The Cask of Amontillado

        In Edgar Ellen Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado", the narrator (Montressor) is relying the incident where he murdered his friend Fortunato for both hurting and insulting him. The story takes place in a nameless Italian city on the eve of a carnival night.

      Montressor, an Italian nobleman, decides to take revenge on his fellow nobleman Fortunato on the carnival night and seeks him out. He knows his friend to be proud of his knowledge of wine and ability to differentiate it's types to the point of vanity. He finds him dressed in a jester's attire and a bit drunk to match the spirit of celebration and Montressor can't help thinking how appropriate he is dressed for the occasion. He tells Fortunato about the vintage Amontillado he bought, but suspects it's authenticity. Fortunato gets exited and insists to inspect it immediately and refuses his friend's protests about taking him away from the festivities. He offers him some alcohol as a compensation. Satisfied with the results of the drink, they leave the carnival and head to Montressor's pallazo. 

        Making sure the servants were gone, He leads his intoxicated friend to the catacombs in which he keeps his wine. Fortunato kept on coughing due to the cold, damp catacombs. Montressor shows concern to his friend and asks weather they should head back or not. He suggests asking Luchresi, another nobleman and an aquaintance, about the Amontillado since he is as good as Fortunato, which outrages the drunken man. Montressor then offers him some wine (Medoc) to warm him up and Fortunato gladly accepts. He then expresses how concrened he is for his health, and how does not want to be responsible for any harm that might befall him since he is "rich, respected, admired, beloved" and a "man to be missed". Fortunato then declared that he has forgotton Montressor's coat of arms and motto. Montressor describes his coat of arms as a huge human foot, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are embedded in the heel and is motto as "Nemo me impune lacessit." Fortunato is still cold, so he offers him more wine (De Grave). He still thinks it is not too late to head back and that he could always ask Luchresi later, but Fortunato ignores him and keeps going.

       Fortunato was surprised to find himself facing a door-less stone chamber filled with bones and has chains attached to it's wall. Montressor, seeing his friend's shock, took the importunity to chain him. The other was too drunk and shocked to resist and soon gave in to the many drinks he had consumed. Satisfied with things so far, Montressor began to wall his unconscious friend up. He did it brick by brick, row by row and enjoyed the ringing of the bells coming from his friend's jester costume as he struggled to free himself. Before placing the last brick and sealing his friend's fate, he psychologically tortures his friend and makes him beg for his life. He places the last brick and leaves his friend in the cold, damp catacombs. He tells the story fifty years after it happened and he proudly declares that no one found out about the affair.

      The story doesn't tell us how Fortunato insulted Montressor, but what we learn from it is that insults should never be taken lightly.Humans are sensitive, proud and capable of anything if wronged. Montressor doesn't even bat an eyelash as he bricks his friend in, for his friend didn't think twice about insulting him before. Fortunato being his friend didn't stop him. On the contrary, it gave him the advantage, for he knew his friend's weakness to wine and praise and lead him to his doom. Fortunato, on the other hand, barely knew his friend,that is evident when he said he had forgotten his motto and coat of arms. The fact that no one knew about the whole incident is both ironic and blood chilling. It makes one think that no one actually liked Fortunato and all that talk about him being respected and loved was nothing but praise for the proud Fortunato. What makes this story great in my opinion is the many problems of society it speaks of. Hypocrisy, pride, family heritage, revenge and most importantly superficial relationships.