“The Cask of Amontillado” is a short story written by Edgar Allen Poe and, unlike most stories, the narrator can be or less reliable with the facts it presents. The story is about the narrator, Montresor, who out of revenge tricks his “poor friend” (Poe 109) Fortunato into following him to his death. As the narrator, Montresor, recites the story, you can see the oscillation of his mental state from the feeling of revenge to the completely opposite feeling of pity. There are many reasons why Montresor would be considered an unreliable narrator, but there are also some reasons why he should be considered reliable. This article will explain the reasons why Montresor could be referred to as both and the reasons why Montresor wanted revenge. We'll start by looking at what critics have to say about the story, then move on to what I have to say about the story. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Montresor is a complex and intriguing character whose desire for revenge drives the story. Given that his family motto is Nemo me impune lacessit, whose ability "no one insults me with impunity", Poe seems to argue that this drive is what defines his existence. His noble lineage appears to be at least part of what makes him murderous. He says he has reason to seek revenge "because Fortunato offended and hurt him," but provides absolutely no details. The reason for his wounded pride, therefore, is unknown and could even be imaginary. Montresor indicates his skill in deception through the way he alludes to Fortunato and his skill in planning how he sets up the final resting place in the catacomb and leads Fortunato to it. Although there is a second that seems to give him pause (when Fortunato screams), he ultimately becomes cold, calculating and relentless. As stated previously, some critics say that Montresor is a reliable narrator in the information he offers the reader, while others say he is completely unreliable in the information he provides. Personally I agree with both sides of the criticism. I believe that Montresor can be considered both a reliable narrator and an unreliable narrator. In this article we will examine the reasons why critics believe Montresor is a reliable narrator and why he is considered an unreliable narrator. We will also look at my personal reasons why I think he is trustworthy and untrustworthy. To begin, we'll look at the reasons why critics think he is a reliable narrator. One critic suggests that everything Montresor says is "best taken literally, for if it is, other details fall into place" (St. John Stott, Graham). So this critic's argument is to simply trust Montresor in his descriptions of what is happening based solely on the fact that it makes the story easier to understand if you don't double-guess everything that is described to you. This is the only information I could find about why to trust Montresor as a narrator, but now let's talk about why I and critics consider him unreliable. Now, Montresor is described as an unreliable narrator for a few main reasons. The main one is that Montresor is a murderer, and it is difficult to trust someone who kills especially when the only reason he kills Fortunato is that he “dared to insult” (Poe 107). Furthermore, when Montresor tells the story, it is difficult to tell whether the events that occur are in chronological and timely order, with one event happening immediately after another. For example, he states that his “poor friend found it impossible to respond for many minutes”(Poe 109). The fact that he says he didn't respond for minutes could mean he didn't respond for an hour, for all we know as the audience. Another thing is that Montresor seems to leave out the evidence. Also missing from the quote is evidence as to why he found it impossible to respond. He only says he had a cough, but never explains where it came from. This brings us to why Montresor might be considered a reliable narrator. As Fortunato coughed, Montresor asks him if he would like to return to the party they came from several times, but Fortunato refuses saying "I will not die of coughing" and Montresor responds by saying, "True" (Poe 109). At this moment Montresor shows himself to be reliable and gives a little foreshadowing because he knows that Fortunato will not die of coughing, but will die of hunger and thirst because Montresor has arranged it that way. Another moment where Montresor seems reliable is when he locks up Fortunato. Fortunato shouts to Montresor “for the love of God, Montresor, have mercy on me!” and Montresor, now that his pent-up fury is dissipating, actually feels pity” (Delaney 39). The fact that Montresor feels pity makes him seem like he has human feelings again, and gives the reader an idea that maybe he isn't so bad after all. Now we will move on to what some critics' opinions are on why Montresor wanted revenge on Fortunado. One critic states that “As Montresor himself observes, Fortunado is the golden boy, 'rich, respected, admired, loved,….happy….'” (Gruesser). Montresor, unfortunately, was not so lucky. He states that he once was, but “he has lost his status or his contentment. For an unfortunate person, like Montresor, Fortunato's happiness is a daily wound” (Gruesser). So, for this reason, Montresor feels the need to create a master plan to bring justice to Fortunato. All critics agree that it was an act of revenge. Personally I think it was definitely an act of revenge, but for no good reason. If Montresor gives a really solid reason, Poe hides it very well in his writings. I think Montresor was simply jealous judging by Gruesser's take on the situation. However, there must be more than one reason. One critic suggests that “He has his reasons for what he does, and these are reasons we should be able to understand. There is a deeper horror in the story” (White). This critic suggests that there must be a good enough reason for what he did so that he can feel justified after doing what needed to be done in Montresor's mind. “Montresor is so convinced of his right to carry out his plan of revenge that he can speak of the killing of Fortunato as an 'immolation' (1257). It is not necessary to go so far as to see him take on the role of a priest carrying out the ritual killing of a sacrificial victim, as some commentators on the story have done; but we should be able to understand that, given his family imperatives, he may be able to see himself as performing an almost sacred duty” (White). I agree that there must have been some reason why Montresor felt the need to do his duty, but I also believe that Montresor could very well have just been crazy. This brings us to the next topic. Some critics suggest that Montresor was engaged in a "demented or satanic quest for revenge" (White). After reading many articles, I saw a pattern in the religious aspect of the story that Montresor was satanic, but one critic stated, "Montresor unintentionally re-enacted the crucifixion" (Gruesser). A big reason why people brought religion into the scene is because of one line in the story, which is when Fortunado shouts atMontresor to stop what he is doing, says "For the love of God Montresor". “Fortunado's cry is at the same time a request for