is most likely punishing
Fortunato for some insult or taunt and here is Fortunato, close to his death, taunting Montresor
again!
In "The Cask of Amontillado," Montresor does not get his perfect revenge. In the
beginning of the story he stated that to have perfect revenge he must punish with impunity and
make himself known as the avenger to Fortunato. The first he achieves, for he says, "for the half
of a century no mortal has disturbed them [Fortunato's bones]" (Poe), but the second, he does
not. Near the end of the story, Montresor hears the chains attached to Fortunato clanking and
listens closely to give himself satisfaction. He soon grows anxious for a reply, for to have
revenge the victim must be conscious. Montresor thrusts the torch into the vault to try and
arouse Fortunato guessing he might already be dead. By forcing the torch in the vault it confirms
his suspicions. Surely even a drunk Fortunato would respond to a flame thrown on him. Since
he died so quickly, perhaps because of his cough combined with the dampness of the vaults,
Montresor was never able to make himself known as the avenger. First off, Fortunato was too
drunk to even acknowledge what was happening. Since he was so drunk he couldn't figure what
Montresor was doing or why. It wasn't satisfactory to Montresor because he planned to drag out
the murder by first waiting for the effects of the alcohol to wear off, then tell Fortunato what was
happening and why, and at that point leaving Fortunato to think about what happened while he
slowly suffocated.
After Montresor chains Fortunato in the vault he quickly begins work to seal up the wall.
When he was half way through Fortunato began to scream violently and Montresor fumbled with
the trowel. Montresor pauses and hesitates, but quickly thinks of why he is doing this and is
reassured. This is important because here we see Montresor thinking that this maybe this isn't
the best way to get his revenge. When he realizes Fortunato is dead without him revealing
himself as the avenger he says his heart grows sick, but quickly blames it on the dampness of the
vaults.
"Montresor's “rationalization” for his sick heart (“… on account of the dampness of the
catacombs”) infers that he recognizes the irony of his self-defeat, but cannot directly
admit it."
(Info Refuge)
It is here where Montresor realizes that he did not exact his perfect revenge, but instead killed.
Montresor wanted revenge, but in the end he only received a guilty conscience.
Word Count: 1,138
Works Cited
1. Krack, Sebastian. "Revenge in Edgan Allan Poe`s "The Cask of Amontillado"" Grin.
N.p., 2000. Web. 26 Oct. 2015. <http://www.grin.com/en/e-book/97673/revenge-inedgan-allan-poe-s-the-cask-of-amontillado>.
2. "Themes" Short Stories for Students Vol. 7. Gale Cengage eNotes.com 26 Oct, 2015
<http://www.enotes.com/topics/cask-amontillado/themes#themes-themes>
3. FOSSEMÒ, SANDRO D. "THE MYSTERIOUS REVENGE IN “THE CASK OF
AMONTILLADO”." Innsmouth Free Press. Trans. Rossella Cirigliano. N.p., n.d. Web.
26 Oct. 2015. <http://www.innsmouthfreepress.com/blog/article-the-mysterious-revengein-the-cask-of-amontillado/>.
4. "The Act of Revenge, The Cask of Amontillado Essay." Essay Forum. N.p., 13 Oct.
2008. Web. 26 Oct. 2015. <http://www.essayforum.com/writing/act-revenge-caskamontillado-2793/>.
5. "“The Cask of Amontillado”: Montresor’s Revenge." Web log post. InfoRefuge. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2015. <http://www.inforefuge.com/the-cask-of-amontilladomontresors-revenge>.
6. Merriam Webster. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2015. <http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/nemo%20me%20impune%20lacessit>.
7. Eddie. Honor-Shame Culture in “Amontillado" N.p., 12 Apr. 2009. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.
<https://poeticrevenge.wordpress.com/2009/04/12/honor-shame-culture-inamontillado/>.