Montresor in The Cask of Amontillado Essay Example

The use of first-person narration contributes to many of the important elements of this story, such as suspense, intrigue, as well as an understanding of Montresor and his emotions. This perspective allows the readers to have a window into the deranged mind of Montressor, who appears to be an unreliable narrator that is guided by his urges and emotions without reasoning or logic to intervene. 

A first-person narrative is often followed by narrator bias, which is strikingly present throughout this story as the perspective coming from Montressors mind also incorporates the emotions and thoughts that he feels towards things and people, especially Fortunado. Readers are able to sense his near insanity and follow along as his blind hatred leads him to mislead Fortunado and kill him without much context of why. Being in the mind of Montressor allows readers to follow the story through his thoughts, which unravel the events leading to him committing what would be considered to be first-degree murder towards someone that appears to be a friend. As this story is in Montressors perspective, there is an evident lack of context that leads to readers having many questions, such as: Why does Montressor hate Fortunado so much that he chooses to commit murder? Why does Fortunado not understand or know of his anger towards him? These questions compel the reader to continue reading in search of answers, which are never given. Having these answers would completely ruin the element of suspense given by this style of narration as third-person would reveal Montressors intentions from the beginning. For these reasons, the readers know very little about the conflict between Montressor and Fortunado and there is an everpresent feeling of suspense and unpredictability. 

The constant lack of context or clue as to what will happen next is what makes this story so unpredictable and amusing, which is unique to first-person narration. So much of the story is made entertaining through dramatic irony and a gradual understanding of the madness of the narrator, which would be completely lost through other narration styles such as third person or fly on the wall. Other forms of narration would immediately ruin the entire point of the story as the readers would know very little of Montressors intentions and feelings but would understand the entire plan to kill Fortunado, which would likely include much more context than Poe intended.

Had this story been in any different narration style, the story would not be nearly as entertaining as it would ruin the outcome of the story immediately. The perspective given is what evokes so much emotion and suspense, as is common in so many of Poe’s works. As there are different kinds of third person narration, it is important to discuss elements that may be contributed or removed to and from this story. The popular narration style of third person omniscient would inevitably reveal all, however third person limited does offer a style that would keep the element of ‘what happens next’ in this story. Although it would be possible to present this tale in the limited third person, it would then remove the inner thoughts of the main character Montressor, which is arguably the most important aspect of the story. Since his madness guides the story and finds ways to maintain his rage towards Montressor and somehow justify his actions without any true explanation for them, the entirety of the plot would be lost to that limited form of narration. Also, in any other form of narration, readers would question if ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ were truly one of Poe’s works, as most of his narrators are unreliable and in the first person. This story could only truly work in first-person with such an unreliable narrator as Montressor, since the star of this story is truly his descent into madness.

An important aspect of this story is the lack of context, which is a large contributor to the motivation to continue reading, in search of answers. Revealing key aspects of this story would take away the shocking end to the story and to the life of Fortunado.