Fortunato, one of the main characters from Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”, published in November 1846. He first appears in the story through Montresor’s discussion of how Fortunato has hurt him and certainly appears as an eccentric character. When he appears in the story in person, he’s wearing a costume specifically, motley clothes a jester or fool would wear. These two factors largely frame Fortunato’s role throughout the story. Fortunato appears to be an extreme extrovert. He likes to get drunk. He has a lot of money and evidently enjoys spending it on his own enjoyment.
Readers experience Fortunato through Montresor’s narrative, which is clearly biased and likely insane and Fortunato himself plays the fool at many turns, missing clues and making choices that make his fate worse. Fortunato’s ego, greed, and competitiveness cloud his judgment. Montresor tells readers Fortunato thinks he is an expert on wine but he certainly doesn’t act like it. He acts like an enthusiast but also likes the opposite of an expert, he guzzles wine in quantity. Throughout the story, until the very end, Fortunato seems to think he and Montresor are friends and that their fondness for wine creates a connection between them. It isn’t until Montresor locks him in a crypt and begins to brick him in that Fortunato finally realizes he’s been tricked.
The story begins with the narrator Montresor explaining that a man called Fortunato has wronged him thousand times over, but his insult is the final blow that has provoked his vow to revenge. He continues to assure us that he has given Fortunato no insight to the fact that he is plotting to kill him, and he plans to use Fortunato’s knowledge of wine to lure him to his death.
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Arrogant
Fortunato is an arrogant man. When Fortunato is approached by Montresor during the celebration, Fortunato claims to “pride himself on his connoisseurship of wine”. Montresor doesn’t need to bring up Luchesi to get Fortunato down in the hole, but it doesn’t hurt.
Fortunato either wants to prove that he’s a better wine taster than Luchesi, or he wants to make sure Luchesi doesn’t get his hands on the Amontillado. Montresor tells readers Fortunato thinks he is an expert on wine but he certainly doesn’t act like it. Fortunato is so conceited about his abilities to identify a critique fine wine that he speaks ill of Luchesi, “I do not care. Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely nothing. Amontillado! And as for Luchesi, he cannot distinguish sherry from Amontillado!” When Montesor suggests that Fortunato not to expose himself too cold by going into his vaults and that he will call upon Luchesi to taste the wine, Fortunato cannot bear the idea that another might be able to boast of having tasted a great Amontillado. So, he insists that Montesor take him, “Enough…the cough is a mere nothing….” As they reach the deep recess, Montesor continues to bait Fortunato’s ego, saying he will call upon Luchesi, Fortunato interrupts him, and “He is an ignoramus.”
Addiction
Fortunato is addicted to wine. He has been drunk ever since Montresor encountered him on the street, and Montresor has kept him drunk by giving him two bottles of French wine. The first wine Montresor offered to him is a bottle of Medoc, which will help them keep warm, “Thank you, my friend. I drink to the dead who lie sleeping around us.”, “And I, Fortunato – I drink to your long life.”, “Ahh! A very fine wine, indeed! But Amontillado?” He thinks the Amontillado can help him take it to the next level. Right up until the end, he thinks of Amontillado, and only Amontillado, “It is nothing. Let us go on. But first, another drink of your Medoc!” Plus, he lets Montresor get him even drunker down in the catacomb by giving him another bottle of quality wine, De Grave. Fortunato took it and drank it all without stopping for a breath. He laughed and threw the empty bottle over his shoulder. His addiction leaves him vulnerable to Montresor’s attack and to his death. Fortunato’s heavy drinking has blurred his judgment and his overwhelming desire for the Amontillado compounds the bad judgment.
Foolish
Fortunato is a foolish man. He shows up at the carnival wearing a jester costume, a symbol for servants hired to act foolish for the entertainment of royalty. The jester costume was a “tight-fitting party dress and his head was surmounted by the comical caps and bells.” As the two enter the catacombs, Montresor states again of Fortunato’s costume, declaring “the gait of my friend was unsteady, and the bells upon his cap jingled as he strode.” In a beautiful example of irony, Fortunato was overconfident in himself, and his ability, leading the reader to inquire into why he chose the jester costume to begin with. Lastly, Fortunato’s foolishness was also a result of his intoxication, making the overconfident man in the jester costume symbolic for the ironic undertone of the story. “He raised it to his lips with a leer. He paused and nodded to me familiarly, while his bells jingled.” From the time Montresor sees Fortunato at the carnival, to his entombment, Fortunato is heavily intoxicated, allowing him to be foolishly lead to his early grave. When Montresor meets up with Fortunato at the carnival, Fortunato is already partaking in the festivities, making his plans for Fortunato’s demise all that much effortless. “He turned towards me and looked into my eyes with two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication.”
Even after leaving the carnival intoxicated, Fortunato stupidly continued to drink while in the Montresor catacombs. “You jest,” he exclaimed, recoiling a few paces. “But let us proceed to the Amontillado.” This is right after Montresor shows him the trowel. Fortunato actually feels fear for a moment, but then he foolishly casts aside his instincts. With dramatic irony, Fortunato dismisses the idea of Luchesi’s taking his place and steps forward into the deep place. Fortunato is “too much astounded to resist,” and then laughs, believing Montesor’s actions a joke at least, as Montesor throws the links of a chain around his waist and padlocks it. “Montresor! Haha! This is very good joke, indeed many time will laugh about it, haha! As we drink our wine together, haha!” and “Will not they be awaiting us at the palazzo, the Lady Fortunato and the rest? Let us be gone”. All that is dear to him flashes before his eyes and the Amontillado loses its charm. Fortunato himself must feel very folly saying those words but already too late to realize it and he was gone.
