The short story “The Cask of Amontillado”, written by Edgar Allan Poe, is a truly story fascinating which, when read, comes across as heavy and frightening as it is mysterious. The theme of the story is revenge through cruel murder. Personally, after analyzing "The Cask of Amontillado", I felt like Poe was setting a dark and suspenseful mood, especially after providing the information at the beginning of the short story that the main character, Montresor , was seeking revenge on another character. Fortune. In the article "The Motive of Murder in Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Cask of Amontillado'" written by Elena V. Baraban denotes some possible motives for Montresor's actions and talks about the various commentators on the story. Between my personal thoughts and Baraban's article, they both share the idea that the main motive for Fortunato's murder was actually the death of Fortunato himself. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essayPersonally, after reading "The Cask of Amontillado", I felt like Poe was trying to communicate, in especially for the plot, that there was more to the story than what is being said. I honestly believe that Montresor was exaggerating everything Fortunato did to him to make him want revenge, which I would argue makes him an unreliable narrator. From there, a question came to my mind that I couldn't find a direct answer to in the story: Did Fortunato know at all that Montresor was angered by something he had done some time ago? Furthermore, if Fortunato had known, would he have lived? Based on knowledge of Poe's writings, I doubt it because he doesn't write such stories, and this one in particular had to have a death at the end. The dark and suspenseful atmosphere of the story is what makes me believe my observation. The dark mood is created by Poe telling the readers that Montresor is going to take revenge on Fortunato and this creates the readers' suspense as to when something might happen to Fortunato. We know from the beginning of the story that Fortunato is going to die, but we have no way of knowing if he knows of Montresor's dislike for him. Elena V. Baraban's article, "The Motive for Murder in Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Cask of Amontillado,'" summarizes the essential conclusion of all commentators on the story, that Montresor was crazy. Baraban supports his claim that Montresor is crazy by saying: "Far from being a mediocre murderer, Montresor develops a sophisticated philosophy of revenge: 'I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is not righted when punishment takes over the person who is righting it. Nor is there any remedy when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such in the eyes of the one who has done the evil. (Baraban, 48) All this planning and timing to murder someone over an insult is more than just borderline madness, it is just plain madness. Edward Hutchins Davidson comments: "We never know what made him hate Fortunato, nor do we know that he ever hatched a plan for revenge...There is nothing intellectual here ; everything is crazy and improvised – and Montresor only succeeds to the extent that he is able to adapt to a crazy and improvised world. To Baraban and Davidson have somewhat contrasting ideas about Montresor's plan, but both came to the same conclusion, that he was incredibly crazy. Another commentator, Stuart Levine, considers Montresor crazy because he "killed because of an anonymous insult.