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The Cask of Amontillado
getting back to the palazzo, where his wife and others are waiting. "Let us be gone," Fortunato says, and Montresor repeats, "Yes…let us be gone." At this, Fortunato realizes Montresor is serious, and says, "For the love of God, Montresor!" Again, Montresor repeats, "Yes…for the love of God." Fortunato grows quiet at this. Although Montresor calls out to him, he hears only the sad jingling of the bells on Fortunato's jester's cap. Montresor says his heart grew sick at that sound, but explains the "dampness of the catacombs made it so." He hurriedly finishes the wall, placing the pile of bones in front. Lastly, he states, "For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them," ending with, "In pace requiescat," or "May he rest in peace."
Alternate Summary
As the story opens, an unnamed narrator explains, ‘‘The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.’’ There is no hint as to whom the narrator is speaking or writing, and the "thousand injuries'' and the "insult'' committed by Fortunato are never described. Nevertheless, the narrator contemplates his desire for revenge and his plan to "not only punish, but punish with impunity''; that is, to punish Fortunato without being caught or punished himself. Furthermore, he is determined not to act in secrecy, for Fortunato must know that his pain is handed to him by Montresor.
Fortunato has no idea that Montresor is angry with him—Montresor has given no hint of it. When Montresor encounters his "friend'' on the street one evening during the carnival season, Fortunato has no reason to be suspicious. Montresor asks Fortunato to come with him and sample a large cask of Amontillado, a type of wine, which Montresor has just purchased. Fortunato is justifiably proud of his ability to recognize good wines, and he is already drunk. He is easily persuaded to follow his friend, especially when Montresor assures him that if Fortunato cannot sample the wine for him, another man, Luchesi, will surely do it.
Montresor and Fortunato, who is dressed in his carnival costume of striped clothing and a conical jester's cap with bells, go to Montresor's palazzo. Conveniently, the servants are away enjoying the carnival, and no one sees them enter. They descend a long, winding staircase to the wine cellar and catacombs, the dark and damp tunnels and caverns beneath the palazzo where generations of Montresors have been laid to rest. As they walk on, they pass piles of bones and piles of wine casks, intermingled in the passageways. Montresor fusses over Fortunato's health and his schedule, knowing that the more he suggests Fortunato give up the quest, the more his companion will be determined to see it through.
As they walk along, the men converse in an idle way, about the potentially hazardous nitre forming on the walls, and the coat of arms of the Montresor family. To protect Fortunato from the damp, Montresor gives him drinks of two wines that are stored in the [next page]