Michael Gnapp Professor Laura Wingler 11/15/2021 English II “It Was Fortunato’s Own Faults That Ultimately Led Him to His Death” From The Cask of Amontillado, it was overall Fortunato’s own fault that led him to his death. This is because he created bad relations with Montresor, he misplaces his trust with Montresor, and his alcoholism led him to terrible decisions. But although it was mainly his faults that got him murdered, it was not entirely his fault. Obviously, a good amount of blame is on Montresor for committing the murder. But Fortunato could have easily avoided this entire situation when it comes down to it, he decided the risk for reward path instead of safety. Although the name Fortunato indicates one who is fortunate, he had a very very unfortunate ending to his life. His first mistake in the story would be offending the wrong person. “Montressor is a manipulative and vengeful person. These characteristics lead to the death of Fortunato, a man who has wronged him” (Anderson). Although there was no way Fortunato could have known this before insulting Montresor it is still not a good idea to go around insulting people, because you don’t know if they’ll hold a grudge against you. The reason to why he may have insulted Montresor could be that he was jealous of him for the things that he had like, wealth, a large home, and servants. Fortunato basically threw a bunch of insanely harsh insults at Montresor causing him to have a vengeful grudge against Fortunato. This is a direct case of cause and effect. If Fortunato did not insult him to begin with there would be no hard feeling between them. Upon closer look into Montresor’s character and what made him have this grudge to begin with, one can see that Montresor may be struggling with a self-perception issue which made it very easy for Fortunato to get under his skin. “While we all may fall into holding an occasional grudge, some people may be more prone to hanging on to resentments or anger than other people. Sometimes, holding grudges—and blaming others—may be a form of selfprotection. In the same vein, some people may be more cognizant that they are stoking feelings of bitterness than others, who may be unaware of the role they play in keeping their anger alive. Lasting bitterness can grow from a variety of issues—large and small—as well” (Vanbuskirk). Fortunato may have thought that insulting wouldn’t result in any backlash towards him or that may just have been the way Fortunato jokes around with people he meets in order to become friends with them. We see this a lot more now in today’s society with youth friends hanging out with each other. Teens use this now to joke around with their friends or just to make conversation, and as long as both sides of the friendship understand this conversation structure nobody will get hurt. Unfortunately, this was not the case for Fortunato. Even though we do not know the true intentions of Fortunato, he still has done wrong to Montresor and eventually was punished for doing so. This was his first mistake that he had made which led to his death. His second mistake was placing too much trust in Montresor. After insulting Montresor to the highest degree, when offered drinks at Montresor’s place Fortunato did not turn down the offer and decided to go. This could be because of many reasons, he could have thought that Montresor wanted to make up and become friends with him, it could have been that he just wanted someone to hang out with and gave Montresor a chance. But realistically I believe that it is because he just wanted free booze from someone he did not like and didn’t have enough common sense to think it through before going. Overall, I think this is because Fortunato does not have a good sense of who he puts his trust into. “Trust is an issue in this story. Fortunato, whom had been insulting and offending Montresor to the highest degree, decides to foolishly trust him and accept his offer to go to his house and drink with him. This action of Fortunato, to me, seems absurd. If it were I that insulted a man and then was invited to his home to drink together, "[we] to your long life," I would not trust him.” (Wanamaker). It is this lack of common sense and a bad sense of who to put his trust into that led him to make these terrible decisions such as following the person he has insulted into “the most remote end of the crypt”. Even though Fortunato may have been lacking in these traits there was another factor that was involved in these terrible decisions, this key factor was the alcohol that he had consumed that night. Alcohol is a very serios mind-altering substance that is still a serios problem for many people today. “Alcohol also decreases some of the activity of the prefrontal cortex. This part of the brain is what helps you to think clearly and rationally, and it is involved in your decision