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Revenge ties a person inextricably to the person they strike at.
At the beginning of the story, Montresor states that one of the conditions of successful revenge is that the revenge must not “overtake” its redresser, that is, it should not consume the person trying to get revenge. However, by the end, it’s not entirely clear that Montresor has truly met this condition. Instead, Montresor’s revenge appears to have bound Fortunato to him forever. Montresor chose to entomb Fortunato alive within the Montresor family vault, surrounded by the dead of the Montresor family. In the recesses of this vault, Montresor has bricked in this singular chamber, which will only contain Fortunato’s corpse. Thus, although Montresor may have placed Fortunato out of sight, in doing so he has quite literally embedded Fortunato in the middle of his family history. Additionally, Montresor remembers the murder of Fortunato in great detail fifty years later but mentions nothing of the actual insult Fortunato gave him, as if he has forgotten. By taking revenge on Fortunato, he has ensured that Fortunato remains vividly in his memory, instead of fading into the background like whatever the insult may have been. Instead of freeing him from his anger, Montresor has inextricably chained them together.
A kind demeanor can hide malice.
One of the more sinister aspects of this story is Montresor’s jovial affect as he lures the hapless Fortunato to his doom. In the second paragraph, he gleefully describes how he gave Fortunato not even a hint that he was upset with him, even smiling while imagining him burning. On the night of the murder, Montresor suggests multiple times that he could ask another person, Luchesi, to look into the authenticity of his amontillado, entirely for Fortunato’s benefit. He first claims not to want to interrupt Fortunato’s carnival reveries, and then worries about Fortunato’s health. He repeatedly feigns concern about Fortunato’s cough multiple times, and even offers him wine to ward off the chill. As Fortunato’s cough gets worse, Montresor lists multiple reasons why Fortunato should care about his health, citing his wealth and popularity. Until the moment he chains Fortunato to the wall, Montresor gives no hint that he hates Fortunato and does not consider him a friend. The contrast between Montresor’s outward demeanor and murderous intent creates satisfying dramatic irony, as the reader knows Montresor’s plan but Fortunato does not.
The need for revenge sometimes subsumes the reason for it.
Although Montresor insists that Fortunato has done some grievous insult against him that merits such a merciless revenge, he never clarifies, not even to Fortunato, what exactly this insult was. As he narrates the story fifty years after the fact, the vagueness of Montresor’s description of the insult, in contrast to his vivid description of the murder, suggests that Montresor himself may have started to forget. Some scholars even question whether Montresor ever could quite articulate why he feels Fortunato has wronged him. Despite his insistence that an important aspect of revenge is the victim knowing that a wrong is being avenged, as he bricks Fortunato up, Montresor taunts Fortunato instead of explaining his actions. He actively talks over Fortunato’s screaming and rattling, and he reassures himself of the strength of the walls. These actions suggest that Montresor simply wants to finish his act of vengeance without overthinking it, focusing solely on punishing Fortunato and not dwelling on the events that led him there. The merciless and elaborate scheme has fully overshadowed any of Fortunato’s slights.
