Montresor Character Analysis in The Cask of Amontillado

In Edgar Allan Poe’s “Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor is an extremely vengeful character.  Montresor, the protagonist, reveals his story of getting revenge on a man named Fortunato, a wine expert.  Montresor portrays Fortunato as a silly, ignorant fool all whilst describing his outfit as “tight-fitting parti-striped dress.” He tells us of the time when Fortunato cast an insult upon him (which is never revealed); Montresor takes it to heart and immediately sets his intentions to getting revenge on Fortunato by using forms of punishment. Offended and angry, he vows upon revenge: “At length I would be avenged [...] I must not only punish but punish with impunity” (Poe 1). This demonstrates the distinct vindictive nature of Montresor; he plans to “get back at” Fortunato, no matter what it takes.  Montresor will not be satisfied with punishment alone.  After considering the consequences, he is sure that he will be able to escape the retributions of his actions; he plans on taking Fortunato’s life.  Later in the story, while in Montresor’s catacombs, he and Fortunato are discussing family arms and mottos.  Fortunato asks what Montresor’s family motto is, to which he responds, “‘Nemo me impune lacessit’” (Poe 49).  In English, this translates to “No one attacks me with impunity.” After learning his family motto, the reader recognizes that the aspect of vengeance must be a family value...  This leads the reader to assume that, because the rest of Montresor’s family is vengeful, so is he; the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!

Montresor presents many traits of being a demented human being.  In addition to hungrily seeking vengeance, he is an extremely sick, deranged person.  As a response to Fortunato’s insult, Montresor goes to extreme lengths to “get back at him.” After leading Fortunato down the corridor of the catacombs, he chains Fortunato to a wall: “From one of these depended a short chain, from the other a padlock. Throwing the links about his waist, it was but the work of a few seconds to secure it. He was too much astounded to resist. Withdrawing the key I stepped back from the recess” (Poe 71).  Murder is a superfluous and extremely irrational response to an insult; not only does Montresor seal Fortunato’s fate of inevitable, impending death, but he also does not even feel guilty about it! The author states, “My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so. I hastened to make an end of my labour. I forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up” (Poe 89).  With one brick left to place, he took a moment to consider how heartsick he was.  He blamed it on the dampness of the catacombs; how extraordinarily absurd! He murdered a virtually innocent man and mistook his guilt for a physical response to the nitre on the walls. As proven by his actions, describing Montresor as demented is merely an understatement.