He repeated the movement – a grotesque one. He laughed and threw the bottle upwards with a gesticulation I did not understand. Another clue comes when Montresor fails to interpret a gesture made by Fortunato: Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, put it: ‘Nothing is as obnoxious as other people’s luck.’Īlthough ‘Montresor’, the narrator’s name, suggests literally a ‘mountain of treasure’, the fortunate Fortunato still has the edge: as we know from such stories as Lawrence’s ‘The Rocking-Horse Winner’, money is worth little without luck, for luck is how one acquires more money (though hard work doesn’t go amiss, of course). First of all, there is Fortunato’s name, suggesting fortune (wealth) but also being fortunate (luck), two qualities which don’t tend to enamour people to you, even though one’s possession of one or both of them hasn’t necessarily harmed anyone else. There are several clues offered by Poe in the story which suggest this as a plausible analysis of Montresor’s character and motivation.
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