Poe's Montresor

Edgar Allen Poe(4)

Poe's Montresor

 Edgar Allen Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado", is a mirror that reflects the life that its author led. If read only for the surface details, it is a suspenseful narrative in which a disgruntled and possibly deranged Montresor lures an unsuspecting wine aficionado, Fortunato, to his demise in a catacomb, as retaliation for supposed insults. Fortunato is given several opportunities to escape with his life intact by Montresor, but the promise of another drink drives him forward. As he is already inebriated as he descends into the crypt, he is also blind to the increasingly suspicious atmosphere of the duo's surroundings. Upon reaching the scene of the imminent crime, Montresor exploits his drunkenness one final time, shackling him to the interior of a gap in the wall, which Montresor then covers by laying a wall of bricks over the space, burying Fortunato alive within the tomb (3). 

(5)
Fortundo entombed beneath the catacombs (5).

    Of note here is the common factor underlying the threat to Fortunato's life throughout the story, and it isn't just Montresor. If not for Fortunato's alcoholic vices, not only would Montresor have been unable to bait his snare, but he would have had the lucidity to recognize that he was marching into the jaws of death long before it was too late. 



Fortunato's troubled last moments are vital to understanding the themes and messages embedded in the work of literature. If one is to apply a biographical approach to the story, one can highlight a multitude of parallels between the short-lived journey of Montresor and Fortunato and the author, Edgar Allen Poe. Poe's life was infamously plagued by his alcoholism, with it even costing him his post as an editor in Richmond, Virginia (2). Furthermore, his abuse was often prompted by unfortunate life events, such as in the case of his wife Virginia's passing in 1847 (1). This is also hinted at in the text of "The Cask of Amontillado" when Montresor offers Fortunato an intoxicating beverage as a remedy for his cough multiple times, as an alternative to the prospect of a lifesaving exit (3). The pattern then is that Poe could have been making a dual statement in authoring this classic, the first half of which being that abusers of alcohol are often seduced by the substance's ability to act as temporary relief for the pain induced by the caprices of life. The second teaches that in luring victims, alcohol instills in them a dependency upon it. Over time, addicts begin to deteriorate as they return again and again, eager to exchange the constitution of their mind and body for a drop of fleeting renewal. 

The symbology behind the manner in which Fortunato was slain is also of great importance when considering the aforementioned information. He was literally entombed and left to slowly rot in the darkness, far beyond the reach of rescue once the fatal threshold was crossed. This bears an eerie resemblance to the plight of one who has been riddled with addictive tendencies of an alcoholic nature for their entire life and is suddenly confronted with the countless ramifications of their habit, an epiphany which Poe would almost certainly have had at numerous junctures.

One can also examine the other works in his Portfolio to see the staggering degree to which his alcoholism had influenced his literary career. Another of Poe's famous works, a short story titled "The Black Cat", likewise tells the tale of a protagonist whose life is left irreparably marred after a brush with the bottle (6). It is unlikely that this recurring theme is as such by coincidence, and one is left with the impression that Poe did not hesitate to season his writings with his own dark side, showing us that alcohol itself was Poe's Montresor made manifest.

                                            


References

1) Patterson, Robert. Once upon a Midnight Dreary: The Life and Addictions of Edgar Allan Poe, 10 Oct. 1992, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1336506/pdf/cmaj00261-0154.pdf.

2) “Edgar Allan Poe.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 6 Apr. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edgar-Allan-Poe.

3) Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Cask of Amontillado.” Edgar Allan Poe Museum, 3 July 2021, https://poemuseum.org/the-cask-of-amontillado/.

4) “Edgar Allan Poe Is Born.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/edgar-allan-poe-is-born.

5) The Cask of Amontillado. “The Cask of Amontillado.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Mar. 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cask_of_Amontillado.

6) Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Black Cat.” Edgar Allan Poe Museum, 5 Dec. 2021, https://poemuseum.org/the-black-cat/.

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