The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan POe

COMMENT AND CRITICISM

Francis Justine M. Malban

III- Bohr

The Cask of Amontillado was written by the famous literary icon Edgar Allan Poe in the year 1846. The setting was not mentioned. But it is a city in Europe. The story concerns about a man named Montresor, who sought for a deadly revenge on his fellow nobleman, Fortunato, who Montresor claims that insulted him. The work focuses on murder but it is not a tale of detection. After the crime, there was no investigation. It’s like, it’s for us to conclude what happened next after the night Montresor murdered Fortunato.The narrator, Montresor, tells the story of the night when he took revenge on Fortunato The two of them met each other for the first time in a carnival, then, Montresor carefully studied the weaknesses of his enemy. Then, he finally knew that Fortunato is a big fan of wines. So, what Montresor did was he bought a cask of Amontillado, knowing that Fortunato would be interested in tasting them. Montresor did not fail. He was able to be with Fortunato in the catacombs with the two of them alone. There where Montresor did the horrible crime. The point of view plays a very important role in influencing the reader's perception of the story. The first line of the story is a good example of how the narrator attempts to bring the reader to his side right from the start. "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge”. Montresor, the narrator of the story, immediately tries to win the reader to his side by telling him that Fortunato has "ventured upon insult," and apparently crossed over the line. This attempt is clever, but the reader never gets a sense of what Fortunato has actually done to the narrator. This fact alone raises the question in my mind as to whether Fortunato has really insulted Montresor, or whether Montresor is creating it in his own mind. The story is very simple, yet, it is somehow hard to understand. The evevts on the story is not fully discussed. It’s like there are some missing information. Maybe this is just the style of the writer to make the readers have interest in reading his literary piece.