Fortunato appropriately wears the harlequin for the
Carnival in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado." For, he is foolishly deluded,
egotistical, and
dull.
DELUDED
Fortunato is
easily tricked by Montesor into coming to taste the Amontillado, priding himself that he
is a connoisseur of wine. Montesor describes him, "Fortunato, like his countrymen, was
a quack."
He refuses to turn back because of his cough,
saying, "...the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill
me."
EGOTISTICAL
When Montesor
suggests that Fortunato not expose himself to the 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:
Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely
nothing. Amontillado!....And as for Luchesi, he cannot distinguish sherry from
Amontillado.
When Montesor
again mentions Luchesi's being able to go rather than Fortunato who has a cough, the
latter refuses to allow anyone else to come,
"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, "He is an
ignoramus."
DULL
When Montesor
displays his coat of arms that has a motto which reads, "No one assails me with
impunity," Fortunato does not understand its significance. Likewise, as
Montesor creates a pun upon Fortunato's question about being a mason by swinging a
trowel in the air, the dim-witted Fortunato does not
comprehend.
With dramatic irony, Fortunato dully dismisses
the idea of Luchesi's taking his place and steps forward into the deep recess. As
Montesor throws the links of a chain around his waist and padlocks it, Fortunato is "too
much astounded to resist," and then laughs, believing Montesor's actions a joke--at
least, according to Montesor.
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