The Cast of Amontillado

Click to set custom HTML

Click to set custom HTML

The Cask of Amontillado
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Cask of Amontillado

Illustration of "The Cask of Amontillado" by Harry Clarke, 1919
AuthorEdgar Allan Poe
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Horror short story
Publication typePeriodical
PublisherGodey's Lady's Book
Media typePrint (Magazine)
Publication dateNovember 1846"The Cask of Amontillado" (sometimes spelled "The Casque of Amontillado" [a.mon.ti.ˈʝa.ðo]) is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book. The story, set in an unnamed Italian city at carnival time in an unspecified year, is about a man taking fatal revenge on a friend who, he believes, has insulted him. Like several of Poe's stories, and in keeping with the 19th-century fascination with the subject, the narrative revolves around a person being buried alive – in this case, by immurement. As in "The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart", Poe conveys the story from the murderer's perspective.


Contents

Plot summary
​Fortunato and Montresor drink in the catacombs. 1935 Illustration by Arthur RackhamThe story's narrator, Montresor, tells an unspecified person, who knows him very well, of the day he took his revenge on Fortunato (Italian for "the fortunate one"), a fellow nobleman. Angry over numerous injuries and some unspecified insult, Montresor plots to murder his "friend" during Carnival, while the man is drunk, dizzy, and wearing a jester's motley.
Montresor lures Fortunato into a private wine-tasting excursion by telling him he has obtained a pipe (about 130 gallons,[1] 492 litres) of what he believes to be a rare vintage of Amontillado. He proposes obtaining confirmation of the pipe's contents by inviting a fellow wine aficionado, Luchesi, for a private tasting. Montresor knows Fortunato will not be able to resist demonstrating his discerning palate for wine and will insist that he taste the amontillado rather than Luchesi who, as he claims, "cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry". Fortunato goes with Montresor to the wine cellars of the latter's palazzo, where they wander in the catacombs. Montresor offers wine (first Médoc, then De Grave) to Fortunato in order to keep him inebriated. Montresor warns Fortunato, who has a bad cough, of the dampness, and suggests they go back, but Fortunato insists on continuing, claiming that "[he] shall not die of a cough". During their walk, Montresor mentions his family coat of arms: a golden foot in a blue background crushing a snake whose fangs are embedded in the foot's heel, with the motto Nemo me impune lacessit ("No one attacks me with impunity").
At one point, Fortunato makes an elaborate, grotesque gesture with an upraised wine bottle. When Montresor appears not to recognize the gesture, Fortunato asks, "You are not of the masons?" Montresor says he is, and when Fortunato, disbelieving, requests a sign, Montresor displays a trowel he had been hiding. When they come to a niche, Montresor tells his victim that the Amontillado is within. Fortunato enters drunk and unsuspecting and therefore, does not resist as Montresor quickly chains him to the wall. Montresor then declares that, since Fortunato won't go back, Montresor must "positively leave" him there.
Montresor reveals brick and mortar, previously hidden among the bones nearby, and proceeds to wall up the niche using his trowel, entombing his friend alive. At first, Fortunato, who sobers up faster than Montresor anticipated, shakes the chains, trying to escape. Fortunato then screams for help, but Montresor mocks his cries, knowing nobody can hear them. Fortunato laughs weakly and tries to pretend that he is the subject of a joke and that people will be waiting for him (including the Lady Fortunato). As Montresor finishes the topmost row of stones, Fortunato wails, "For the love of God, Montresor!" to which Montresor replies, "Yes, for the love of God!" He listens for a reply but hears only the jester's bells ringing. Before placing the last stone, he drops a burning torch through the gap. He claims that he feels sick at heart, but dismisses this reaction as an effect of the dampness of the catacombs.
In the last few sentences, Montresor reveals that 50 years later, Fortunato's body still hangs from its chains in the niche where he left it. The murderer concludes: In pace requiescat! ("May he rest in peace!").
