The Case of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe is a classic tale of revenge and irony. Montresor tells the story of the night, half a century before that he took his revenge on Fortunato, a fellow Italian nobleman. Angry over some unspecified insult, he plots to murder his friend during Carnival. Fortunato has hurt him. Even worse, Fortunato has insulted him. The Montresor must get revenge. He meets Fortunato, who is all dressed up in jester clothes for a carnival celebration − and is already very drunk.
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. "My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day. But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts." "I have my doubts," I replied; "and I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter. You were not to be found, and I was fearful of losing a bargain." 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