Spottng the Tricky NewView in Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”
Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, The Cask of Amontillado, is very well-known and is frequently included in high school and college texts with all the best short stories. For writing essays on literary analysis, this is a rich selection.
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
1-OldView strong value statement, early on
“I continued as was my wont, to smile in his face . . . my smile NOW was at the thought of his immolation [sacrificial killing] . . . my friend . . . accosted me with excessive warmth . . . I was so pleased to see him, that I thought I should never have done wringing his hand.” Plainly, Montresor and Fortunato are great friends: Fortunato has “excessive warmth” for Montresor, and Montresor is so very pleased to see his friend that he thought he “should never have done wringing his hand.” That’s a very strong statement—especially since Montresor inwardly intends to kill his friend. Remember this duality of outward vs inward as you try to understand the OldView-NewView relationship in this story.
2-OldView supports/undercuts, in middle
Descriptions. Three dialogues support the OldView of outward signs of friendship.
First—“I drink,” he [Fortunato] said, “to the buried that repose around us.” Montresor replies, “And I to your long life.” Outwardly friendly, Montresor wishes long life to his friend, Fortunato.
Second—“The nitre!” I said: “see, it increases. It hangs like moss upon the vaults. We are below the river’s bed. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones. Come, we will go back ere it is too late. Your cough —” Montresor’s spoken concern for Fortunato’s health clearly supports the OldView of his outward friendship.
Third—”You are not of the masons.” “Yes, yes,” I said, “yes! yes.” “You? Impossible! A mason?” “A mason,” I replied. “A sign,” he said. “It is this,” I answered, produc-ing a trowel from beneath the folds of my roquelaire. “You jest,” he exclaimed. As Fortunato refers to a sign of Freemason brotherhood, Montresor outwardly seems to go along with such friendly, brotherly ideas, though Fortunato thinks he is joking around.
Conflicts & Resolutions. The conflicts in this story involve the clash between Montresor’s outwardly friendly actions and talk with Fortunato and his inwardly opposite intention, which is to kill him. In other words, Montresor says one thing but also means another, opposing thing. The key to understanding this is when Fortunato says, “You jest.” Now, in my opinion, that’s the truth—Montresor has been jesting with his friend all along. He is enjoying teasing his friend, a man whom he respects and whose presence and friendship he really enjoys. All conflict is off, of course, when Montresor perceives that his friend is dead, at the end.
3-NewView Reversal, at end
Reverse. At the end, Montresor says, “My heart grew sick — on account of the dampness of the catacombs. I hastened to make an end of my labour.” In my opinion, the dash dash indicates that Montresor is once again not saying what he really means, especially since the dampness would make only his lungs sick, not his heart. (Any doctor will tell you so.)
In the OldView at the beginning, Montresor said, “My smile NOW was at the thought of his immolation.” So why isn’t he smiling and happy at the end, when he is completing his great revenge on Fortunato? Why is it that his “heart grew sick,” and why is he in haste “to make an end of” his labor?
Why not drag out the final acts of his revenge, enjoying his triumph, as he had been doing at the beginning—“I was so pleased to see him, that I thought I should never have done wringing his hand”? His statement, “My heart grew sick” is a NewView Reversal of what we expected of Montresor all along. Because he was smiling outwardly, as well inwardly, from the start of the story at the prospect of avenging himself on his “friend,” we expected him to be gleeful and triumphant when he actually completed his vengeance on his “friend.”
Montresor truly was sick at heart—not of body—as he realized he no longer would have his “friend” to tease and to torment at his fanciful whim and idle leisure. Yes, Montresor was sick at heart, and it wasn’t because of the dampness of the catacombs. Once he noted his own unhappiness as he realized his friend was finally dead, he used only four brisk and businesslike sentences to wrap up the story.
As a last touch, Montresor wistfully pronounces that Latin phrase which for centuries has been used to say goodbye to our respected friends and loved ones, “In pace requiescat,” which is translated as, “In peace may he rest.” Not exactly what you’d say of an enemy you hated, is it?
Remarkable