In the meantime, the narrator gives Forunato more to drink, the final step to materialize his cruel intention. Through the suffocating passage, the narrator states the quote in Latin, i.e, “ nemo me impune lacessit,” meaning “no one attacks me with impunity” referring to the family shield placed inside the catacomb depicting a human foot crushing a serpent. The narrator stress that Montresors were great perhaps to imply that the insult was beheld at family lineage and wealth by Fortunato. Through the rooms and archways, he took Fortunato down the long winding staircase to the catacomb of the Montresors’ family. At his house, he had made sure that the attendants had left for the carnival so there could be no witness to his crime. The narrator is successful in dragging Fortunato with him to his home (called Palazzo), to verify the cask of Amontillado kept in the basement chamber. The Cask of Amontillado refers to an exquisite wine that becomes the tool to avenge the insult. The narrator articulates his regret at paying full sum in advance for the cask of Amontillado for which he now had doubts. So, one evening, the narrator finds Fortunato drunk and in high spirits wearing a striped dress and conical cap (suggestive of being dressed like a clown). There is just one weakness in Fortunato and that is his pride in showcasing expertise in wine. Though the narrator continues his cordial attitude towards Fortunato for he is respected and feared. ‘ A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser.’ Heavy phrases like these are rolled out to let us know the intensity of insult and the feeling of revenge harboured by the narrator. In the course of the story, we get very little detail about the two characters. It was this insult that set the narrator’s plan for revenge. It opens with a remark on Fortunato having ‘ thrust a thousand injuries’ and an insult upon the narrator. The story is set in an unnamed Italian city during carnival time.

Nobody has tried to unearth the crime in this story, and it is upon the narrator’s fancy to tell us about his crime. The creepy world of Edgar Allan Poe opens to you in full stretch, except the investigative part. The story unfolds like a revelation made after half a century of committing the crime.

The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

The cask of amontillado short summary