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The Cask of Amontillado
The Cask of Amontillado
The Cask of Amontillado
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The Cask of Amontillado

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The Cask of Amontillado is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book. The story is set in an unnamed Italian city at carnival time in an unspecified year, and is about a man taking fatal revenge on a friend whom, he believes, has insulted him. Like several of Poe's stories, and in keeping with the 19th-century fascination with the subject, the narrative revolves around a person being buried alive—in this case, by immurement. As in "The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart", Poe conveys the story from the murderer's perspective. The story's narrator, Montresor, tells the story of the day that he took his revenge on Fortunato (Italian for "the fortunate one"), a fellow nobleman, to an unspecified person who knows him very well. Angry over numerous injuries and some unspecified insult, he plots to murder his "friend" during Carnival when the man is drunk, dizzy, and wearing a jester's motley. Montresor brings Fortunato along into a private wine-tasting excursion by telling him he has obtained a pipe (about 130 gallons, 492 litres) of what he believes to be a rare vintage of amontillado. He mentions obtaining confirmation of the pipe's contents by inviting a fellow wine aficionado, Luchesi, for a private tasting. Montresor knows Fortunato will not be able to resist demonstrating his discerning palate for wine and will insist that he taste the amontillado rather than Luchesi who, as he claims, "cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry". Fortunato goes with Montresor to the wine cellars of the latter's palazzo, where they wander in the catacombs. Montresor offers wine (first Medoc, then De Grave) to Fortunato in order to keep him inebriated. Montresor warns Fortunato, who has a bad cough, of the dampness, and suggests they go back; Fortunato insists on continuing, claiming that "[he] shall not die of a cough."
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 8, 2017
ISBN9783961897018
Author

Dan Ariely

New York Times bestselling author Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University, with appointments at the Fuqua School of Business, the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Department of Economics. He has also held a visiting professorship at MIT’s Media Lab. He has appeared on CNN and CNBC, and is a regular commentator on National Public Radio’s Marketplace. He lives in Durham, North Carolina, with his wife and two children.

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    Book preview

    The Cask of Amontillado - Dan Ariely

    2017

    TABLE OF CONTENTS

    THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO

    TABLE OF CONTENTS

    CHAPTER ONE

    CHAPTER ONE

    The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best
could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely settled--but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved, precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the

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