Hibdon​ 01

Kendall

Mrs. Rindfleisch

Writing & Rhetoric (M/W 9AM)

05 November 2020

The Fall of Fortunato

In the story, “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, it leaves the reader with an ending

that’s left to be determined, but gives hints or infers what happens, letting the reader create their

own point of view, but it can be assumed that by the end of the story that Fortunato is dead and

that Montresor feels guilty. Right after Montresor throws in the torch near the end of the story,

he waits for a reply but it says, “There came forth in reply only a jingling of the bells.” (Poe.)

With this, it can be inferred that when the torch is thrown by Montresor, creating the jingling

sound explained, this could be a sign of it hitting Fortunato because, as we know from earlier,

“His head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.” (Poe.) This could mean he’s dead

because there’s no sign of that sound before or after the torch was thrown meaning the object is

what moved his dead body. Later on, after the torch was thrown, we are told, “My heart grew

sick--on account of the dampness of the catacombs.” (Poe.) With this being said, it becomes

obvious that his heart is sick for other reasons, being that he just killed Fortunato because it was

only after he closed him in that he started to feel upset from the dampness, which, there is no

mention of him struggling with before. With these points, it can be concluded that Fortunato is

dead by the time the final brick is put in place and that Montresor feels guilt and possibly regret.
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Works Cited

Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Cask Of Amontillado.” ​Ibiblio.org​,

www.ibiblio.org/ebooks/Poe/Amontillado.pdf.