The Cask of Amontillado
Fortunato's point of view
It was carnival season. I was dressed up and took part in the street parades when I met my friend Montresor. I was a little bit drunk and he told me that he got a supply of amontillado, which I could not believe because it was the middle of the carnival. So I decided that we should go to Montresor's vaults to examine the cask and to prove if there is really Amontillado in it. Montresor tried to keep me off his vaults because I just had a little cough and they are damp and there were traces of nitre which was not good for my cold. But I do not like having problems and so I said we should go nevertheless.
So we went through Montresor's very big cellar and drank some wine on the way, because we stopped at nearly every cask and tasted a little bit of its contents. With every gulp it became more difficult to walk or even to stand.
I got a little bit impatient because the way was very long as the vaults are huge and I asked Montresor where the cask was. He told me to enter a niche where he said it would be.
When I entered the recess I felt that suddenly I was fettered to the wall with chains. I was so surprised that at first I did not remark what had happened. Montresor must have said something but I was still of the opinion that somewhere there must be the Amontillado. When I realized what has happened I started moaning because there was no possibility of liberating myself and Montresor walled me up!
I got really angry and began to try to liberate myself by pushing at the chains. I heard that Montresor stopped walling me up and I continued making some noise but nothing happened. Then I saw a light shining inside my prison and started screaming as loud as I could. My enemy must have been very surprised but then he began to scream even louder. When I noticed that there was no chance for me to change my situation I grew silent.
I thought about my problem and came to the result that all this must be a joke. And if not my following reaction could be the last possibility for me to make Montresor change his mind about killing me.
So I laughed and said we should go home now. Montresor didn't change his attitude towards me and I got really terrified. I said he should do it for the love of god, still hoping that he would free me again. He just answered "yes" and at that moment I lost all my hope and waited for death. Then everything was black.
Verena Schäfer