Publication history[edit]
Montresor walling up Fortunato. 1935 Illustration by Arthur Rackham"The Cask of Amontillado" was first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book,[2] which was, at the time, the most popular periodical in America.[3] The story was only published one additional time during Poe's life.[4]
Analysis[edit]
Casks of amontillado in a commercial cellarAlthough the subject matter of Poe's story is a murder, "The Cask of Amontillado" is not a tale of detection like "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" or "The Purloined Letter"; there is no investigation of Montresor's crime and the criminal himself explains how he committed the murder. The mystery in "The Cask of Amontillado" is in Montresor's motive for murder. Without a detective in the story, it is up to the reader to solve the mystery.[5]
Montresor never specifies his motive beyond the vague "thousand injuries" and "when he ventured upon insult" to which he refers. Some context is provided, including Montresor's observation that his family once was great (but no longer so), and Fortunato's belittling remarks about Montresor's exclusion from Freemasonry. Many commentators conclude that, lacking significant reason, Montresor must be insane, though even this is questionable because of the intricate details of the plot.[5]
There is also evidence that Montresor is almost as clueless about his motive for revenge as his victim.[6] In his recounting of the murder, Montresor notes, "A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong". After Fortunato is chained to the wall and nearly entombed alive, Montresor merely mocks and mimics him, rather than disclosing to Fortunato the reasons behind his exacting revenge. Montresor may not have been entirely certain of the exact nature of the insults for which he expected Fortunato to atone.[6]
Additional scrutiny into the vague injuries and insults may have to do with a simple matter of Montresor's pride and not any specific words from Fortunato.[7] Montresor comes from an established family. His house had once been noble and respected, but has fallen slightly in status. Fortunato, as his name would seem to indicate, has been blessed with good fortune and wealth and is, therefore, viewed as unrefined by Montresor; however, this lack of refinement has not stopped Fortunato from surpassing Montresor in society, which could very well be the "insult" motive for Montresor's revenge.[7]
There is indication that Montresor blames his unhappiness and loss of respect and dignity within society on Fortunato.[8] It is easy to ascertain that Fortunato is a Freemason, while Montresor is not, which could be the source of Fortunato's recent ascension into upper class society. Montresor even imparts this blame to Fortunato when he states, "You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was". This interchanging of fortunes is a suggestion that, since the names Montresor and Fortunato mirror one another, there is a psychological reciprocal identification between victim and executioner.[8] This identification reciprocity is further suggested when one takes into consideration that Montresor entombs Fortunato in the Montresor family catacombs rather than dispatching him elsewhere in the city amidst the chaos of the Carnival. It is with this converging of the two characters that one is able to see the larger symbolism of the Montresor crest – the foot steps on the serpent while the serpent forever has his fangs embedded in the heel.[8]
Upon further investigation into the true nature of character, double meaning can be derived from the Montresor crest.[6] It is the position of Montresor to view himself as the owner of the righteous foot that is crushing the insolent Fortunato serpent and his "thousand injuries" that progress into insult. A more allegoric meaning of Poe's places the actors in reverse.[6] The blind oaf Fortunato has unintentionally stepped upon the snake in the grass – the sneaky and cunning Montresor – who, as a reward for this accidental bruising, sinks his fangs deep into the heel of his offender, forever linking them in a form of mutual existence.[6]
Though Fortunato is presented as a connoisseur of fine wine, L. Moffitt Cecil of Texas Christian University argues that his actions in the story make that assumption questionable. For example, Fortunato comments on another nobleman being unable to distinguish amontillado from sherry when amontillado is in fact a type of sherry, and treats De Grave, an expensive French wine, with very little regard by drinking it in a single gulp. Cecil also states that a true wine connoisseur would never sample wine while intoxicated and describes Fortunato as merely an alcoholic. Cecil also suggests that some people might feel Fortunato deserved to be buried alive for wasting a bottle of fine wine.[1]
Poe may have known bricklaying through personal experience. Many periods in Poe's life lack significant biographical details, including what he did after leaving the Southern Literary Messenger in 1837.[9] Poe biographer John H. Ingram wrote to Sarah Helen Whitman that someone named "Allen" said that Poe worked "in the brickyard 'late in the fall of 1834'". This source has been identified as Robert T. P. Allen, a fellow West Point student during Poe's time there.[10]
Immurement, a form of imprisonment, usually for life, in which a person is placed within an enclosed space with no exit, is featured in other works by Poe, including "The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Premature Burial", "The Black Cat", and "Berenice".
