The story is told through the eyes of Montressor, the soon-to-be killer seeking

revenge. I loved how Poe presented this work, and many of his others, from this
perspective. The reader gets to see how the murderer is thinking, planning, and
scheming to achieve his goals. However, Montressor is not the more reliable narr
ator. While I think that he is honest about his actions and thoughts, he never m
entions how he does not seem to actually want to follow through on his task once
he completely traps his friend.We do get to see some of the hesitancy that Mont
ressor has in paying back Fortunato, but it never actually comes from Montressor s
conscious thoughts. The in-depth look at Montressor s thoughts helps to connect t
he reader to the uncertainty about Fortunato s future.
As I first read through the work, I did not understand why Montressor keeps insi
sting that Fortunato not accompany him to see the pipe of amontillado, and to hi
s death. Originally, I did not understand Montressor s hesitancy to lead Fortunato
to what Montressor believes is fair retribution; I believed that Montressor mus
t have some reason for making numerous excuses to keep his plan from occurring.
The first thought is that it must be reverse psychology; by insisting that they
go back, Montressor ensures that they will continue. Another one of my first tho
ughts was that Montressor wanted Fortunato to cause his own death by succumbing
to his own curiosity and Montressor s flattery, but it seems that Montressor makes
far too many excuses to believe that his plan will definitely cause Fortunato s e
nd in the vaults. Montressor turned our to be much better at playing to people's
faults than I initially gave him credit for. Montressor insists "My friend, no;
I will not impose upon your good nature. I perceive you have an engagement. Afte
r this failed attempt, he interjects It is not the engagement, but the severe col
d with which I perceive you are afflicted. The vaults are insufferably damp. The
y are encrusted with nitre." He even later insists that Fortunato returns from t
he vaults due to his illness, but nothing works. As this was occurring, I could
not help but wonder if Montressor has some ulterior motive or if he is simply he
sitant to kill his friend. Later, Montressor definitely falters in his plans. Mo
ntressor states that For a brief moment I hesitated, I trembled. He trembles, paus
es, and seems to rethink his plan a number of times. I was surprised at this cle
ar hesitancy coming from a man willing to entomb his friend, leaving him to star
vation and cold. Montressor is clearly insane and rather evil, but I could not h
elp but wonder if there was actual some hesitancy to follow through. At the end,
I was somewhat surprised that Montressor actually followed through on his task.
Despite his resolve, I thought that Montressor s hesitancy might lead to a differ
ent fate for poor Fortunato. However, being Poe, I never expected a happy ending
, and I did not receive one. I suppose Fortunato was not so fortunate after all.