One of the main characters of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask Of Amontillado" is Montresor, whose conviction for revenge consumes him, as he refers to Fortunato venturing upon insult. Montresor could stand no more and vowed revenge. Montresor's refusal to tell us the source of his hatred of Fortunato is our first clue that Montresor is completely mad. Fortunato may have done nothing whatsoever to Montresor, but that doesn't matter. What matters are Montresor believes he did. The narrator's reference to "...punish with impunity" begins to show an even darker side of Montresor, but at the same time tries to convince you of an honorable intent with Montresor's reference to "A wrong" in the following sentence. Poe tries to create a character that is a sinister evil premeditating murderer with a sense of morals. Poe's intentions are not for you to sympathize with Montresor, but rather a judgment of him.

In the second paragraph Montresor states that in spite of his decision of killing Fortunato, he continued smiling in his face, but he adds: "...and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation." So, when they meet each other they behaved as a

However, the tables may have been turned on Montresor after all. Fortunato's suffering is over in an agonizing but relatively brief time; but the ensuing fifty years of Montresor's life between the murder and the actual telling of the story are spent trying to justify something done in a moment of madness. Of course this is ridiculous. Fortunato is murdered in cold blood by Montresor, and it was Montresor's own wounded pride (together with his madness) which drove him to it. By the time they reach the cellar where the imaginary cask of Amontillado is supposed to be, Montresor has Fortunato trapped like a rat, and this poor victim has no possible chance for escape.

One certain evening, "...during the supreme madness of carnival season..." Montresor meets his "friend" Fontunato, and Montresor is very kind, even affectionate towards him. He greets Fortunato... "My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met..." The reader that knows Montresor's real intentions notices here that this greeting has another meaning, different from what it would mean if we did not know about Montresor's plan. Once we are aware of Montresor's intentions, we perceive that the real meaning of the sentence could be something like "My enemy Fortunato, it is bad luck you having met me..." for instance. Here, the irony dresses itself with a bitter taste of disguised angry, another example of Montresor's evil intent on the demise of Fortunato.

lways, but now Montresor's smile had another meaning for himself. Even if Fortunato were not vain

Some common words found in the essay are:
Montresor Fortunato, Amontillado Montresor, Fontunato Montresor, Amontillado Sherry, Montresor Fortunato's, Montresor Montresor's, Cask Amontillado, montresor fortunato, cask amontillado, rampant serpent fangs, amontillado sherry, rampant serpent, meaning sentence, montresor's evil, fortified wines, serpent fangs, montresor's arms,
Approximate Word count = 1022
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)