Montresor

Montresor leads the unexpecting Fortunato into the deep and remote depths of Montresor’s family catacombs in Poe’s short story, “Cask of Amontillado.” The plot starts on a palazzo or plaza and there is a festival so everyone is dressed in costume. Montresor takes this to his advantage because he is plotting revenge on Fortunato for he has done something not mentioned in the story. Montresor invited Fortunato into the catacombs to taste amontillado. It is here in the catacombs he shall have his revenge. The true horrific nature of the crime is demonstrated in the irony of Fortunato’s name and the last words Montresor says at the end of the story.

There are two main examples of irony, one is Fortunato’s name and the other is the last line of the story. Fortunato’s name is an example of irony in “Cask of Amontillado” because it means fortune or lucky one, but in the story, he is anything but lucky; he is murdered in the depths of Montresor’s family catacombs. Montresor walls in a chained up Fortunato in a niche or closet like space. This makes him unlucky. At the end of the story fifty years after Montresor walled Fortunato in his family catacombs, he says, “In pace requiescat” (Poe 217) or “May he rest in peace.” This contributes to the story because he is being sarcastic. He clearly doesn’t care about Fortunato; its been fifty years and he still jokes about how he accomplished this awful task and still shows no sense of remorse.

Fortunato’s name and the final line of the story are the two examples of irony in “Cask of Amontillado.” Ironically, Fortunato is not fortunate as his name would suggest because he is walled in the catacombs and left to die. Montresor states rest in peace as the final line of the story even though he murdered him and is clearly satisfied with his actions . Fortunato simply expected a friendly visit to taste Montresor’s amontillado deep in the catacombs, if only he knew