Inspiration[edit]An apocryphal legend holds that the inspiration for "The Cask of Amontillado" came from a story Poe had heard at Castle Island (South Boston), Massachusetts, when he was a private stationed at Fort Independence in 1827.[11] According to this legend, while stationed at Castle Island in 1827 he saw a monument to Lieutenant Robert Massie. Massie had been killed in a sword duel on Christmas Day 1817 by Lieutenant Gustavus Drane, following a dispute during a card game.[12] According to the legend, other soldiers then took revenge on Drane by getting him drunk, luring him into the dungeon, chaining him to a wall, and sealing him in a vault.[13] This version of Drane's demise is false; Drane was courtmartialled for the killing and acquitted,[12] and lived until 1846.[14] A report of a skeleton discovered on the island may be a confused remembering of Poe's major source, Joel Headley's "A Man Built in a Wall",[15] which recounts the author's seeing an immured skeleton in the wall of a church in Italy.[16] Headley's story includes details very similar to "The Cask of Amontillado"; in addition to walling an enemy into a hidden niche, the story details the careful placement of the bricks, the motive of revenge, and the victim's agonized moaning. Poe may have also seen similar themes in Honoré de Balzac's La Grande Bretèche (Democratic Review, November 1843) or his friend George Lippard's The Quaker City, or The Monks of Monk Hall (1845).[17] Poe may have borrowed Montresor's family motto Nemo me impune lacessit from James Fenimore Cooper, who used the line in The Last of the Mohicans (1826).[18]

Thomas Dunn EnglishPoe wrote his tale, however, as a response to his personal rival Thomas Dunn English. Poe and English had several confrontations, usually revolving around literary caricatures of one another. Poe thought that one of English's writings went a bit too far, and successfully sued the other man's editors at The New York Mirror for libel in 1846.[19] That year English published a revenge-based novel called 1844, or, The Power of the S.F. Its plot was convoluted and difficult to follow, but made references to secret societies and ultimately had a main theme of revenge. It included a character named Marmaduke Hammerhead, the famous author of "The Black Crow", who uses phrases like "Nevermore" and "lost Lenore", referring to Poe's poem "The Raven". This parody of Poe was depicted as a drunkard, liar, and an abusive lover.
Poe responded with "The Cask of Amontillado", using very specific references to English's novel. In Poe's story, for example, Fortunato makes reference to the secret society of Masons, similar to the secret society in 1844, and even makes a gesture similar to one portrayed in 1844 (it was a signal of distress). English had also used an image of a token with a hawk grasping a snake in its claws, similar to Montresor's coat of arms bearing a foot stomping on a snake – though in this image, the snake is biting the heel. In fact, much of the scene of "The Cask of Amontillado" comes from a scene in 1844 that takes place in a subterranean vault. In the end, then, it is Poe who "punishes with impunity" by not taking credit for his own literary revenge and by crafting a concise tale (as opposed to a novel) with a singular effect, as he had suggested in his essay "The Philosophy of Composition".[20]
Poe may have also been inspired, at least in part, by the Washingtonian movement, a fellowship that promoted temperance. The group was made up of reformed drinkers who tried to scare people into abstaining from alcohol. Poe may have made a promise to join the movement in 1843 after a bout of drinking with the hopes of gaining a political appointment. "The Cask of Amontillado" then may be a "dark temperance tale", meant to shock people into realizing the dangers of drinking.[21]
Poe scholar Richard P. Benton has stated his belief that "Poe's protagonist is an Englished version of the French Montrésor" and has argued forcefully that Poe's model for Montresor "was Claude de Bourdeille, comte de Montrésor (Count of Montrésor), the 17th-century political conspirator in the entourage of King Louis XIII's weak-willed brother, Gaston d'Orléans".[22] The "noted intriguer and memoir-writer" was first linked to "The Cask of Amontillado" by Poe scholar Burton R. Pollin.[22][23]
Further inspiration for the method of Fortunato's murder comes from the fear of live burial. During the time period of this short story some coffins were given methods of alerting the outside in the event of live entombment. Items such as bells tied to the limbs of a corpse to signal the outside were not uncommon. This theme is evident in Fortunato's costume of a jester with bells upon his hat, and his situation of live entombment within the catacombs.[8]

“For the love of God, Montresor!”
