Montresor never makes specific what Fortunato has done to him, suggesting that the "thousand injuries" he may or may not have suffered are less important than Montresor's perception of injury.
We do get a hint that Fortunato considers himself superior to Montresor. When Montresor says he is a mason, Fortunato takes this to mean a Freemason, a group which apparently Fortunato is a part of--and Forunato exclaims "You! Impossible!" He "recoils" when Montresor shows him the trowel, and says "You jest." Then his mind returns to his quest for the Amontillado, and he urges Montresor on.
This dialogue, though short and merely suggestive, speaks volumes in a compact story. It hints that Fortunato considers that he is lowering himself to be with Montresor, a man he cannot seriously consider a fellow Mason, and only condescends to do so because of the bait of the rare wine.
On the other hand, Fortunato's snobbery is not stated directly as fact by either of the characters. One of the most interesting facets of this story is its porousness, the way it leaves itself open to construction and interpretation.
Poe actually never has Montresor state the specific reasons behind his wanting revenge, though he hints at several possibilities. Although he does mention injuries and insults, he never reveals details.
First, Montresor seems vindictive and almost paranoid. It could well be that the wrongs for which he is obtaining revenge never actually happened and are products of Montresor's imagination.
Another possibility is that Montresor comes from a wealthy family now on hard times. He may blame Fortunato for the change in his family's fortunes or may simply resent Fortunato for being a nouveau riche.
Both men are wine connoisseurs and possibly merchants. There appears to be some rivalry concerning expertise in wines, or perhaps there was some sort of commercial rivalry in the past.
Part of the point of of this vagueness is to convey the idea that the desire for vengeance has become so overwhelming that the original cause no longer matters; instead, the vengeance and its planning have become an obsession for Montresor.
Why does Montresor want revenge against Fortunato?
Montresor begins his narrative by stating
The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.
Since Montresor never describes the insult or any of the injuries, readers have offered all sorts of conflicting opinions about his motivation. Some believe that Montresor was never injured or insulted at all and therefore must be insane. Poe avoids having to clarify or justify Montresor's motivation by having him address his communication, or confession, or letter, to a person he calls
You, who so well know the nature of my soul
Presumably this person knows so much about Montresor that it is not necessary for him to give any examples of the injuries. This device is effective because it forces the reader to pay close attention to the text in an effort to deduce facts that are fully understood by "You, who...
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so well know the nature of my soul." This is very much like Ernest Hemingway's famous "Iceberg principle."
If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing. Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon
It does not seem likely that Montresor could be insane and write such a coherent narrative. He must be sane and telling the exact truth. There should be indications within the narrative of the types of injuries that have driven Montresor to plan and execute his revenge. The injuries would have to be of a kind that are known only to Montresor and Fortunato. Montresor wants to kill with "impunity," and he could not expect impunity if it were widely known that he had been injured by Fortunato anything like a thousand times. Poe offers a clue in the third paragraph of the story, which should be read with special attention.
He had a weak point—this Fortunato—although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseur-ship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity, to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian millionaires. In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack, but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. In this respect I did not differ from him materially;—I was skilful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could.
This sounds as if both men are "gentlemen-brokers" who earn their livings by dealing in luxury goods such as paintings, jewelry,antiques, gourmet wines--even in real estate. Fortunato is rich, Montresor is poor. Montresor puts up with Fortunato's injuries because he is dependent on him financially. There are many impoverished Venetian aristocrats who are forced to dispose of family heirlooms in order to survive in their decaying palazzi. Montresor may often need to borrow from the man he constantly describes as his good friend in order to purchase an item for resale. Or he may go into an ad hoc partnership with Fortunato on a purchase. Or he may simply receive a finder's fee for introducing his good friend to a prospective buyer or seller of some one-of-a-kind family treasure. Fortunato would have plenty of opportunities to "injure" Montresor, without anyone else knowing about it, by taking an unfair share of the profits on a transaction, by paying a lower finder's fee than agreed upon, or cheating him in a dozen other ways. As Montresor says to his good friend when they are in the catacombs:
“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."
Montresor knows that Fortunato is planning to cheat him on the nonexistent Amontillado. It would be just the sort of opportunity Fortunato could not resist. He is planning to taste the wine and, assuming it is genuine, tell Montresor it is only ordinary sherry, then find the nonexistent Spanish ship with its nonexistent cargo of Amontillado and buy up the whole shipload. When Montresor found out what happened, Fortunato would laugh it off as "an excellent jest." He is a scoundrel, but he considers himself a funny fellow, which is why he wears a jester's costume in the carnival.
