Write a summary on The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe?

Answer 1

I won't write it...somebody on wiki already did...

Montresor tells the story of the night, half a century before, that he took his revenge on Fortunato, an Italian nobleman. Angry over some unspecified insult, he plots to murder his friend during carnival when the man is drunk and wearing a jester's motley.

He baits Fortunato by telling him he has obtained, out of season, what he believes to be a pipe of Amontillado (a Spanish sherry); he isn't sure, however, and wants his friend's expert opinion on the subject. Fortunato goes with Montresor to the wine cellars of the latter's palazzo, where they wander deep underground in the catacombs. Montresor gives Fortunato more to drink; at one point, Fortunato makes an elaborate, and, to the narrator's eyes, grotesque gesture with an upraised wine bottle. When Montresor fails to recognize the gesture, Fortunato asks, "You are not of the masons?" - Montresor says he is, and when Fortunato, disbelieving, requests a sign, Montresor displays a trowel he had been hiding.

Montresor repeatedly warns Fortunato, who has a bad cough, of the damp and suggests they go back; Fortunato insists on continuing, claiming that "[he] shall not die of a cough." During their walk, Montresor mentions his family coat of arms - a golden foot crushing a snake whose fangs are embedded in the foot's heel - with the motto is Nemo me impune lacessit (No one strikes me with impunity). When they come to a niche, Montresor tells his victim that the Amontillado is within. Fortunato enters, and, drunk and unsuspecting, does not resist as Montresor quickly chains him to the wall. Montresor then declares that, since Fortunato won't go back, he must "positively leave [him]."

Montresor then remorselessly walls up the niche, entombing his friend alive. At first, Fortunato shakes the chains furiously, trying to escape. The narrator stops working for a while so he can enjoy the sound. Fortunato then screams for help, but Montresor mocks his cries, knowing nobody can hear them. Later, Fortunato laughs weakly and tries to pretend that he is the subject of a joke and that people will soon miss him (including the Lady Fortunato). As the murderer finishes the topmost row of stones, Fortunato wails despairingly "For the love of God, Montresor!" Montresor replies calmly "Yes; for the love of God!" He listens for a reply but hears only the jester's bells ringing as he places the last stone.

In the last few sentences, Montresor reveals that he has never been caught, and Fortunato's body still hangs from its chains in the niche where he left it so many years before. The murderer, obviously unrepentant, ends the story by quipping: In pace requiescat (Latin: "Rest in peace").