Introduction to Human Nature in “The Cask of Amontillado”
The time and human nature in “The Cask of Amontillado” shows the skill of Edgar Allen Poe in dealing with these realities. In fact, human nature is very complex and strange that we cannot exactly understand what they want to do and what they feel. It is often in the nature of humans they they feel jealous of whom they try idealize, hide their hatred and prejudice and finally kill to whom they praise the most. We can find the example of such a human being depicted in the story. Poe has wonderfully created two interesting characters; one is Montresor, an egoist, who cannot tolerate any a minor insult, while the second is Fortunato, a man always likes to insult his friends and consequently faces Montresor’s annoyance. Though Montresor is a well-reputed man, he decides to teach a lesson to Fortunato and take revenge. So, he makes a plan as he knows the weaknesses of his friend and drinking is one of them, he uses this point to achieve his target. He knows all the tricks trap a person. Hence, to trap him, he waits to let him drink and lose his consciousness. For readers, it is quite natural that they are curious to know whether Montresor would execute this sinister plan or not. But the reality is, he would. Not only Montresor deceives Fortunato, but also exploits his weakness of routine drinking and manipulates time and occasion to slay him.
Nature of Montresor in “The Cask of Amontillado
Montresor is a great deceiver and he deceived Fortunato beautifully showing skill of Poe in uncovering human nature in “The Cask of Amontillado”. Gabbard terms Montresor a trickster stating that “By some unknown offense, he carefully decides to exact revenge on Fortunato, and dupes him in traditional trickster style into his assassination” (Correa Gabbard), but does it carefully. He does not show it at all. He behaves deceptively as Cynthia states in her criticism of the story, “Montresor is behaving as his own opposite in his dealings with Fortunato” (Bily). However, when it comes to the idea, it strikes him. When he meets him, his mind was clicked with an idea that now the time has come to avenge upon him before making any delay and he loses everything. So, he moves forward, telling him, “I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado” (Poe 573). He thinks that of his curiosity and again says about having doubts since he has no experience whether he has paid the right amount or was that too much expensive. Montresor then refers Luchresi, “I was on my way to Luchresi” (573) and bitterly he adds that only he can do that. Fortunato gets furious and envious after having listened this. Right at this moment, Monstresor understands that he has planted the seeds of revenge in his heart. He affirms that now he will keep repeating the name of Luchresi in his ears and then Fortunato would have no choice except coming to his “palazzo” (573) hence, he could do whatever fate has stored for him there. It is because as stated by Baraban in her article, “Being a descendant of a powerful aristocratic family, Montresor could not possibly let Fortunato insult him with impunity” (Baraban). To readers’ surprise, he was there already because he had lost his senses showing the fragility of human nature in “The Cask of Amontillado”.
Montresor Showing Human Nature in “The Cask of Amontillado”
Montresor is mindful and knows his drinking habit and also knows that Fortunato would drink a lot on this special moment of “the carnival season” (573) as majority of the people in the town are already taking a lot of drink. Due to carnival the household servants have gone on their leave, as there is enjoyment and hustle and bustle around which fills the environment with loud laughter. Hence, this is a perfect timing to strike. He knows that a perfect poison made up from combination of wet catacombs and nitre would surely put him to cough though he is showing that he is taking care of him. Besides that, he was constantly giving him “Medoc” (576) along with “flagon of De Grave” (576) until he is assured that now it would be impossible for him to recover. Despite instigating him, he is insisting him not to take more drink because its destroying his health and putting effects on his ego being a connoisseur of wine (Sova 2007). However, he does not stop drinking till he feels unable to be rescued. So, Montresor is glad to successfully trapped him by exploiting his obsession against him and whenever he would see that he might move around any time, he could hand-cuff and put him to the granite wall. But, Fortunato is not able to do anything because “he was too much astounded to resist” (578). Montresor starts collecting stones, and begins constructing a strong cover of wall with his trowel. Initially, he is not able to hear anything clearly, however, the “vibrations of the chain” (577) when, the full wall is constructed and covered him and blocks off the outside view, and he could only hear from inside of the wall “a very good joke” (578). Montresor does not take pity on him and fills up all the holes in the wall and then said to Fortunato, “let us be gone” (578). Hearing this statement, Fortunato is completely shocked and frightened that it is not a joke but a reality he is trapped and then pleads “for the love of God, Montresor” (578) but he replied sardonically, “For the love of God” (578). So, eventually, he wins success in his idea of taking revenge and now was full of pride, vengeance and ego, that Poe has done through uncovering human nature in “The Cask of Amontillado”.
