YMMV / The Cask of Amontillado

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • The most obvious is, why did Montresor kill Fortunato? He claims to have borne "a thousand injuries" from him before an insult pushed him over the edge, but there's no evidence that it was really bad enough to warrant murder. But what was the insult? People have been arguing about it for years, with some of the more common suggestions listed here:
    • The true motive was jealousy, because Fortunato is popular and wealthy, and generally a very happy person. The "insult," whatever it was, was just an excuse.
    • Something related to class warfare, with Fortunato being Nouveau Riche and Montresor being Old Money. Basically, Slobs vs. Snobs taken way too far.
    • Given that Fortunato seems to consider Montresor a friend, it could also have been a well-intentioned (if perhaps poorly thought-out) joke that Montresor took very seriously.
    • Montresor could also easily just be a violent sociopath who decided to kill Fortunato because he didn't like him, and figured out a way to get away with it.
    • Fortunato's poking fun at Montresor for not being a Mason lead some to think he may have blackballed Montresor. While it seems strange that he'd still imagine himself to be on Montresor's good side after that, or that Montresor would consider it an "insult" instead of an "injury," Fortunato does come off as a bit stupid, and Montresor has skewed priorities, so it's not impossible.
    • It even could be argued that, fifty years after Fortunato's disappearance, Montresor might even be lying and boasting about having killed him, or at least killing him in the way described. For all we know Montresor might be senile and delusional at this point.
    • Or, something to do with the phrase "for the love of God"? Fortunato's silence might well be realization of Montresor's motive, some old injury or even inside joke between them involving that phrase. (The popular reading is that Montresor can't tell if Fortunato's alive right before finishing the job. But he's very specific about "waiting for a reply", even though he was willing to describe Fortunato's "obstinate silence" before; he'd be able to tell the difference in the quiet of a literal crypt. No, Montresor was hoping to hear Fortunato realize why he was acting so, and was disappointed by this.)
    • Notice that not once does Fortunato ask why Montresor is doing this. If Fortunato didn't know, wouldn't that be the first question on his lips? He knew full well what he had done, but he must have thought, "What can he do about it?" Well, now he knows. Nor does he ever try to reason with Montresor, aside from a last-ditch appeal to Montresor's sympathy, not for Fortunato himself, but for his wife, and of course, "For the love of God, Monstresor!" both of which fail. Fortunato knows he is screwed, he knows why, and it was his belief in his own invulnerability that put him in this situation.
  • Fortunato: Too Dumb to Live, or relatively normal guy who just Can't Hold His Liquor and is thus prone to Alcohol-Induced Idiocy?
  • Is Fortunato really the excessive lush Montresor makes him out to be? On the one hand, he is very excited by the prospect of getting some nice wine, is a self-described connoisseur, and he's quite drunk for most of the story. On the other hand, it's carnival night — most likely, everybody's wasted — and an interest in wine isn't exactly uncommon among their social circle.
  • Just why is Montresor relating the story fifty years after the fact, and more importantly to who? Is he engaging in some Evil Gloating about how he got away with everything, or is it a confession of sorts from a man likely in his twilight years who carried more guilt than he'd directly admit to himself?
  • Fortunato's silence before Montresor places the last brick into the wall. Is he already dead? Too scared to speak? Or is it a last act of defiance to unnerve his jailor?
• Aluminum Christmas Trees: People discovering the existence of the actual Amontillado sherry tend to believe that it's a Defictionalization of a fictitious vintage from the Poe story. In actuality, Amontillado was a preexisting variety of sherry by the time of Poe's writing, originating in the 18th century.
• Crosses the Line Twice: When Fortunato makes a little crack about how Montresor isn't one of the masons (referring to the Freemasons), the latter refutes him. When the confused Fortunato asks for a sign, Montresor pulls out a trowel from his coat, and Fortunato recoils from it shouting "You jest!" Recall this is the very same trowel Montresor intends to use to wall Fortunato up in the crypt.
• Follow the Leader: Arthur Conan Doyle published a story called "The New Catacomb" whose plot is very similar to that of this story. Doyle, however, provided a reason for the Montresor analogue's hatred of the Fortunato analogue: he charmed the hero's fiancee into his bed, and then left her to live a life of shame.
• Funny Moments: Montresor's stratagem for ensuring that he and Fortunato are not disturbed.
  There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honor of the time. I had told them that I should not return until the morning, and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house. These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappearance, one and all, as soon as my back was turned.
• Genius Bonus: One of the reasons Fortunato tries to dissuade Montresor from going to Luchesi to verify the authenticity of the Amontillado is that "Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from sherry!" Amontillado is a sherry. It's a clue that Fortunato's vaunted knowledge of fine spirits isn't all that he claims, pointing to his character as a vulgar boor putting on airs of refinement^note Though it's also possible that what Fortunato means is "Luchesi cannot tell a really fine sherry (Amontillado) from plain run-of-the-mill sherry.".
• It Was His Sled: Most people know that Fortunato gets sealed up inside a wall, especially after the Memetic Mutation.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • The entire story, especially the climax, went memetic on Tumblr in October 2016, and it became popular to post images of characters stuck inside walls with captions from the story. Nobody seems sure why or how it started. The fact that many English teachers and professors teach the story around Halloween probably helps, though.
  • "I have some [x] in the catacombs below my estate, just follow me..."^note "X" is sometimes replaced with something else enticing, but the line is posted as a subtle threat to seal away the opposite person or character.
• Nightmare Fuel: Fortunato's fate. What a horrible, frightening way to die ... and just because of an unspecified insult.
• Tear Jerker: Fortunato's final speech before he's walled up reveals that he has a wife. Imagine how it must feel to have your husband disappear and never finding out what happened to him...
• The Woobie: Poor Fortunato. No matter what he said that offended Montresor so much, he certainly didn't deserve that.

---