(See Important Quotations Explained)

SummaryThe narrator, Montresor, opens the story by stating that he has been irreparably insulted by his acquaintance, Fortunato, and that he seeks revenge. He wants to exact this revenge, however, in a measured way, without placing himself at risk. He decides to use Fortunato’s fondness for wine against him. During the carnival season, Montresor, wearing a mask of black silk, approaches Fortunato. He tells Fortunato that he has acquired something that could pass for Amontillado, a light Spanish sherry. Fortunato (Italian for “fortunate”) wears the multicolored costume of the jester, including a cone cap with bells. Montresor tells Fortunato that if he is too busy, he will ask a man named Luchesi to taste it. Fortunato apparently considers Luchesi a competitor and claims that this man could not tell Amontillado from other types of sherry. Fortunato is anxious to taste the wine and to determine for Montresor whether or not it is truly Amontillado. Fortunato insists that they go to Montresor’s vaults.
Montresor has strategically planned for this meeting by sending his servants away to the carnival. The two men descend into the damp vaults, which are covered with nitre, or saltpeter, a whitish mineral. Apparently aggravated by the nitre, Fortunato begins to cough. The narrator keeps offering to bring Fortunato back home, but Fortunato refuses. Instead, he accepts wine as the antidote to his cough. The men continue to explore the deep vaults, which are full of the dead bodies of the Montresor family. In response to the crypts, Fortunato claims to have forgotten Montresor’s family coat of arms and motto. Montresor responds that his family shield portrays “a huge human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.” The motto, in Latin, is “nemo me impune lacessit,” that is, “no one attacks me with impunity.”
Later in their journey, Fortunato makes a hand movement that is a secret sign of the Masons, an exclusive fraternal organization. Montresor does not recognize this hand signal, though he claims that he is a Mason. When Fortunato asks for proof, Montresor shows him his trowel, the implication being that Montresor is an actual stonemason. Fortunato says that he must be jesting, and the two men continue onward. The men walk into a crypt, where human bones decorate three of the four walls. The bones from the fourth wall have been thrown down on the ground. On the exposed wall is a small recess, where Montresor tells Fortunato that the Amontillado is being stored. Fortunato, now heavily intoxicated, goes to the back of the recess. Montresor then suddenly chains the slow-footed Fortunato to a stone.
Taunting Fortunato with an offer to leave, Montresor begins to wall up the entrance to this small crypt, thereby trapping Fortunato inside. Fortunato screams confusedly as Montresor builds the first layer of the wall. The alcohol soon wears off and Fortunato moans, terrified and helpless. As the layers continue to rise, though, Fortunato falls silent. Just as Montresor is about to finish, Fortunato laughs as if Montresor is playing a joke on him, but Montresor is not joking. At last, after a final plea, “For the love of God, Montresor!” Fortunato stops answering Montresor, who then twice calls out his enemy’s name. After no response, Montresor claims that his heart feels sick because of the dampness of the catacombs. He fits the last stone into place and plasters the wall closed, his actions accompanied only by the jingling of Fortunato’s bells. He finally repositions the bones on the fourth wall. For fifty years, he writes, no one has disturbed them. He concludes with a Latin phrase meaning “May he rest in peace.”
