“The Cask of Amontillado” is very odd. I believe it is about two men that do not get along except they both love wine. This story is told in the first-person. Therefore, his own name is not mentioned. The narrator’s enemy is Fortunato, a wealthy, sickly man. The narrator tells Fortunato that he has Amontillado, apparently a wonderful wine, in his vault. The men leave together and the narrator gives wine to Fortunato along the way to the deepest part of his vault. I’m assuming the vault is his wine cellar/tomb. Seems like a creepy way to store wine. I would prefer to have two separate sections if it was necessary to have both.
The men finally reach the deepest part of the vault where the narrator chains the now drunk Fortunato to the wall. There is no struggle. Fortunato is drunk enough to believe that the Amontillado is close by and somehow he is going to get it, even being chained up. The narrator begins to build a wall and close Fortunato into the vault. After a couple layers of masonry being laid, Fortunato finally begins to realize what is happening to him.
This story is hard to follow along with, mostly because of when it was written. The language and descriptions we presently use are no longer worded like this story. It really takes some time and thought to figure out what is going on. I wonder if Fortunato realized how little the narrator liked him. If so, why would he go into the narrator’s vault with him? Why would he associate with him at all? Was wine that important to him? Fortunato would have been much better off if he would have declined the invitation and enjoyed the wine he already probably had. He was a rich man and could more than likely afford whatever he wanted. The narrator knew exactly how to get to Fortunato too. He lured him in with a wonderful wine, got the man drunk, and kept telling him to go back because of his cough. Fortunato seems to be like most of the men I know, if their “manliness” is challenged, they will not back down no matter what. Fortunato needed to learn how to say no.
I to think this one was hard to follow had to read over. It seemed that both men had one thing in common even if they did not like each other. I thought it confusing that even though he wanted to kill Fortunato he keeps telling that he should go back.
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