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- By Fernando Aramburu
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- The Cask of Amontillado (30)
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The Cask of Amontillado
*** This comment contains spoilers! ***
I see this short story as some kind as the beginning of Black Novel. Certainly there are many elements of Black Novel missing in this story, but the obsession with a ''perfect crime'' remains. Poe does not describe the logic of the killer, or why he does what he does (Montresor says that Fortunato i ... (continue)
I see this short story as some kind as the beginning of Black Novel. Certainly there are many elements of Black Novel missing in this story, but the obsession with a ''perfect crime'' remains. Poe does not describe the logic of the killer, or why he does what he does (Montresor says that Fortunato insulted him but this is a very poor reason to kill someone). The reader have to take the information given by the narrator and link it together. For example, the fact that they are in carnival seems irrelevant at the beginning but then you realize that Montresor had his face covered by a mask so when someone investigate the homicide they wouldn't link it to Montresor.
This is another aspect of Black Novel that does not appear explicitly in the story, the figure of the detective of the investigator of the crime. And I say ''explicitly'' because I think that this figure appears in the background of the story. Montresor is always thinking about this hypothetical investigator and he is that careful because he do not want to leave behind any clue pointing to him. He do not want the detective to catch him. There is no detective in the story, so is the reader who has to use these clues wisely.
Despite this carefulness that Montresor shows when planning his crime, Montresor makes many mistakes when treating with Fortunato. He shows Fortunato the trowel and he also makes a lot of unnecessary comments about how his family crush the people who shows them no respect. These comments could have made Fortunato leave the zone but Montresor says them because honor is important to him. Fortunato insulted Montresor and that is why Montresor had to mock Fortunato and tried to humilliate him. The interesting thing is that Fortunato does not give him this pleasure. He did not cry and he did not beg him mercy. Fortunato's final words ''For the love of God, Montresor!'' shows that he thinks that Montresor is overreacting and exagerating things.
I personally love Black Novel and all the aspects that I mentioned in the essay. These kind of storys which requires second readings with intelligent characters that try to cheat on each other always have caught my attention. As I said before, I do not think that this story is purely a Black Novel one, but it has this elements in common , that love for the detail, for example, that make me more interested for the story.
My favourite moment was that walk through the vault when you don't know what Montresor will do with Fortunato. It remembers me the walk made by the prisoners that are going to be electrocuted in the electric chair. Fortunato is walking to a horrible death and he does not even suspect anything.
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