AnalysisThe terror of “The Cask of Amontillado,” as in many of Poe’s tales, resides in the lack of evidence that accompanies Montresor’s claims to Fortunato’s “thousand injuries” and “insult.” The story features revenge and secret murder as a way to avoid using legal channels for retribution. Law is nowhere on Montresor’s—or Poe’s—radar screen, and the enduring horror of the story is the fact of punishment without proof. Montresor uses his subjective experience of Fortunato’s insult to name himself judge, jury, and executioner in this tale, which also makes him an unreliable narrator. Montresor confesses this story fifty years after its occurrence; such a significant passage of time between the events and the narration of the events makes the narrative all the more unreliable. Montresor’s unreliability overrides the rational consideration of evidence, such as particular occurrences of insult, that would necessarily precede any guilty sentence in a non-Poe world. “The Cask of Amontillado” takes subjective interpretation—the fact that different people interpret the same things differently—to its horrific endpoint.
Poe’s use of color imagery is central to his questioning of Montresor’s motives. His face covered in a black silk mask, Montresor represents not blind justice but rather its Gothic opposite: biased revenge. In contrast, Fortunato dons the motley-colored costume of the court fool, who gets literally and tragically fooled by Montresor’s masked motives. The color schemes here represent the irony of Fortunato’s death sentence. Fortunato, Italian for “the fortunate one,” faces the realization that even the carnival season can be murderously serious. Montresor chooses the setting of the carnival for its abandonment of social order. While the carnival usually indicates joyful social interaction, Montresor distorts its merry abandon, turning the carnival on its head. The repeated allusions to the bones of Montresor’s family that line the vaults foreshadow the story’s descent into the underworld. The two men’s underground travels are a metaphor for their trip to hell. Because the carnival, in the land of the living, does not occur as Montresor wants it to, he takes the carnival below ground, to the realm of the dead and the satanic.

"The Cask Of Amontillado"

1. cask
   a cylindrical container that holds liquids
   We had passed through walls of piled bones, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs.
2. injury
   physical damage to the body caused by violence or accident
   THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.
3. venture
   proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers
   THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when heventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.
4. insult
   a rude expression intended to offend or hurt
   THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.
5. vow
   promise
   THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.
6. revenge
   action taken in return for an injury or offense
   THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.
7. threat
   declaration of an intention to inflict harm on another
   You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat.
8. avenge
   take action in return for a perceived wrong
   At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitively settled—but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved, precluded the idea of risk.
9. preclude
   make impossible, especially beforehand
   At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitively settled—but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved, precluded the idea of risk.
10. impunity
    exemption from punishment or loss
    I must not only punish, but punish with impunity.
11. retribution
    a justly deserved penalty
    A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser.
12. wont
    an established custom
    I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation.
13. virtuoso
    having or revealing supreme mastery or skill
    Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit.
14. imposture
    pretending to be another person
    For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity—to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian millionaires.
15. accost
    approach and speak to someone aggressively or insistently
    He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much.
16. motley
    consisting of a haphazard assortment of different kinds
    The man wore motley.
17. surmount
    be on top of
    He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmountedby the conical cap and bells.
18. impose
    inflict something unpleasant
    "My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature.
19. insufferable
    extremely unpleasant or annoying
    The vaults are insufferably damp.
20. imposed
    set forth authoritatively as obligatory
    You have been imposed upon.
21. abscond
    run away, often taking something or somebody along
    There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honor of the time.
22. explicit
    precisely and clearly expressed or readily observable
    I had told them that I should not return until the morning, and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house.
23. insure
    make certain of
    These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappearance, one and all, as soon as my back was turned.
24. gait
    a person's manner of walking
    The gait of my friend was unsteady, and the bells upon his cap jingled as he strode.
25. gleam
    a flash of light
    "It is farther on," said I; "but observe the white web-work which gleamsfrom these cavern walls."
26. precious
    held in great esteem for admirable qualities
    "Come," I said, with decision, "we will go back; your health is precious.
27. repose
    lie when dead
    "I drink," he said, "to the buried that repose around us."
28. azure
    of a deep somewhat purplish blue color
    "A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel."
29. rampant
    occurring or increasing in an unrestrained way
    "A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpentrampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel."
30. fang
    hollow or grooved tooth of a venomous snake
    "A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel."
31. recess
    an enclosure that is set back or indented
    We had passed through walls of piled bones, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs.