This is a logical explanation of why Montresor, who is extremely clever and perfectly sane, should want revenge against Fortunato. Montresor has been cheated by this man so many times that he knows he can entrap him simply by offering him an apparent opportunity to cheat him once again.
What is the reason Montresor gets revenge on Fortunato? What was the insult?
Poe has Montresor address his confidential communication to a single individual whom he calls "You, who so well know the nature of my soul." This is a brilliant literary device and foreshadows Ernest Hemingway's "iceberg theory," which also involved leaving out exposition. In doing this, Poe relieves himself of the need for providing a whole lot of exposition and can focus on the actual crime, the dramatic action, itself. Poe does not even have to mention where the events took place. Some readers actually think the crime might have occurred in New Orleans! Or perhaps in Kansas City, Missouri? Poe does not have to describe the "thousand injuries of Fortunato" because, presumably, he has told this confidant, or confidante, all about his relations with Fortunato before, presumably in letters.
I believe it is a mistake to assume that Montresor wants revenge because of some unspecified "insult." In my opinion it is the "thousand injuries" for which he wants his revenge. The insult, whatever it was, only shows that Fortunato was becoming more obnoxious and insufferable, and would continue to infuriate Montresor in the future.
Why does Montresor put up with a thousand injuries? Why does he associate with Fortunato at all? There is no need for Montresor to explain this to "You, who so well know the nature of my soul," but we readers have to play Sherlock Holmes and deduce from the existing evidence. Here is the third paragraph of the story in full:
He had a weak point—this Fortunato—although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseur-ship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity, to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian millionaires. In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack, but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. In this respect I did not differ from him materially;—I was skilful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could.
This suggests that Montresor and Fortunato deal in luxury items. They are not Italian noblemen but gentlemen-brokers and connoisseurs. Fortunato is rich. Montresor is poor. Montresor may depend on him for loans, finder's fees, ad hoc partnerships in single transactions, and other such financial benefits. Fortunato may have cheated Montresor many times or taken unfair advantage of him in other ways. Since these matters would be between the two men, Montresor could continue to speak of Fortunato as "my friend," "my old friend," "my good friend," and "my best friend," in order to convince everyone, including Fortunato himself, that they were good friends and thereby forestall incurring any possible suspicion when Fortunato turns up missing. Montresor has so thoroughly conditioned himself to thinking of Fortunato as his friend that he refers to him constantly as such throughout the story, even when he is taking him to the niche where he intends to chain him to the granite wall and leave him to die of starvation and madness.
Fortunato will not die for a single insult but for a thousand past injuries.
What is the reason Montresor gets revenge on Fortunato? What was the insult?
There really isn't a reason ever given for Montressor's hatred of Fortunado. This is what makes the tale all the more compelling and puzzling.
Some critics feel that Fortunado embodies all that is repugnant about the middle class aspiring to be elite. Fortunado's snobbishniss about wines, for example, illustrates this principle. He may be the unfortunate, physical target of Montressor's animosity.
Others feel that there simply is no basis other than the fact that Montressor is crazy. The catacombs may represent and the descent into darkness reflects his own warped thinking and pure evil.
Why did Montresor seek revenge on Fortunato?
In "The Cask of Amontillado," by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor's motivation for killing Fortunato is simple: he was insulted. In the opening line of the story, Montresor (narrator) explains that he suffered through many hurts imposed by Fortunato, but would not put up with an insult: "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borned as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge," (1).
It is unclear what the insult was regarding, but one might guess it had something to do with familial protection, as family seems important to Montresor, (illustrated in his discussion of his family's coat of arms); or it may have to do with wine connoisseurship as both men seem to pride themselves on this skill; "I was skillful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could," (2).
Interestingly, the family motto of Montresor is "Nemo me impune lacessit," meaning "No one attacks me with impunity." This implies that members of the Montresor family do not allow anyone to hurt them and then get away with it. However, Montresor's plan to wall Fortunato up inside the catacombs without anyone ever knowing about it is an illustration of exactly that. In fact, Montresor is never punished for his deed because he's never found out: "For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed [his bones]," (6).