Question

In the lesson called Gothic Literature, you read Poe's story "The Cask of Amontillado." If you need to review that story, click here:
https://tda.brightspace.com/content/enforced/6726-ENG300-1/Cask%20of%20Amontillado.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=i7f0Bqmc2eASESY68TI652LEb

In what way is Montresor an unreliable narrator? How does the use of an unreliable narrator influence readers’ views of Montresor’s actions? Cite evidence from the text to support your response. Your final answer should be 7-8 sentences long at least. If you use quotations from the story, be sure to format those correctly.

Answer 1

Poe is a master of creating narrators who are, to a lesser or a greater extent, unreliable. The genius of his writing is that it is often only on completion of his stories that we begin to see the unreliability of the narrator. Montressor, however, is a perfect example of an unreliable narrator whose actions and conduct exposes the way that his madness or character influences what he tells us. The way in which Montressor is able to read Fortunato's character and identify his weakness, his "weak point" that he can use to bring him down, indicates the kind of criminal psycopathic genius that Montressor is. As the narrative progresses, we see more and more the extent of Montressor's depravation and evil nature. He is a character who seems to have a complete disconnect within him. One of the favourite parts of the story for me is in the very final paragraph after Fortunato has died or at least fallen unconscious. Note how Montressor is completely blind to the reason behind his own feelings and emotions:

No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells. My heart grew sick--on account of the dampness of the catacombs.

Montressor's unreliability as a narrator is exposed in the way that he identifies his feelings but then is quick to state that it has nothing to do with the criminal act he has just carried out. His rush to state that his sudden attack is nothing to do with remorse but because of the environment shows just how much he lacks in self-awareness, or, in more modern parlance, emotional intelligence. This causes us to question everything else he has told us, including whether the "thousand injuries" of Fortunato are actually real or a figment of Montressor's imagination.

Answer 2

damn lol did you write that?