Fortunato In The Cask Of Amontillado

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The infliction of one thousand insults isn’t a severe enough wrong doing to mean the result should be death. Edgar Allan Poe in his Cask of Amontillado shows the main character, Montresor, taking revenge on Fortunato for years of insults. Fortunato allows himself to be persuaded to go with Montresor to his family’s catacombs to taste test an expensive wine. He is baited by the idea that his opinion wasn’t called upon first as Luchesi’s was. Fortunato wants to prove that he is an expert on fine wines and that he’s better than Luchesi. Fortunato is drunk enough that he can’t detect the sarcasm and intent in Montresor’s comments. This allows Fortunato to be lured to his death. Fortunato makes himself an easy target because he is gullible, arrogant, and socially unaware of other’s sarcasm and underlying motives. Fortunato doesn’t think stuff through before he does it; he’s gullible. When Montresor says he’s leaving the party right then to go and taste his supposed cask of wine, Fontunato doesn’t understand that there is no hurry to leave the party and no need to do it right then. “I am on my way to Luchesi’s,” (Poe 288) said Montresor. He doesn’t understand that Montresor is using his drunken state to take…show more content…
When Montresor asks if Fortunato is okay and comments that his cough sounds pretty bad, he is showing sympathy but knows that Fortunato will say the opposite, that he just fine. Montresor is also pretending to be concerned about him; when in reality, he’s not. Fortunato should have been able to recognize Montresor’s sarcasm and patronizing tone. When Montresor says that they should turn back because it’s too damp and chilly and Fortunato’s health is at risk, Fortunato replies, “The cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough.” (Poe 289) Here Montresor uses that comment as an excuse to give him more wine to keep him drunk enough to take advantage of
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