The Cask Of Amontillado Character Analysis Essay

Although most of your characters were believable in your powerful tale of revenge, The Cask of Amontillado, I found your narrator, Montresor to be quite unreliable. Could it be that you did not intend for me to sympathize with Montresor for the insult made by Fortunato, but rather to judge him? Frankly, I found him to be smug and egotistical, while questioning his sanity. He did not convince me that his intentions were honorable to support his family’s motto: “Nemo me impune lacessit,” or “No one assails me with impunity.”
Your character, Montresor appears to be the type that would hold a grudge and likely exaggerated the facts when he spoke about the "thousand injuries" that Fortunato had given him. He vowed revenge on Fortunato and premeditated his murder. His warm demeanor toward Fortunato, during the carnival scene at dusk, confused me and made me wonder if Fortunato had wronged him at all. I can only think that his claim of being insulted by Fortunato was only a figment of his imagination. Was Montresor delighted to see his victim only because Fortunato had been drinking or because he planned to murder him? I thought it was the latter because the setting of your tale abruptly changed from festive
For example, “cask” or “casket “are both derived from the same word. When Fortunato believed he would find a cask of wine, he would really find his casket. Fortunato, which stands for “fortunate” in Italian, was actually very unfortunate in this grisly saga. Finally, Fortunato was dressed as a festive court jester but his outfit contrasted with his deadly fate. Also, your dramatic irony, that allowed me to know something that another character did not, really added suspense to the story. Fortunato told Montresor not to be concerned about his cough, it would not kill him. Montresor responded, “True-true,” which gave me the creepy feeling of knowing that Fortunato would