Jury Defense and “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main text
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

As a member of the jury sitting in on the trial of Montressor, I feel it is necessary for me to explain the reasons why the jury came to the conclusion it did. While the entire city has felt that Montressor was undeniably guilty of a horrendous crime, there were several elements of the case that made such a quick conclusion difficult. After hearing all of the facts and evidence with which we were presented by the estimable Edgar Allen Poe in his story of “The Cask of Amontillado”, it is hoped that the reader will gain a better understanding of just how we reached our verdict of guilty by reason of insanity.

Main text

According to the evidence, the murder of Fortunato was premeditated.

The perpetrator, Montressor, confessed to having thought everything out beforehand, even down to ensuring no one in the streets might recognize who he was as he lured Fortunato back to his home as he covered his face with a carnival mask and wore a cloak to disguise his general shape. In addition, he had made clever arrangements to ensure all of his household servants would be away by the time he arrived with his ‘guest.’ “I had told them [the servants] that I should not return until the morning and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house.

These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappearance, one and all, as soon as my back was turned” (Poe). Having reached the house, Montressor knew just where to take Fortunato so that any noise made wouldn’t be heard even should a servant have remained in the house and he had the niche prepared with bricks and mortar mixed up nearby while he carried the trowel with him.

This was, again, a part of the man’s confession. After shackling Fortunato into the niche in the wall, Montressor said that he “soon uncovered a quantity of building stone and mortar. With these materials and with the aid of my trowel, I began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche” (Poe). These careful preparations on the part of the perpetrator clearly point to a guilty conscience.

However, there are other disturbing elements of his confession that caused us, as the jury, to wonder at the man’s sanity. He seemed to be fully aware of his circumstances and his position, yet as he made his statements, Montressor seemed to have a manic light in his eyes that were echoed in the forms of his story. He mentions the possibility of a motive as being some sort of insult to Montressor, but never specifically names what form that insult might have taken.

That it seems to have been something relatively slight is suggested in the fact that Fortunato did not seem aware that he had insulted his friend. Montressor also seems to take a maniacal pleasure in the suffering of his victim as he struggled to get free of the chains then binding him. “The noise lasted for several minutes, during which, that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labors and sat down upon the bones.

When at last the clanking subsided, I resumed the trowel, and finished without interruption the fifth, the sixth and the seventh tier” (Poe). The only indication he gives that he might have felt a moment’s regret for his actions is contained in the statement, “My heart grew sick” as he placed the final stone, yet Montressor doesn’t attribute this to his deplorable and murderous behavior, but rather to the dampness of the catacombs in which he had been working for half the night. His delight in knowing that the bones had lain hidden for the past 50 years is nearly palpable, and it was perhaps out of a need to have someone recognize his cleverness in carrying out this crime that Montressor finally came forward to confess, another piece of evidence indicating his mind is not quite sane.

Conclusion

As we heard about the case and learned about the history of the Montressor family, it became clear to us that there has been a long history of barely stable individuals within its ranks. The family crest, that of a foot stepping upon a snake who is in turn biting the heel of the foot, is itself an indication of the instability of the family in that it demonstrates how revenge is more important than life itself.

This was evidently an idea that Montressor bought into completely while having no reasonable gauge of allowing the punishment to fit the crime. Rational consideration of the events would indicate that a mere insult, regardless of the nature of this insult, would not warrant the sort of death Montressor provided for Fortunato. Undoubtedly a clever man, Montressor’s pleasure in having accomplished this murder undetected until he came forward himself is compounded by his pleasure in receiving recognition for his forethought in carrying the crime forward.

He continues to remain unrepentant regarding the death of his friend and insists the other man quite deserved it.

The jury has determined that Montressor is undoubtedly guilty in the extreme, but would be more appropriately secured within a mental institution where perhaps one day he will be cured enough to see the error of his ways.

Works Cited

Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Cask of Amontillado.” Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Aerie Books, (2003).

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Jury Defense and “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe

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