REVIEW : 'THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO' BY EDGAR

ALLAN POE
-EDGAR ALLAN
POE

I have choosed this story because the way of narrating the story is interesting
The grammatical sentences used here is very useful to learn something new

Montresor wants to avenge himself on his "friend" Fortunato, who has the bad luck of
somehow insulting him. We are never told what the insult is but apparently it was awful
enough for Montrsor to want to taste blood (figuratively of course, I haven't
encountered cannibalism yet in any of Poe's stories).

Montresor comes up to Fortunato during the Carnival and the latter is rather drunk, even
to such an extent that he doesn't get any of the hints that Montresor drops, such as "No one
insults me with impunity". It seems to me that if you have insulted someone then this hint
must be enough to get you thinking. Unless you are very drunk, I guess. 

Fortunato and Montresor enter the latter's vaults where he says he has a pipe (about 492
litres) of Amontillado wine that he wants Fortunato to look at. Although in the previous 2
posts I have tried not to let you know anything about the story, here I feel it is too vital not
too. The immurement of Fortunato is a rather strange ordeal. It seems more stressful for
Montresor than for Fortunato, who is almost too drunk to actually fully appreciate what is
being done to him. And it also seems that the fumes in the catacombs were fatal to his weak
chest, which means the immurement is barely of any use. 

This was definitely a chilling story to read, since as a reader you already know what is
going to happen because the narrator is clearly preparing himself for it and we follow his
thought process. However, because we are never told what the offense was, we are unable to
agree with him or feel that he is any way justified to take revenge. And what got me
wondering was that he seems unwilling to fulfill his wish . He keeps on asking Fortunato
whether they should not go back and it seems just strange that he doesn't seem to actually
want to kill him.

I found this animation on Youtube, together with a song-adaptation, which I thought

would be fun to share, since it's rather good. Don't forget: SPOILER ALERT.

Final note: I think the name Montresor was intended to be read by Poe as the French
Mon Tresor, which means 'my treasure'. He does stow Fortunato away rather safely and
perhaps Fortunato stole something from him that he regarded as a treasure. I love these small
intertextual links that Poe has quite a lot. And don't forget: tomorrow it is his actual birthday,
which means I will be reviewing 'The Raven'.

BALAJI.N
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