Who is the antagonist Amontillado?

Charisma

Deception
Intelligence

Kill Fortunato for insulting him (succeeded).

Vengeful Master Manipulator

Montresor is the protagonist villain of Edgar Allen Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado."

History

There is not much known about Montresor's past. One could tell that he was brought up in a wealthy family from his aristocratic bearing, his family crest, and knowledge of fine wines and high culture. He also mentions that he had a great and numerous family. It is hinted at that Montresor may have squandered his family's wealth buying this wine, as he mentions he tends to buy it in large quantities.

When his friend Fortunato insults him, Montresor swears revenge. He approaches a drunk Fortunato during Carnival and offers to show him a bottle of fine Amontillado he had bought for a low price. Eager to see it, Fortunato goes with Montresor to the latter's catacombs. Montresor toys with Fortunato, offering him several opportunities to turn back, but Fortunato does not listen, being thoroughly intoxicated. Once in the deep underground catacombs, Montresor leads Fortunato to a nearby cave and overpowers him, chaining him to a wall and starting to build a brick wall to seal him up. Fortunato at first thinks it is a joke, but upon sobering up begins to fear his friend. He tries to laugh it off as a joke and entreats Montresor to let him go, but Montresor does not listen, instead contemptuously mimicking his pleasr, at one point pausing simply so he can enjoy listening to Fortunato's pleas before he finishes the encasing and turns to leave. Terrified, Fortunato screams, "For the love of God, Montresor!", and Montresor coldly replies, "Yes, for the love of God." He then places the last brick in, literally sealing Fortunato’s fate.

As he is about to leave, Montresor feels a tremble of remorse, but he ignores it, writing off the sickness of his heart as due to the dampness of the catacombs. He calls out Fortunato's name, but he hears nothing in reply except for the faint jingling of the bells on Fortunato's cap. He then leaves Fortunato to die. At the end of the story, he reflects that no one has disturbed Fortunato's final resting place for 50 years before saying "rest in peace" in Latin.

Portrayals

• In An Evening of Edgar Allen Poe, Montresor was portrayed by the late Vincent Price, who also portrayed Ivan Igor in House of Wax, Anton Phibes in The Abominable Dr. Phibes and Dr. Phibes Rises Again, Prince Prospero in The Masque of the Red Death, Professor Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective, Matthew Hopkins in Witchfinder General, Egghead in the 1960s Batman TV show, Sinister Man in Bloodbath at the House of Death, King Richard III in the 1962 film adaptation of The Tower of London, Edward Lionheart in Theatre of Blood, Lord Edward Whitman in Cry of the Banshee, Cardinal Richelieu in the 1948 film adaptation of The Three Musketeers, Dr. Goldfoot in Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine and Dr Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs, one of the Sub-humans in Fire and Ice, himself in Escapes, Phantom in the Disneyland Paris attraction Phantom Manor, Zigzag in The Thief and the Cobbler, and the Narrator in Thriller.
• In the late Lou Reed's 2003 concept album The Raven, which is based upon Edgar Allen Poe's work, Montresor is voiced by Willem Dafoe, who also portrayed the Green Goblin in Spider-Man, George Deckert in xXx: State of the Union, Raven Shaddock in Streets of Fire, Armando Barillo in Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Ryuk in Death Note, Jack Lassen in The Simpsons, J.G. Jopling in The Grand Budapest Hotel, Rat in The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Cob in Tales From Earthsea, Nikolai Diavolo in James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, Max Schreck in Shadow of the Vampire, Eric Masters in To Live and Die in L.A., John Geiger in Speed 2: Cruise Control, Clement Hoately in Nightmare Alley, and Thomas Wake in The Lighthouse.

Trivia

• Montresor never specified what Fortunato's insult was, which heavily calls into question his exact motive and if Montresor is simply a psychopath who condemned a happy and successful married man to death for no good reason.
• It is possible Montresor's motive stems from class conflict, with Montresor resenting Fortunato's wealth and success while his own house lost prestige. However, it is very possible that the loss is actually Montresor's own fault.

Poe’s Life Stories One of the greatest poets of all time, Edgar Allan Poe, said “I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity”. The reason someone would speculate that he was not in the right state of mind might be because of the dark, twisted poetry and stories he would write, or even his sad and lonely past. After he was born his father left him and his mother. A short while later she got remarried to a rich man named Allan, Edgar tried to be considered his son, but was always rejected by the rich aristocrat. Later, Edgar got married to his thirteen year old cousin,Virginia. Sadly, She was diagnosed with Tuberculosis and died five years afterwards, which sent Edgar into a deep depression. After being remarried twice, he was found…show more content…
The plot of this piece is that the narrator, Montresor, is out to kill the man he despises the most in his life, Fortunato. Montresor leaves Fortunato in his catacombs to rot after he tricked his enemy tricked him into believing that he has a rare wine called Amontillado. This is a classic tale of betrayal, but most of the time it is not the narrator’s bidding. Usually It is the antagonist or “villain” that betrays the protagonist, thus sending the message that maybe the narrator is actually the antagonist in this story. There are two possible connection to this plot. It could either be that this betrayal is supposed to represent Edgar’s father’s betrayal to the family after he left, or this represents his step-father Allan’s betrayal after not giving him the fatherhood that he…show more content…
This piece is about a man in denial about his mental state, even though every time he tries to explain himself, it makes him sound even more mad as a hatter. His most paradoxical reason for being “sane” is when he states “If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body” (Poe 3). This tells the reader that he is clearly insane, but he is denial. The theory is that the narrator knows he is mad, but is still trying to sound as innocent as possible to get out of the trouble he has caused for himself. After Edgar’s wife has died, he goes in a drunken stupor, and is miserable to be around. Professionals could even fathom that he was in denial of being a bad man during an argument with his second wife, which is what caused them to go their separate

POINT OF VIEWThe story is told from first person point of view.  Any quotation from the story in which the narrator is referring to himself as "I" would support this. 

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HUMOR/IRONY