The Cask of Amontillado

Montresor is a proud man much concerned with familial honor. Other than his manner of speech, two things lead to this impression. Another two things both advance this perception and extend its consequences. By examining each of the clues separately, it is easily shown how to arrive at this impression.

The first thing to let us know that Montresor is a proud man is his name, “Montresor”. It can be split into two parts, “Mon Tresor”, or “my treasure”. The fact that his name is his treasure is very telling. On an additional note, the letters in “Montresor” can be broken up into “Monster.”

The second clue we have to his nature is his family arms and slogan. His arms show image of the shining golden foot squashing the life from the snake. Most people would identify with the golden foot, and perhaps Montresor would as well, yet in conjunction with the motto, “Nemo me impune lacessit!” (No one provokes with impunity) the true focus of the arms can be interpreted as the snake, which is biting the foot that is crushing it, injecting its poison. The sigil can be seen in either light: the snake bit the foot so the foot crushed the snake, or the foot crushed the snake so the snake bit the foot. Either way, the message is that Montresor’s family does not forgive insult.

The next two clues come must be interpreted together. The first occurs near the start of the story. It is the clue to the identity of the person to whom the narrator is speaking. “You, who so well know the nature of my soul,” (70) is the line. It is fairly telling,