32. gesticulation
    a deliberate and vigorous motion of the hands or body
    He laughed and threw the bottle upwards with a gesticulation I did not understand.
33. grotesque
    distorted and unnatural in shape or size
    He repeated the movement—a grotesque one.
34. comprehend
    get the meaning of something
    "You do not comprehend?" he said.
35. jest
    act in a funny or teasing way
    "You jest," he exclaimed, recoiling a few paces.
36. recoil
    spring back; spring away from an impact
    "You jest," he exclaimed, recoiling a few paces.
37. cloak
    a loose outer garment
    "Be it so," I said, replacing the tool beneath the cloak, and again offering him my arm.
38. arch
    a curved masonry construction for spanning an opening
    We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame.
39. descend
    move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
    We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, anddescending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame.
40. crypt
    a cellar or vault or underground burial chamber
    At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious.
41. remote
    located far away spatially
    At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious.
42. spacious
    having ample room
    At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious.
43. colossal
    so great in size or force or extent as to elicit awe
    It seemed to have been constructed for no especial use in itself, but formed merely the interval between two of the colossal supports of the roof of the catacombs, and was backed by one of their circumscribing walls of solid granite.
44. vain
    unproductive of success
    But to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply.
45. endeavor
    attempt by employing effort
    It was in vain that Fortunato, uplifting his dull torch, endeavored to pry into the depths of the recess.
46. pry
    move or force in an effort to get something open
    It was in vain that Fortunato, uplifting his dull torch, endeavored to pry into the depths of the recess.
47. termination
    a place where something ends or is complete
    Its termination the feeble light did not enable us to see.
48. feeble
    pathetically lacking in force or effectiveness
    Its termination the feeble light did not enable us to see.
49. extremity
    the outermost or farthest region or point
    In an instant he had reached the extremity of the niche, and finding his progress arrested by the rock, stood stupidly bewildered.
50. niche
    a small concavity
    In an instant he had reached the extremity of the niche, and finding his progress arrested by the rock, stood stupidly bewildered.
51. fetter
    restrain with shackles
    A moment more and I had fettered him to the granite.
52. astound
    affect with wonder
    He was too much astounded to resist.
53. resist
    withstand the force of something
    He was too much astounded to resist.
54. implore
    call upon in supplication
    Once more let me implore you to return.
55. mortar
    a substance used as a bond in masonry or for covering a wall
    Throwing them aside, I soon uncovered a quantity of building stone andmortar.
56. indication
    something that serves to suggest
    The earliest indication I had of this was a low moaning cry from the depth of the recess.
57. obstinate
    marked by tenacious unwillingness to yield
    There was then a long and obstinate silence.
58. cease
    put an end to a state or an activity
    The noise lasted for several minutes, during which, that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labors and sat down upon the bones.
59. subside
    wear off or die down
    When at last the clanking subsided, I resumed the trowel, and finished without interruption the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh tier.
60. resume
    take up or begin anew
    When at last the clanking subsided, I resumed the trowel, and finished without interruption the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh tier.
61. succession
    a following of one thing after another in time
    A succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me violently back.
62. shrill
    having or emitting a high-pitched and sharp tone or tones
    A succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me violently back.
63. noble
    a titled peer of the realm
    It was succeeded by a sad voice, which I had difficulty in recognising as that of the noble Fortunato.
64. aperture
    a natural opening in something
    I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within.
65. hasten
    move fast
    I hastened to make an end of my labor.
66. rampart
    an embankment built around a space for defensive purposes
    Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones.
67. mortal
    a human being
    For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them.
68. disturb
    change the arrangement or position of
    For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them.

​
 

• “The Cask of Amontillado” is told in the first person, so we don’t learn the narrator’s name for some time. We’ll call him “the narrator” until his name is revealed.
• Fortunato has hurt the narrator a thousand times, but when Fortunato almost insults him, the narrator swears there will be payback.
• The narrator claims that “you” (the reader, and maybe a specific person he’s telling the story to) know “the nature of” his “soul,” and therefore, you also know he’s never told Fortunato he wants revenge.
