Reflection #3: Alcohol can kill People (The Cask of Amontillado)

The Cask of Amontillado was written by Edgar Allan Poe. The two main characters in the story are Montresor and Fortunato. In fact, they are the only characters in the story. This story was amazing. I dare to say this because Edgar Allan Poe said so much in so few words that I don’t think many people are capable of doing that. The main topic of the story is irony. Irony is portrayed in the story when Fortunato, a wine connoisseur, dies by being tricked into tasting wine. I really liked this story and there is not a single thing that I would change in its plot. Montresor was a brilliant man and he was portrayed as a very rancorous person, but what Edgar Allan Poe lets us to find out is that Montresor isn’t that way because he wants to. Montresor was raised like that since the day he was born. We can deduct this when Edgar Allan Poe tells us the family motto, “no one attacks me with impunity”. Impunity means that when you do something wrong you do it without getting caught or without paying the consequences. Therefore since Montresor was deeply offended and insulted by Fortunato, Montresor is not going to let him insult him with impunity and he is going to make him pay. At the end of the story we can infer that Montresor was starting to regret killing Fortunato. This leads us to another theme in the short story which is forgiveness. In conclusion, Edgar Allan Poe talks about irony, vengeance, rancor, and last but not least forgiveness. I used the topic alcohol kills people to use irony just as Poe did in his story. It is ironic because alcohol can actually kill you, but that is not the reason Fortunato died even though it was related with it. In conclusion, Edgar Allan Poe tells us a lot in very few words, a very simple plot and only two main characters; not everybody can accomplish that.