making abilities. When you drink, alcohol makes it harder for the prefrontal cortex to work as it should, disrupting decision-making and rational thought. In this way, alcohol prompts you to act without thinking about your actions.” (Alcohol.org). We see this as an example in many different stories today. A major issue that is widely talked about today is date rape. This is when someone is forced to engage in unwanted forced sexual activity. A common story that is heard around the world today is a guy spoon-feeding a girl that he is into copious amounts of alcohol to the point where she cannot think for herself and is then raped. Using alcohol to manipulate and influence other’s decisions is commonly used today in many different cases. “Adam Oakes, a 19-year-old student at Virginia Commonwealth University, died in February after being told to drink a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey, family members say.” (Medina). In almost the same way Fortunato is made to drink a good amount of wine and is then led to make the bad decision of following Montresor into a deep dark crypt. The main issue here is Fortunato’s alcoholism, because he is addicted and wants the bottle of wine really badly, he went through these great lengths to obtain it. Even though Fortunato is made to look like he lacks common sense, one can argue that it is not entirely his fault and Montresor is to blame. When it comes down to analyzing Montresor’s character, we can assume some things like, he is obsessive, holds onto a grudge, and manipulative. Montresor, in order to keep his pride, wanted to get revenge on his “friend” for the thousands of insults that he has been given. Even though he wanted this revenge there could have been many other ways to accomplish this and resolve this issue that he has. Instead, he goes way overboard and plots out a murder, which is usually not the first thing everyone thinks of when it comes to revenge. Especially when the offense against him was something as small as some insults that were thrown at him. In his mind it was, sticks and stones can break my bones but if you insult me I’ll bury you alive under my home. It may be the case that if Fortunato did not insult him Montresor would have still found a reason to dislike and then murder him. “We see things only through Montresor’s ironic, obsessional mind, and he is not interested in reasons for his revenge if any indeed exist, but only in how he carries it out.” (Sarkar). It is quite strange that Montresor only briefly mentions that he was insulted and doesn’t really go into depth of what Fortunato said exactly about him, he only says that he was insulted to the highest degree and that was it. So, in the end it may not have been Fortunato’s fault but instead just Montresor’s obsessive manipulative personality and just wanted to get a little power trip out of Fortunato’s death. Fortunato’s death was mostly his own fault, and his actions lead to his own death like creating bad relations with Montresor, misplacing his trust with Montresor, and his alcoholism leading him to terrible decisions. In the end Fortunato’s death is a direct cause from both characters in the story, but Fortunato is mostly at fault for his death. The whole situation could have easily been avoided if Fortunato made the correct decision at any point in the story. But instead of changing his ways or even thought his actions out logically, he decided to stay stubborn and fall for Montresor’s scheme. It was because of this lack of common, alcoholism, and overall rudeness towards Montressor that got him killed. Therefore, Fortunato had basically killed himself and Montresor just an incident waiting to happen. “Work Cited” Wanamaker, Christopher. “An Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's 'the Cask of Amontillado'.” Owlcation, Owlcation, 13 June 2011, https://owlcation.com/humanities/An-Analysis-ofEdgar-Allen-Poes-The-Cask-of-Amontillado. Anderson, William. “Cask of Amontillado: Characterization of Montressor.” SchoolWorkHelper, https://schoolworkhelper.net/cask-of-amontillado-characterization-of-montressor/. Sarkar, Somnath. “The Cask of Amontillado Characters, Summary, Setting, Analysis, Theme, Plot.” All About English Literature, 5 July 2021, https://www.engliterature.com/2021/01/cask-amontillado-summary-characters-analysis.html. Vanbuskirk, Sarah. “The Mental Health Effects of Holding a Grudge.” Verywell Mind, https://www.verywellmind.com/the-mental-health-effects-of-holding-a-grudge-5176186. Alcohol.org “Why Alcohol Lowers Inhibitions and Leads to Bad Decisions.”, https://www.alcohol.org/effects/inhibitions/. Medina, Eduardo. “11 Arrested in Fraternity Pledge's Alcohol-Poisoning Death, Police Say.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 25 Sept. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/25/us/adam-oakes-death-hazing.html.
