Montressor, the narrator of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of
Amontillado," never specifically defines what actions were made against him by Fortunato
to earn such hatred. Montressor tells us in the opening sentence that he "bore a
thousand injuries" from Fortunato and that a specific "insult" finally led him to plot
his revenge. He gives the reader no other clues, however. The two men seem to have been
friendly acquaintances at one point, and Montressor continued to treat him in the same
manner so as not to arouse Fortunato's suspicions. His revenge, Montressor tells
us,
... precluded the idea of risk. I must not only
punish but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its
redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such
to him who has done the
wrong.
Montressor carefully
plans Fortunato's murder. He dismisses his servants for the night to avoid witnesses,
makes sure that Fortunato is drunk, and leads him into the catacombs with the promise of
a rare bottle of Amontillado--Fortunato's weakness. Montressor also has previously
determined Fortunato's final resting place in a far corner of the vast underground
burial chamber.
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