Conclusion
In nutshell, in the words of Wanamaker, “the theme of revenge is the major theme in the story” (Wanamaker). What we have understood from this story after uncovering human nature in “The Cask of Amontillado” is that Montresor has manipulated the weaknesses of his friend and waits for the right time to implement the right strategy of taking revenge. He cunningly plans and makes to appear the real occasion as a coincidence, and makes another moment appear accident where Fortunato happens to drink by chance. Besides that, by repeatedly mentioning the name of his rival in his ears he invokes jealousy in Fortunato, consequently he would react and try to escape from this tension by drinking. Due to excessive drinking, he could not judge his evil intentions that Montresor is holding him on arm while taking him to palazzo. He is doing all this in order to satisfy his egoistic nature by continually telling him he is a great man and he had exceptional taste for vine, but kept on giving him Luchresi, which he unknowingly took and fell into his trap. While taking this drink, though he is mentioning about his declining health and knows that this would make his condition worse but this instigates him to take more drink to show that his health is not in bad condition and he can consume more. Montresor’ s clever planning helps him taking revenge without even does not let him to have any doubts till the final moment, instead he was thinking Montresor was just joking. Thus, we may say that Montresor has taken revenge on his friend through proper planning without allowing him to overreact.
Work Cited
- Baraban, Elena V. “The Motive for Murder in The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe.” 2003. RMMAL. Web. 26 Nov. 2014 <http://rmmla.innoved.org/ereview/58.2/articles/baraban.asp>.
- Bily, Cynthia. “The Cask of Amontillado Criticism by Cynthia Bily .” 02 May 2010. Edgar Allen Poe: Biography and Writings. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. <http://bio-edgarallanpoe.blogspot.com/2010/05/cask-of-amontillado-criticism-by.html>.
- Gabbard, ALC. “The Figure Of The Trickster In Poe’s “Hop Frog” And “The Cask Of Amontillado”.” 2009. Web. 26 Nov. 2014 <www.juliojeha.pro.br/evil_poe/alexandraGabbard.pdf>.
- Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Cask of Amontillado.” Zweig, Edgar V. Roberts & Robert. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. New York: Longman, Robert Zweig. 573-579.
- Sova, Dawn B. Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. Infobase Publishing, 2007.
- Wanamaker, Christopher. “An Analysis of Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado.” 2011. Web. 26 Nov. 2014 <http://cwanamaker.hubpages.com/hub/An-Analysis-of-Edgar-Allen-Poes-The-Cask-of-Amontillado>.
Relevant Questions about Human Nature in “The Cask of Amontillado”
- What insights into human nature in “The Cask of Amontillado” can be gleaned from the actions and manipulation of characters, specifically regarding the desire for revenge and the capacity for cruelty?
- How does Edgar Allan Poe employ Fortunato’s pride and arrogance to examine the complexities of human nature in “The Cask of Amontillado,” particularly focusing on vulnerability to manipulation and the consequences of one’s actions?
- In “The Cask of Amontillado,” what does Montresor’s willingness to commit murder reveal about the moral and ethical boundaries inherent in human nature, and how does it highlight the depths individuals can descend to when driven by vengeance and their own perceived moral superiority?
