The Theme of Trust in Edgar Allen Poes A Cask of Amontillado.

        Another way Montresor falsely leads Fortunato is when they drink the other wines. Poe’s work shows Montresor’s preternaturalness as “’I drink to the dead who lie sleeping around us.’ ‘And I, Fortunato – I drink to your long life” (Poe 70). Montresor, the latter of the speakers, toasting Fortunato’s long life is ironic because Montresor wants Fortunato to die. Because Montresor is toasting to Fortunato, but has different intentions, the theme things are not always the way they seem. Another quote that shows this says “I chose one that contained a very good wine… I struck the stone wall with it and broke off the small end. I offered the bottle to Fortunato… Drink some of this fine Medoc. It will help to keep us warm!” (Poe 70). Montresor offered a fine wine to Fortunato, claiming it would help keep the duo warm. Montresor, however, had skewed intentions to go with this. He wanted to ensure that Fortunato was exceedingly drunk, so it would be easier to restrain him. This shows that not everything is as appears because Montresor had unknown malicious intentions. The concluding way this theme is through Fortunato being bound and left for dead.

         The final way Poe shows the theme not everything is as it seems is when Fortunato is bound and left to die. The story says “Before Fortunato could guess what was happening, I closed the lock and chained him tightly to the wall…. ‘But the Amontillado?’… Quickly I began to build the wall again, covering the hole where Fortunato stood trembling” (Poe 71). At the beginning of the story, Montresor promised Fortunato a drink of Amontillado. This quote shows that Montresor never had the intention of giving any Amontillado to Fortunato.  This helps divulge the theme of things not appearing as they are. When Fortunato is left for dead, Montresor is very careful, “I hurried to force the last stone into position. And I put the old bones again in a pile against the wall. For half a century now no human hand has touched them. May he rest in peace!” (Poe 72). Montresor was very careful how he arranged the bones around the wall to make it seem like it was a normal wall. Nobody ever noticed or touching the wall Fortunato was hidden in is further proof of how astute Montresor was in making this wall appear normal. As the book shows, the innocent wall hides the body. This wall appears normally shows the theme not everything is as it appears.

 The evidence of Fortunato following Montresor, them drinking to the dead, and Fortunato being left to die are just three of many ways Edgar Allen Poe shows things are not always as they appear in “The Cask of Amontillado.” Because Fortunato followed Montresor, he was tricked and ended up dying. Fortunato was duped. The author tells us that we should look out and beware of what the intentions are of others. Because things aren’t always as they seem, we should take care of and beware of others unknown, concealed intentions and ideas.