Unika Boyce-Cooley

Uwrt 1102
Melissa Quitadamo
13, March, 2017

The Man Behind the Cask

The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe was a gruesome short story that has

tested time and readers alike. This story takes place during a time where family was power and

without that you were the lowest. And to be the lowest meant that your family lost respect and

value. The story is about a man who takes revenge on another for the insults and disrespect

towards him and his family. The story ends with this upset man cuffing the innocent one to a wall

and covering him up with bricks in a catacomb under his house, but is there more to this story? A

few things readers seldom delve deeper into are the motives, symbols, and message behind the

story. Was Montresor mad about these unknown insults or was it something deeper we could not

see? Maybe Montresor was jealous of Fortunatos success as his family started to decline. It also

could have been possible that Montresor saw parts of what he wished he was in Fortunato and

wanted to bury that part of him so it no longer existed. I believe Montresor was forced by his

family honor and superego to inflict punishment on Fortunato. Montresors family

status forced him to act upon Fortunato. Fortunato becomes significant as the object of

Montresors self-hatred, of the projection of his guilt for his aristocratic familys decline.

Montresor says at one point that the Montresors were a great and numerous family,

implying that they once were but no longer are (Engel). Montresor lived during a time where the

family was a political unit and his family was losing their power. He reflects on this as he takes

Fortunato deeper into the crypts, indicating he was aware that there was a power struggle
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between the two men. Since families were political units, it can also be argued that Montresor

was acting patriotically. He was seeking vengeance on his familys enemy. He saw Fortunato as a

threat to not only him but his entire family so he did what he thought was obligatory.

Montresors coat of arms and the explicit meaning behind it is also evidence to claim that

he used family as an excuse to torture Fortunato. His coat of arms is depicted with one golden

foot crushing a snake which has its fangs embedded in the heel and the words Nemo me impune

lacessit (White). The details are essential to understanding the family imperatives rooted in

Montresors mind as he plans and carries out the killing of Fortunato. When translated, his

family motto means No one attacks me with impunity. Further breaking it down, we see that

any type of insult, no matter how big or small, warrants retaliation. The author, Patrick White,

also makes a connection between their motto and the American revolution motto Dont tread on

me, which emphasizes the idea of retaliation. This leads to the author claiming that Montresors

coat of arms is not only arrogant for this time, but also barbaric for the use of violence in the

imagery of the coat. I agree with this statement.

There is also evidence in Latin symbolism that shows the meaning behind the two

characters to prove Fortunato, in theory, is supposed to be more successful than Montresor. This

leads to the need for Montresor to get rid of Fortunato. This would make it more clear to the

reader why Montresor had such a deep disdain for Fortunato. Fortunato is fortunes favorite- the

Lady Fortunato, none other than Lady Luck and by extension Gods favorite (Gruesser). In

every scenario, Fortunato is supposed to make it out on top of Montresor. He is innocent, lucky,

and doing no wrong. This is how he is portrayed in the story, as he is inebriated and lead to his

death when all he wanted was to see his wife. Montresor, in contrast, is rooted in the physical

and material world (Gruesser). He is so focus on his family name and riches that he does not
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think about what is to come. After he buries Fortunato, Poe does not give him reprieve from his

crime because he can recall major details fifty years later, which is a clear indication that it is still

laying on his heart. Montresor has not been blessed, as he asserts he once was. Instead he has lost

his status. To someone who is unfortunate, like Montresor, Fortunatos happiness is a daily injury

(Gruesser). This is more evidence showing how worldly and materialistic Montresor is. He chose

not to be happy for his friend and turned his success into an internal struggle for himself, leading

him to kill Fortunato.

Montresor was upset and jealous. He sees that this man has come up in the ranks and was

successful. He felt as if Fortunato was trying to surpass him and was doing so nonchalantly

instead of making a big deal out of it; which upset Montresor even more because they are

friends. Whatley, the author of Confessions Within a Confession, says,

Poes criticism fails to emphasize that Fortunato and Montresor are friends. Fortunato

follows Montresor trustingly into the vaults. This piece of information opens the way for

Montresors very enigmatic, careless, and carefree comment: may he rest in

peace, directed towards Fortunato. Montresor and Fortunato are poles apart. While the

latter cares less and flaunts who he is, an expert on Amontillado wines; the former is an

introvert, hiding his feelings and desires from the outside world. Montresor

seethes with z hate to destroy Fortunato, the source of his pain, and misery. (Whatley)

Montresor only wants to destroy Fortunato because he has what he wants. He is furious

that he does not have to boast about being successful. The jealousy and rage is too much for him

to contain so he is willing to get rid of Fortunato in any way possible. The amontillado wine is

the easiest way because it allows Montresor to boast and destroy his friend and enemy.
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While one author has claimed that they are complete opposites, I believe that Montresor

saw parts of the man he wanted to be in Fortunato and that drove him mad. The way that

Montresor got rid of Fortunatos body is one of the main arguments behind this claim and delves

into the mind of Montresor. It appears that Montresor is making Fortunato a patsy and enclosing

his own identity in a hidden crypt within his own soul (White). Fortunato was at the peak of

society with his wife. He was finally coming into some money and Montresor could not handle

that because he was becoming a failure; he used to be Fortunato. Since he could not be that man

anymore he decided to bury a man with a similar image underneath him, indicating that part of

him no longer existed. By burying Fortunato in his own home, Montresor was repressing a

despised self in his conscious. In Montresors unconscious mind he is not murdering Fortunato,

but repressing that dilettantish side of himself he can no longer endure (Gruesser). Again,

Fortunato was the man that Montresor wanted to be and since he could not be that man, in his

mind, he thought it was only right to get rid of him. Once he got rid of Fortunato, Montresor

thought he would be free of his self-repression.

Montresor, in a larger context, would be justified in claiming to be a soldier in warfare

against Fortunato. He can relish what he is doing because he can feel that what he is doing is

right as surely as a soldier in service of a modern state. Patrick White explains, He shows

confidence in the rightness of his actions in his last words to Fortunato who is desperate for his

and exclaims For the love of God Montresor! And with irony, Montresor replies, Yes, for the

love of God! (White)

Throughout the story, there has been a clear one sided tension between Montresor and

Fortunato. Fortunato was trusting, quiet, and successful; things that lead to his demise but only
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because another man wanted to be like him and considered him a threat. Montresor had to be the

boastful, prideful man of his family due to their quiet decline, which stopped him from being the

man locked up in his subconscious and heart. Poe was trying to show that Fortunato was the man

buried inside Montresor and turned into his scapegoat. He is doing the terrible thing not for God

and country but for what comes down to the same thing for him which is For God and family.