• See, the narrator has to do two things: 1) make Fortunato pay, and 2) get away with making Fortunato pay. Things won’t be made right if Fortunato can get revenge on the narrator after the narrator gets revenge on him.
• Things also won’t be made right if Fortunato doesn’t feel the narrator’s wrath.
• Again, the narrator tells us that Fortunato doesn’t suspect anything. As Fortunato follows the narrator, he has no idea that the narrator is smiling at him because he’s imagining him…DEAD.
• Actually the word the narrator uses is “immolation.” To immolate means “to destroy,” “to offer in sacrifice,” and to “burn up.”
• Fortunato has a “weak point,” his love of wine, but other than that, he’s a “respected” and “feared” person.
• Even though he is Italian, and most Italians, says the narrator, are phonies who cater to rich British and Australian people.
• And, according to the narrator, like all Italians, Fortunato is a terrible painter, and doesn’t know beans about fine jewels.
• But, again, he knows his fine wines, and so does the narrator. (Translation: they are both alcoholics.)
• At sundown on the night in question, the narrator meets his “friend” Fortunato.
• Fortunato already has a good drunk on, and he’s dressed like a jester.
• (Notice the little bells on the hat!)
• The narrator is so happy to see Fortunato that he can’t stop shaking Fortunato’s hand.
• Hey Fortunato, he says, guess what I’ve got – a bottle of that fine alcoholic beverage, Amontillado!
• Fortunato can’t believe that the narrator found a bottle of the stuff – right during the middle of Carnival.
• The narrator says he’s not sure it’s real Amontillado. He had wanted Fortunato’s opinion, but Fortunato wasn’t around, so he took a chance and bought it.
• He tells Fortunato that he’s on his way to see Luchesi, who will be able to tell him if the Amontillado is the real thing.
• Fortunato says Luchesi doesn’t have the refined taste buds to tell.
• The narrator says “some fools” think Luchesi and Fortunato are equals in the area of wine tasting.
• That’s the last straw for Fortunato, who says, hey, let’s go to your “vault” and check this stuff out.
• The narrator says that he wouldn’t feel right about going when Fortunato is busy, and has a cold.
• He tells Fortunato it’s wet in the vaults because of the “nitre” growing on the walls.
• Pshaw, says Fortunato, let’s go. And then he grabs the narrator’s arm.
• So the narrator puts on his black silk mask and wraps himself up in his “roquelaire” (which is a cloak) and leisurely leads Fortunato toward his place.
• Nobody is home.
• The narrator has told the people who work for him that he’s planning to be gone overnight, and that they must not leave the house.
• So they have all left to go celebrate Carnival.
• Just as the narrator planned.
• The narrator picks up two “flambeaux” (which are torches), gives one to Fortunato, and then leads him to the entrance of the “catacombs of the Montresors.”
• Catacombs are underground burial yards, famous in Italy and France.
• Fortunato is walking shakily, and the bells on his cap are jingling.
• He has only one thing in mind: the Amontillado.
• The narrator assures him they will get to it any minute.
• Fortunato starts hacking his lungs out, and the narrator asks him if he wants to go back.
• Regaining his breath, Fortunato declines, saying his cough won’t “kill” him.
• The narrator agrees and gives him another bottle of wine.
• Fortunato makes a toast to the dead resting in peace around them, and comments on how big the catacomb is.
• The Montresors “were” a humungous family, the narrator tells him.
• “I forget your arms,” Fortunato tells him.
• By “arms,” he means the Montresor “coat of arms.”
• The narrator claims that the Montresor coat of arms is a gigantic gold foot, smashing a snake in the blue grass. The snake’s fangs are stuck in the heel of the foot.
• When Fortunato asks, the narrator tells him that the “motto” that goes with the arms is “Nemo me impune lacessit.”
• That fancy looking Latin basically means: “You can’t mess with me and get away with it.”
• Fortunato heartily approves the motto, and narrator sees the wine in his eyes.
• They’ve just walked by “walls of piled bones.”
• Booze barrels and “puncheons” (another name for casks) are all over the place.
• They near the furthest, deepest part of this underground graveyard.