mercy and a warning to Montresor to remember his end and think about the afterlife” (Gruesser). According to Gruesser, when Montresor responded by saying “Yes. . . for the love of God!” He was trying to go against God, “damning himself forever” (Gruesser). Other critics suggest that Montresor was simply mentally ill. This brings us to the next point in the story, which is when Montresor begins to feel pity for the man he is killing. Montresor offers Fortunado many opportunities to save himself. This makes the reader think that there is a possibility that Montresor does not necessarily want to follow through with the murder, but continues to make ironic comments that foreshadow what is to come. “Once he has punished Fortunato to his satisfaction, he can now feel sorry for his victim. Fortunado's request is only half expressed: the other half is implicit. It means, in effect, "For the love of God Montresor, have mercy on me!" and Montresor, now that his repressed fury is dissipating, truly feels pity” (Delaney). That situation is completely strange to me because the story is being told 50 years later. I thought that Montresor, being sorry for Fortunado, would regret what he did at that time, but he shows no remorse in this respect. I think Poe is just showing that Montresor has normal human feelings just like everyone else, but he still doesn't regret what he did because Montresor can't let Fortunado escape from the "thousands of wounds" he has already inflicted on him.Next topic this article will examine is all about the irony and foreshadowing of the story. We will start by looking at the “The Cask of Amontillado” tile. The word “botte” means barrel of wine, but it is the root of the word scrigno which means coffin. So one could argue that it is somewhat ironic that the word “barrel” in the title was meant to figuratively represent Fortunado's coffin. Something else ironic is Fortunado's name itself. When you say Fortunado, you can easily see that there is the word "fortune" in it. This is extremely ironic because when you think of luck, you think of good luck, but Fortunado has absolutely anything but good luck. He is led to his death and suspects nothing. Another example of symbolic irony is the way Fortunado is dressed. He wears a jester costume. This is extremely ironic because he is tricked into following Montresor to his own death. Montresor offers him many opportunities to turn back and, foolishly, Fortunado denies him all opportunities to escape. It's quite comical that he keeps denying opportunities because as a reader you can see that Montresor is obviously up to something, but Fortunado is so blind to it. Another example of irony is when Fortunado asks Montresor if he is a bricklayer, and Montresor responds by saying that he is a bricklayer, but Fortunado meant the question by asking if he was part of the freemasons. When Montresor replied, he did not mean that he was part of Freemasonry, but he meant that he was a craftsman who builds with stone. This is ironic because Montresor will build Fortunado's tomb in stone. Poe also uses a lot of irony in the dialogue between Montresor and Fortunado. For example, the first time Montresor speaks to Fortunado he says, "My dear Fortunado, fortunately I met you." This is ironic because luckily he is not encountered at all. It's more like he was met unfortunately. Another example is when Montresor and Fortunado are in the tunnel heading for Montresor to collapse it. Fortunado starts coughing for an unexplained reason, but Montresor responds by saying, "We'll go back, your health is precious. You're rich,respected, admired, loved; You are happy, like I once was. You're a man who will be missed." Obviously that's a lot of bullshit he says, but Fortunado responds by saying that “The cough is just nothing; it won't kill me. I won't die of coughing.” And Montresor responds to this by saying “true”, because Fortunado is right. He won't die of a cough, but he will die of something much worse. Now it's time to recap. This article began by discussing whether or not Montresor was a reliable narrator. Ultimately, I have to agree with St. John Stott and Graham when they said that the story is "best taken literally, because if it is, other details fall into place" (St. John Stott, Graham). If the story isn't told in real time and if you can't trust the narrator, then the whole story is a failure because it's impossible to know what's true and what's not. This ruins the whole point of reading a story if you can't trust anything you're reading or if you have to analyze every detail of the story to find out what's happening. It just takes a lot away from the story, so I think it's best to trust what the narrator states and move on from there. Although there are many reasons why Montresor could be considered unreliable, it is best to trust what he is stating because it makes reading much easier. Subsequently, this article began to talk about the reasons why Montresor killed Fortunado. As one critic suggested: “He has his reasons for what he does, and these are reasons we should be able to understand. There is a deeper horror in the story” (White). I have to agree with this critic because no one does something for no reason. It just depends on what Fortunado did that made him want revenge so badly that he made a master plan to take him out and take him to the end. The only reason Montresor gives you for killing Fortunato is that he "dared to insult" (Poe 107). After researching and finding other critics' opinions on why he did what he did, the only reasonable reason is jealousy. “As Montresor himself points out, Fortunado is the golden boy, 'rich, respected, admired, loved,….happy….'” (Gruesser). That's what made me think of it. Montresor goes on to say that he wasn't so lucky. This makes me think that the main reason Montresor went through with it was because Fortunado's happiness bothered him a lot. His jealousy must have driven him enough to kill a man who probably never did him much harm. Furthermore, he may very well have been in a sick mental state because anyone to his right would not have performed such a horrible task. After reading The Cask of Amontillado, I immediately believed everything the narrator was saying, but after thinking about it for a while, my thoughts changed. The reason is because the narrator seems to be unreliable, at least in most cases. When I first read the story, I thought that all the events happened one after the other with little time in between, but after thinking about it, my mind changed. It appears that long periods of time may have passed between the events that occurred. For example, Montresor says that his “poor friend found it impossible to answer for many minutes” (Poe 109). This could have meant any amount of time, and who knows what the narrator did to him to make it that way. Another reason is based solely on the fact that he is a murderer. It's hard to believe he's telling the complete truth. The last reason I think he is unreliable is because he never gives a real reason for even killing Fortunado. He simply says to "dare with insult" (Poe 107), but this could mean anything. After researching “The Barrel of Amontillado,” I realized.