Analytical Essay About “The Cask of Amontillado”

In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, I find it very interesting because of the setting and the way Montresor’s scheme was planned. The problem in the short story is the Montresor was unable to manage the situation and insult about his last name that Fortunato had said. The setting of “The Cask of Amontillado” is mysterious. The setting is important because it has an emotional effect on the reader. Montresor took his revenge to far over a little insult. The plan for Montresor’s revenge went really far. He developed a very well thought plan and it was terrible idea for the little insult that he had received. He had set the plan up perfectly. He knew what would lure Fortunato in, Montresor used something Fortunato loved to get his revenge. Instead of talking with him, Montresor went his own way, the hard way by planning a murder without being caught. The way the scheme was planned had a lot of thought put into it but Montresor never put a different idea on how he could get over the issue. He assumed murder was the best option but it didn’t solve anything it would have created more problems.

In “The Cask of Amontillado” the setting was important because it made the story have an emotional effect meaning it put fear into the story and it made it seem fearful. “The vaults are insufferably damp. They are encrusted with nitre.” The setting describes southern gothic literature. It is mysterious and violent events had happened. In the beginning of the short story Montresor approaches Fortunato, while Fortunato dressed like a jester which was odd but they were at a carnival. The way Montresor lured him to his house he was able to know no one was home to be suspicious. Montresor took kinda took advantage of Fortunato by knowing his love of wine. Knowing what he likes and can’t say no to, was the easy way to get his revenge started and took the matter seriously. It doesn’t make sense to why he killed him over the insult. The final moments of conversation between Montresor and Fortunato heighten the horror and suggest that Fortunato ultimately and ironically achieves some type of upper hand over Montresor. Montresor had given Fortunato to turn back before they reached the end because Fortunato had been coughing but he said “Enough, the cough’s a mere nothing;it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough.” Therefore Fortunato had the chance to save his life he just chose not to take it.

In conclusion Montresor took his revenge too far by murdering someone. He could have handled the situation differently by talking to him about of just forget about it. This tells the reader that you can only conclude that in Montresor Family, death is way of punishment for being insulted or threatened. He claims that he has borne ‘a thousand injuries’ from Fortunato, but he does not go into detail about what these supposed injuries actually are.

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