“The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge....”
Edgar Allan Poe2,300 wordsIntermediate
The Cask of Amontillado
Montresor, nursing a grudge over an unspecified insult, lures his acquaintance Fortunato deep into underground catacombs during carnival season under the pretense of evaluating a rare cask of Amontillado sherry. Exploiting Fortunato's pride as a wine connoisseur and his drunken state, Montresor chains him inside a narrow recess and methodically walls him in with stone and mortar, entombing him alive. Fifty years later, Montresor recounts the crime, and the remains have never been found.
Gothic HorrorMysteryUnreliable NarratorIrony