• The narrator grabs hold of Fortunato’s arm and they continue to walk together. Then he tells Fortunato that the catacombs are under the bottom of the river.
• The water seeps through the ground and drips down into the catacombs, causing the nitre to form, and preserving the bones buried there…
• He urges Fortunato to turn back, while he still can, for the sake of his health.
• Fortunato asks for more wine and the narrator give him a bottle of “De Grâve.”
• Fortunato drinks it in one crazy gulp, and his eyes glow, and he laughs.
• Then he throws up the bottle and makes a wild gesture.
• The narrator has no idea what the gesture means, and, he finds it “grotesque.”
• Fortunato takes his lack of comprehension to mean that the narrator is not of the brotherhood of the Masons.
• The narrator protests that he is too a mason (person who builds with stone), and pulls out his trowel (a masonry tool) to prove it.
• You must be kidding, says Fortunato, and then he insists that they continue the search for the Amontillado.
• Arm in arm, they travel to a stinking, rotting “crypt.”
• The air is so nasty that it makes their torches “glow” instead of “flame.”
• They move on to the next crypt, where the walls are decorated with “human remains,” similar to the Parisian catacombs.
• There is also a big pile of bones on the floor.
• And there’s a hole in the wall. It’s four feet deep, three feet wide, and six or seven feet high.
• The back is solid granite.
• Fortunato tries to get into the hole, but can’t.
• The narrator brings up Luchesi again.
• Fortunato says that Luchesi is an “ignoramus.”
• Then the narrator pins Fortunato to the granite-backed wall of the hole.
• “Two iron staples” happen to be sticking out of the granite. One has a chain, the other a padlock.
• Shocked, Fortunato does not resist when the narrator chains him to the staples.
• Now would you like to go back? the narrator asks Fortunato.
• “The Amontillado!” Fortunato spews.
• “True,” the narrator says, “The Amontillado.”
• Then the narrator goes over to the bone pile and gets some “building stone and mortar,” which he uses to start walling Fortunato in.
• But, Fortunato isn’t drunk any more. The narrator can tell by the “low moaning cry.”
• Then silence. Then a rattling of chains.
• The narrator chills on his bone pile, waiting for Fortunato to stop rattling his chain.
• When the noise stops, the narrator goes back to finish the job.
• When the seventh layer of bricks is completed, the narrator takes another break.
• The bricks are up to the narrator’s chest.
• He shines his light in the hole, on Fortunato, who starts screaming in the narrator’s face.
• Frightened for a second, the narrator jumps back, “unsheathe[s] his rapier” (a kind of sword) and pokes it in the hole.
• Fortunato’s screams reach new heights.
• The narrator joins in and a total scream-fest ensues.
• At midnight, the narrator completes three more layers of brick.
• On the eleventh layer, only one brick remains before Fortunato is bricked in forever.
• Just as the narrator is about to put in the last brick, he hears a “low laugh” that makes his hair stand at attention.
• Then he hears “a sad voice” that doesn’t really sound like Fortunato anymore.
• Fortunato makes sounds. This is all really funny, he says. Great prank. Um, can we go drinking somewhere now?
• “The Amontillado!” the narrator says.
• Fortunato says he should be getting back to “Lady Fortunato” and the other people.
• The narrator agrees that they should “be gone.”
• And then, Fortunato says, “For the love of God, Montresor!”
• (Finally, we know the narrator’s name!)
• To Fortunato’s plea, Montresor responds, “Yes, for the love of God!”
• Fortunato makes no reply, so Montresor calls his name twice.
• When he still gets no response, Montresor shines his light in the hole, and then hears “a jingling of bells.”
• His “heart” feels “sick” – because it’s so wet down here.
• He wants to be done with his work, so he puts in the last brick, covers it with plaster, then sticks a bunch of bones on top of “the new masonry.”
• ”No mortal” has messed with Fortunato's tomb for fifty years.
• (Now we know that Montresor is telling the story fifty years after it happened.)
• The final line is more Latin: “In pace requiescat!” which means what it sounds like: “May he rest in peace.”