The Cask of Amontillado - Reading Response PDF

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ENG 104
Prof. Maple
Reading Response...

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ENG 104-06 Professor Maple 22 January 2020

The Cask of Amontillado – Reading Response This reading was seemingly difficult to comprehend at first but with the help of reading it through a couple more times and annotating I was able to understand it better and figure out what events were taking place in the story. Being that this story is being narrated in the first-person, us as readers only get a one-sided view of the story. Therefore, we are at risk of not knowing the full story. Stories written in the first-person provide a very good chance for bias to come about because with the readers only being exposed to one side of the story, the full truth isn’t being told. For example, we never are exactly told what exactly Fortunato has done to Montresor for him to want to murder him. All we are told is “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had born as I be could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge”. With that being said, I would have to say that with this bias being created, I find the narrator to be a bit unreliable because he fails to tell all the details of the wrong doings to further help the reader to understand his reasoning behind committing first-degree murder. I believe that Edgar Allen Poe, the author of this short story, did this in order to get the reader to become more interested in the story and to encourage the reader to “read on”. Now, if this story were to have been written in the third-person narrative, we would probably be able to get more of a clear perspective on the events that have occurred and why the occurred.

Towards the end of the story is where I begin to question Montresor’s true motives and drive to carry his plan out. From the beginning through the middle of the story Montresor seems to be sort of out of touch with reality. He is hurt and feeling betrayed and has made up his mind to get revenge on his betrayer by luring him into his vaults and building a wall around him while he is still alive. While reading we see that he is very determined. His plan is well thought out and ready to execute. By the end of the story as he is building the wall, I get a small sense of guilt coming from Montresor. I feel as though he is starting to somewhat regret or question his actions, but he has a sort of “what’s done is done” mentality going, which causes him to continue and finish what he has done....