Edgar Allan Poe must have spent a long time thinking about how any man could lure an enemy underground and murder him without being seen in his company and without being suspected of any complicity after the victim disappeared. It is easy enough to think of telling Fortunato that he has a cask of gourmet wine he wants him to sample. But he has to get Fortunato to come with him immediately. Otherwise Fortunato could find out that there was no Spanish ship in the harbor which had just brought in a cargo of Amontillado. Montresor does not exactly tell Fortunato that this is how he "received" the wine, but Fortunato would assume that was the case because it was the only likely way that a big cask of Amontillado sherry come from Barcelona to Venice. Montresor has to tell Fortunato that he got a bargain and that he is going to Luchesi, since he had been unable to find Fortunato.
It is the bargain that gives Fortunato such a strong motivation to sample the wine immediately.Unlike Montresor, Fortunato is a rich man and could buy up the whole shipload. Otherwise, he probably would have put Montresor off. He was having fun at the carnival. He was not adequately dressed for going into cold, damp catacombs. He was drunk. He had a cold. It is the bargain and his fear that Luchesi will beat him out of it that motivates him to go home with Montresor immediately.
Montresor knows that Fortunato is thinking of buying up the whole cargo. He wouldn't have to sample Montresor's cask if the Spanish ship really existed. He could beg off for that night and then easily find the ship in the harbor and sample the wine on board. Then he could bargain with the captain for the entire cargo, assuming it was genuine. But he has to sample Montresor's (nonexistent) Amontillado in order to keep him from going to Luchesi, who never appears in the story but is apparently a wealthy man who buys and sells expensive items for resale, just like Montresor and Fortunato.
So Montresor invents a clever story to deceive Fortunato into coming with him immediately. The whole entrapment story is compressed into these few brief paragraphs of dialogue.
I said to him—“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.”
“As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi. If any one has a critical turn it is he. He will tell me—”
Montresor acts as if he is in a big hurry to get a connoisseur to judge his wine. This can only suggest that he wants to buy more while it is still being offered at a bargain price. But he doesn't dare to buy any more until he is sure it is genuine Amontillado.
Montresor knows that Fortunato is planning to tell him his (nonexistent) wine is only ordinary sherry, thereby eliminating Montresor as a competitive buyer as well as Luchesi. This explains why Fortunato doesn't ask a lot of awkward questions about the wine. He doesn't want to show too keen an interest.
When Montresor gets Fortunato down into his catacombs he deceives him further by suggesting more than once that they turn back because of the risk to his victim's health. For example:
“Come,” I said, with decision, “we will go back; your health is precious.You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchesi—”
This deceit is of secondary importance. Montresor uses reverse psychology to keep Fortunato moving towards the niche where he intends to chain him to the granite wall. But Montresor has a rapier and Fortunato, in his tight-fitting jester's costume, is obviously unarmed. Montresor could kill him any time he wants. The victim is as good as dead already. The really important deception is contained in the totally false, finely honed story Montresor has concocted to lure Fortunato to his palazzo and down the steep steps into his doom.
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