Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Cask Of Amontillado'

Abcarian and Klotz define the Human Condition as, “Man strives to give order and meaning to his life, to reduce the mystery and unpredictability that constantly threaten him. Life is infinitely more complex and surprising than we imagine, and the categories we establish to give it order and meaning are, for the most part,” momentary stays against confusion. “At any time, the equilibrium of our lives, the comfortable image of ourselves and the world around us, may be disrupted suddenly by something new, forcing us into painful reevaluation. These disruptions create pain, anxiety and even terror but also wisdom and awareness” (4). The above quote states that all people learn by the same process. Initially there is a disruption. This is followed
Montresor was a noble man and what most insulted him was an insult about his honor or family name. “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could.” This was what Montresor said about Fortunato, which shows us that Fortunato bothered Montresor and made fun of him many times before, but Montresor was a wise man. He always controlled himself and knew how to respond to Fortunato, until the day that Fortunato insulted him. On this day Fortunato insulted Montresor but not as he usually insulted him. Instead, Fortunato insulted his family name and honor, which in those days were the most important things to a man. This disruption was what really infuriated Montresor and led him to react
He came up with a plan to kill Fortunato during the carnival season that was going on during that period of time. He needed to execute it well, so he didn’t take any risks. He planned to persuade Fortunato to come with him without anyone knowing, by using Fortunato’s point of weakness, his love and knowledge of wine. Montresor told Fortunato that he was not sure if the Amontillado he bought was of good quality. Fortunato loved these things, so he told Montresor that he should come with him because he was very knowledgeable about wine. Fortunato was so proud of his knowledge. To remove all risks and doubts, at first Montresor refused to take Fortunato with him down to the catacombs to check the wine. This made Fortunato insist about going down with him because he said he knew better about the wine. Montresor tricked Fortunato further by telling him that he would just ask the other man to go down with him, and that made Fortunato insist even more to be the one who would go down the catacombs with Montresor. Here was where Montresor’s plan started working. Montresor wanted to enjoy this revenge because he wanted Fortunato to know that he was the one who was going to kill him. They walked down the catacombs until Montresor found the perfect moment to complete his plan. He pushed Montresor into one of the empty graves of the catacombs and started plastering it with bricks. Fortunato was barely moving because he was so drunk. Bound to the