The Cask of Amontillado

Themes of betrayal and revenge clearly inform "The Cask of Amontillado," but the pervasive irony of Montresor's narration complicates attempts to understand his motives and other conflicts at the heart of the tale.At the same time,layers of irony also contribute to the story's tone of horror.While Fortunato remains blissfully ignorant of Montresor's true intentions for most of the story,the evident pleasure Montresor takes in relating his story,proudly recalling every detail fifty years after the fact,suggests a state of mind free of remorse and detached from any sense of conscience.The ironic connotations of the story also inspire darkly comedic moments and evince Poe's satiric sense of humor.Montresor's pursuit of revenge against Fortunato represents the enactment of an elaborate ritual that resembles the profane rites of the "Black Mass" or a parody of archetypal events,such as the conflict between good and evil,replete with biblical echoes; the implications of the story's last line,"In pace requiescat" ("may he/it rest in peace"),which derives from the Roman Catholic funeral rite,proliferate in the ironic context of the narrative.Likewise,the proper nouns in the story—Amontillado,Montresor,Fortunato,Luchresi—demonstrate Poe's disposition toward puns and fascination with the multiple meanings of foreign words.The traditional aristocratic code of personal honor and social obligation shapes other aspects of the tale.Although violations of the code were usually redressed in the form of the duello,here insults are expressed by a duel with words in form of Montresor's dialogue with Fortunato.Other thematic concerns involve the prevalence of masonic imagery in the story,perhaps gesturing toward the Masonic-Catholic conflict that swept the United States at the time of the story's composition,as well as the thematic device of enclosure,which Poe used in many other stories,although its presence in "The Cask of Amontillado" may allude to the popularity of live-burial literature in Poe's era.