The Cask of Amontillado
I caught most of the subtext even while young, not understanding alcohol. But now... On this bitterly cold night, into my cups...
It's even more clear that Fortunato meant no real offense. I always suspected the "thousand injuries" were exaggerated in the narrator's mind, but now I'm sure...
He meant no harm, in fact was doing the narrator a favor. Thought him friend. That's why it's so chilling.
The horror of offense we may have caused, and never realized. Building up unknown grudges.
The only defense is self-destructive second guessing... Crippling anxiety... Instead we must go on, and hope that people will forgive or present their grievances.
We must hope.
These are the British royal coat of arms used in Scotland, at the bottom is its motto:
"
NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT."
No one attacks me with impunity.
"These vaults," he said, "are extensive."
"The Montresors," I replied, "were a great and numerous family."
"I forget your arms."
"A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel."
"And the motto?"
"Nemo me impune lacessit."
"Good!" he said.
The Montresors were once a proud, powerful, numerous and dangerous family.
Having weathered away through the test of time into decreasing relevance, the last Montresor has lost numbers and power and is left only with pride, the catacombs of his kin and a killer instinct for detail. Montresor is a viper, it is imperative that even a fool who meant no harm, who only accidentally trod on him - must die for his insult.
I must not only punish but punish with impunity.
Perhaps more disturbing than the notion that Fortunato wrongly believed Montresor to be his friend is the notion that Fortunato was not wrong; Montresor was his friend, and friendship meant little to the retribution that simply had to be carried out "with impunity." We never find out what Fortunato did to deserve such a fate, what grave insult he cast upon Montresor to warrant destruction. Questions of morality are unimportant to Montresor, it matters not the justice of his actions, rather it matters that he has been insulted and must repay this insult with death.
You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible.
Fortunato is out of his low backgrounds, his kind and jovial nature made him popular, his brotherhood with freemasons gave him prosperity, he is loved, admired and respected by all around him, he is a confident man of new money not afraid to make a fool of himself or hold himself above the ancient dynasties of noblemen. In this manner he doomed himself to death at the hands of Montresor, bitter Montresor, Montresor who had only company in the tombs of the Montresor catacombs, Montresor who had servants but no friends, who was a mason but not a freemason - a nobleman on hard times gazing at the fool, dressed in fool's garb, living a life Montresor once had.
He had a weak point --this Fortunato --although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity, to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian millionaires. In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack, but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. In this respect I did not differ from him materially; --I was skilful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could.
It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much.
...
"As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchresi. If any one has a critical turn it is he. He will tell me --"
"Luchresi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry."
"And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for your own."
Fortunato is to be respected and feared for unknown reasons, perhaps he holds great power and has used it to eliminate rivals before, elsewise Montresor would not hold fear - elsewise Montresor would not seek to murder Fortunato in such a covert manner. Montresor, as poor as he is, maintains his aristocratic arsenal of skills despite his materially stressed financial situation. Fortunato in spite of his blessed fortune (O fortunate one), has still failed to buy the class, prestige or obligation of such a noble man as Montresor.
How dare he.
Luchresi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry, says Fortunato. Montresor replies that fools say Luchresi's taste is as refined as Fortunato; Fortunato happily takes this praise of him, not knowing it is a damnation of both Luchresi and Fortunato. Amontillado
is Sherry, and the foolish Fortunato is ignorant, holding his drunkenness on a higher level than Montresor's connoisseur expertise.
How dare he think he can look down upon a Montresor? The fool Fortunato?!Fortunato forgot who the Montresors were, he forgot their arms and their motto. He abandoned caution in favour of jest, his pride in his wine tasting was founded in intoxicant block-headed drunkenness. Montresor hands him a fine médoc red wine which a noble connoisseur would recognize, but Fortunato the braggart does not, downing it to further ensure his own doom. As he is led further into the catacombs, Montresor constantly makes references to his intentions, constantly requests Fortunato turn back to preserve his life - mocking him with restrained excitement, as he eagerly presses onwards to his doom, spurred on by unrestrained alcoholism. But it is not enough to fatally wound Fortunato, Montresor ensures the whole entombment is carried out with Fortunato's full, sober knowledge. Only when Fortunato is fully capable of understanding Montresor has killed him, that he himself had numerous opportunities to not doom his life to such entombment, only then does Montresor place the final stone. Fortunato would have survived for 2-3 days, though some humans have been known to survive for more than a week without water, trapped in similar conditions - buried underground. The world above him would have partied away and mourned the missing Fortunato.
That is not all however.
You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat... Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!
These are the beginning and ending lines of the story. They reveal that Montresor is talking to someone, telling them the story of the Cask of Amontillado - at the time of this story's telling, Fortunato has been dead for fifty years. I suspect given the jolly tone, the intimate nature of the crimes that could ruin his family's name in the wrong hands, the stressing of his family's traditions, the teaching of lessons that one should repay dishonour with death - Montresor is now Montresor Senior speaking to a rejuvenated Montresor family. Old, soon to die, Montresor is ensuring before he leaves the mortal coil, the Montresor family retains its lethal instincts to produce new generations of vipers ready to strike down any Fortunato.
"
NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT."
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Topic: Things that made you absolutely terrified today (Read 2020792 times)