See in text (The Cask of Amontillado) A trowel is a tool masons use to smooth the mortar when laying bricks. Also, a great irony—Fortunato is so intoxicated that he doesn’t even wonder what Montresor is doing with a trowel.
As seen on 'American Masters', PBS - March 22, 1995 (Season 9, Episode 4).First published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book, the 'Cask of Amontillado' is a powerful tale of revenge. Montresor, the sinister narrator of this tale, pledges revenge upon Fortunato for an insult. Montresor intends to seek vengeance in support of his family motto: 'Nemo me impune lacessit.' ('No one assails me with impunity').On the coat of arms, which bears this motto, appears ' a huge human foot d'or, in a field of azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are embedded in the heel.' It is important for Montresor to have his victim know what is happening to him.Montresor will derive pleasure from the fact that as Fortunato slowly dies, the thought of his rejected opportunities of escape will sting him with unbearable regret, and as he sobers with terror, the final blow will come from the realization that his craving for the wine has led him to his doom.In structure, there can be no doubt, that both Montresor's plan of revenge and Poe's story are carefully crafted to create the desired effect.
“THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely, settled -but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish but punish with impunity.
A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong. ”―Edgar Allan Poe. “How long have you had that cough?' My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes. 'It is nothing,' he said, at last. '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—' 'Enough,' he said; 'the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough.' 'True—true,”―Edgar Allan Poe.