Family Values in the Cask of Amontillado
The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe is a story not only about revenge, but about family values. It is often said that one should stand by his or her family no matter what, for the reason that family will always be there. Friends are seen as transitory, and thus not as deserving of the same amount of loyalty. However, the narrator, Montresor takes this family loyalty to an extreme. He is committed not only to standing by his family, but by family tradition. When confronted with an insult, he believes the only action he can take against it is the act of murder Montresor is an unreliable narrator, who attempts to nullify feelings of guilt with feelings of pride of being able to adhere to family tradition.
The Cask of Amontillado illustrates how standing by family and family tradition can be destrictive. In the beginning of the novel, and many times throughout the novel Montresor refers to Fortunato as a friend. It is to be inferred by how they interact when they meet that they are in fact very good friends. when he sees Montresor on the street, Fortunato greets the man “with excessive wamth” (Poe, 108). Montresor writes this off to the alcohol Fortunato consumed, in one of his many attempts to distance himself from his and Fortunato’s friendship.
Montresor does this in the hopes that he will be able to carry out the murder without needless feelings of regret. When describing Fortunato’s character, Montresor uses many positive descriptions. He himselt describes Fortunato as “a man to be respected and even feared” (Poe, 108). He goes on to say that Fortunato has the “turue virtuoso spirit” (Poe, 108) of wine tasting and is skilled in it. By these descriptions it can easily be seen that Montresor greatly admires Fortunato. If Fortunato truly is a man whom Montresor despised his descriptions would have been much more negative. In spite of the indisputable friendship between him and Fortunato, Montresor is able to plan Out his friend’s murder in gruesome detail. The reason being that by doing so, he would be honoring his tamily’s heritage, something much more valuable to Montresor than friendship.
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Montresor himselt is not unfamiliar with the act of revenge. His tamily was very large, offering an immense amount of influence on him, as well as an immense amount of expectations to live up to. Montresor is reminded continually of this by his family’s crest. The arms is described as “a huge human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel” (Poe, 110). The image is in reference to the chapter Genesis in the bible, in which Eve is tricked by the serpent into eating the forbidden fruit.
The both the serpent and Eve faced retribution at the hands of God. By using this image with this reference, the Montresor family assert that the act of revenge is a righteous act that should not be questioned. The motto of the family crest is “Nemo me impure lacessit” (Poe, 110), which translated means “no one provokes me with impunity.” “The motto further shows how forgiveness is not a concept readily taught in the Montresor family. Which the family crest and countless ancestors to uphold, Montresor sees any act of hostility, no matter how small, as deserving of revenge. Montresor is able to plan and carry out the majority of Fortunato’s murder without hesitation.
The simple action that granted Fortunato execution being an insult towards Montresor’s family. The insult and its context are not specified, and it is possible that the insult itself was not said in complete earnest. Fortunato had committed no atrocious crime against the Montresor family, such as murder or thievery, but in Montresor’s eyes, insult is enough to grant Fortunato death. However, the closer Montresor comes to completing his task, the more afflicted he becomes with guilt. As Montresor works on completing the final row ot stones to build the wall between him and Fortunato, he states that he has trouble with its weight. ‘This detail is not given to the numerous stones that compose the other ten tiers of the wall. Montresor’s difficulty with the stones of the final tier shows his difficulty in actually completing the act that will kill his friend. While working he hears a sad voice, one that he “[has] dificulty in recognizing as that of the noble Fortunato” (Poe, 113).
Montresor’s difficulty of recognizing the voice of his “noble” friend shows that Montresor had not thought his victim as capable of exhibiting sadness. He had ignored the possibility of Fortunato becoming sorrowful in the hopes that Montresor himself would not feel sympathy for him. When Fortunato grows silent Montresor continually calls his name with the hope that he will receive a reply. Montresor may be doing this because he is not truly prepared to murder his friend. He wants Fortunato to reply so that he knows that the man is still with him. When Montresor is finished, he states that his heart “grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so” (Poe, 113). He attempts to disregard the sickening feeling of remorse as being caused by his surroundings, not by his actions.
Montresor believes that he should not feel any guilt, because he had only upheld family traditions and protected his family from insult, a noble act. The Cask of Amontillado illustrates how not all family traditions must be upheld undoubtedly. When something as small as an insult warrants death, then family tradition is flawed. The story als0 shows how strong a bond can be between families. Even if no one but Montresor himself heard the insult, he did everything in his power to retaliate against it. Friendship can be destroyed permanently if it means one’s family members will continue to be held in good standing.
