#13 Week 8 Edgar Allen Poe "The Cask of Amontillado" pg.226-230

Summary

A man who used to be very wealthy and prominent in society, one day his friend, Fortunato, had been teasing him as he often did. But, when Fortunato insulted his friend, his friend vowed to get his revenge. The man instantly thought of an ingenuous way to trick Fortunato into a trap. Fourtunato was an expert at fine wines, he knew practically every kind made, which when the narrator says he might have found a great and rare find, Fortunato cannot resist tagging along to see if the wine truly is real. The pair travel under the city in catacombs modeled after Paris’, the entire catacombs where one consistent wine cellar. The narrator knowing that Fortunato was ill at the time kept using reverse psychology on the man making Fortunato more persistent to reach the end cellar to see the fine wine. When the two reached the cellar with the wine, the narrator told Fortunato to continue on without him and he would be waiting when he returned. But all the while Fortunato was gone the narrator was sealing up the cellar with bricks to seal his “friend” in. When Fortunato returned and saw the wall he laughed thinking it was a joke, the narrators skin crawled at his laughter and placed the last brick in place leavening his friend s body to rot and never be found again.

Reader Response

This like Poe’s other works was creepy to read yet the ending was pretty predictable, since Poe likes to kill off many people in different ways in all his stories. Poe’s dark humor sets a tone for his story and his dark setting make his story that much more intense. It was not until I started typing that I realized the irony in Fortunato’s name. Fortunato in Spanish means fortunate, the irony in this work is that at the end of his life Fortunato is anything but fortunate in the way he dies. I have always oddly liked Poe’s work, and like the way he skillfully makes good things turn dark so fast.