manipulate their victims by acting sympathetic and even compassionate towards their .
victims' weaknesses. Fortunato continues to insist that his health is fine and that he is .
truly the only one that can tell what is in the bottle. Fortunato's pride causes him to .
continue down into the vault where Montressor eventually chains him to the wall, buries.
him behind layers of brick, and kills him. Montressor and Fortunato both represent .
human emotions that are often difficult to control.
The first and main idea of symbolism comes into the story when Poe describes .
Fortunato's dress. He's described as wearing "motley," like a jester. This costume is .
appropriate for Fortunato's character in several ways. First of all, Fortunato is said to .
have given Montressor "the thousand injuries" for what he is being avenged for. This in .
itself makes the jester costume appropriate. Another aspect of the symbolism of the .
jester costume is that in medieval times, a cruel king would have a court jester executed .
when his majesty thought the jester had lost his charm, if the jokes didn't please, .
decapitation served as the entertainment. Another way to interpret Fortunato's jester .
costume is that he is made a fool by his pride. Montressor intended to make a fool of him .
and, in the end, Fortunato's arrogance and pride in his connoiseurship of wine did him in. .
Caputo 3.
He could not fathom anyone else's opinion on a wine being any good, so he had to .
appraise the wine himself.
.
Another point of symbolism that is expressed by Kenneth Silverman in his book .
Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance. Silverman notes that the .
Montressor motto, Nemo me impune lacessit, is the national motto of Scotland. He .
thinks that Poe chose this motto not only because of the appropriateness, but because of .
underlying tenseness, his foster father, John Allan was Scottish. Allan "much resembled .
Fortunato in being a man "rich, respected, admired, beloved," interested in wines, and a .
