Why is Fortunato's clown costume in "The Cask of Amontillado" symbolically interesting?

The choice of the clown’s hat is appropriate because Montresor makes a fool of Fortunato.

Montresor chose to kill Fortunato on the carnival holiday because it is a time when everyone is going to be having a good time and getting drunk.  It occurs directly after the Christian Lent, when you give up something.  Therefore carnival is when you let loose.  Fortunato chose to dress up.

He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.

Fortunato is dressed as a jester, or a clown.  You may be familiar with this outfit.  It was often very colorful, with bright colors such purple and yellow or red in patches (that is the “part-striped” part), and may have pom poms or bells on the end of the cone cap.  Also, he is drinking heavily.

The cap and costume is symbolic because Fortunato is dressed as a clown, and acting like a clown (by being silly and drunk) and Montresor is making a fool of him. He is drinking and dressing up because he is participating in a cultural event with some religious significance, since it is related to coming off of Lent.  However, Montresor takes advantage of this.  He is having a good time, and has no idea that Montresor is mad at him.

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 I gave utterance to a threat.

You see, Montresor would never let on that he was angry at Fortunato or threaten him.  That would give it all away.  Instead, he is going to lure him into the catacombs and murder him.  He makes a fool of him by telling him that he has some fancy wine that he is not sure is real.  Fortunato, a wine connoisseur who considers himself an expert, cannot resist. 

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.”

Then, once they are in the crypt, Montresor makes sure Fortunato stays by pretending he wants him to go.  He tells him that he can just have someone else look at the wine.  Fortunato would never allow that.  His pride is too big.

“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—”

“Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry.”

From then on, the trap is set.  Fortunato is not going anywhere.  Montresor is such a good judge of character, he knew exactly how to bait the trap, and when to spring it.  He knew that Fortunato would be drunk that day and his guard would be down.   By the time Fortunato figures out what has happened, he is already bricked into the wall that will be his tomb.

What does Fortunato's clown hat symbolize in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

Fortunato's fool's hat and costume could be interpreted as symbolizing the way Montresor thinks of Fortunato. Montresor believes that he has fooled Fortunato—that he has fooled everyone, really. He claims that he had "given Fortunato [no] cause to doubt [his] good will," though he now plots the man's complete destruction, and his plan is to exploit Fortunato's pride, his "weak point." Montresor will use Fortunato's pride to lure the man into the Montresor family catacombs under the pretense of needing Fortunato's expert opinion on a recent wine purchase. He will make a fool of Fortunato, and he will do it in such a way that Fortunato realizes that he has been made a fool.

With Montresor's skillful manipulation of Fortunato, his own servants, and any potentially prying eyes that might see Fortunato with a man wearing only a dark mask and long, black cape, he seems to think that he is smarter than just about everyone. And maybe he is. He does tell his audience that, according to his own ideas about revenge, he "must not only punish [Fortunato], but punish with impunity." Montresor believes that he has created the perfect crime for which he will incur no negative consequences or punishments. To him, I think, he has made clowns of everyone, and he believes that he is the only truly wise person.

However, we know that Montresor is telling this story some "fifty years" after he killed Fortunato, telling it to someone who "well know[s] the nature of [his] soul"—perhaps a priest. He admits that he "struggled with [the] weight" of the final stone to be fitted before Fortunato's body, even that his "heart grew sick" as he completed his work. Montresor seems to describe and to unknowingly exhibit signs of guilt, meaning that he has not escaped all negative consequences of his crime nor truly achieved successful revenge, based on his own standards. He thought that Fortunato was the clown, but perhaps he has actually made a "fool" of himself as well by believing that a guilty conscience would not catch up to him.

What does Fortunato's clown hat symbolize in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

The jester's costume that Fortunato is wearing helps the reader to visualize this man. The cap with jingling bells attract attention to him. Ordinarily this might be considered a problem for Montresor, who does not want people to remember that they saw him with Fortunato when it is discovered that Fortunato is missing. But Poe understood that the more attention Fortunato attracted, the less attention would be paid to his companion Montresor, who was dressed in black and wearing a black cape. Although the Montresor family must have lived in Venice for some time, Montresor, whose name is obviously French, apparently does not consider himself Italian. He shows this early in the story in the way he seems to distance himself from Italians:

Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity....In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack...

Montresor is not wearing a costume and is not participating in any way in the carnival. He is practically invisible among all the colorfully dressed throngs of Venetians. He must seem like a shadow beside the flamboyant and raucous Fortunato. When inquiries about Fortunato are made, there will be many people who remember seeing him. But no one will remember seeing whether there was anyone with him.

Poe may have also intended Fortunato's costume to characterize him as a fool, but I believe Poe's main purpose was to make him so conspicuous that he made Montresor seem like a shadow.

What costume is Fortunato wearing in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

Fortunato is the victim of the narrator Montresor in Edgar Allan Poe's macabre short story "The Cask of Amontillado." The story takes place during Carnival. Carnival is a raucous festival on the eve of the forty day period called Lent, the Christian time of abstinence before Easter. Carnival literally means a farewell to meat. Carnival is usually marked by extreme and excessive binging on food and alcohol. Participants usually celebrate in brightly colored costumes. 

Montresor chooses Carnival as the time to carry out his plot to murder Fortunato. He knows that amidst the chaos of the celebration he will be able to get away with the crime. The plan involves luring Fortunato down into the catacombs below Montresor's villa. The fact that Fortunato is in a celebratory and somewhat inebriated state makes it easy for Montresor. When they meet in the street, Fortunato is wearing the typical garb of the season, a multi-colored "dress" and a cap with bells. Picture a jester from medieval times. Poe describes the man:

The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.

Why is Fortunato dressed as a jester in The Cask of Amontillado?

During the course of "The Cask of Amontillado," Fortunato is dressed in a court jester's garb, complete with little bells on his headwear. Within the story itself, his reason for doing so is plain: it is the time of carnival, and it is usual for people to dress in costumes during the revels. Fortunato's jester costume is therefore being worn for the sake of partying.

On a narrative level, the costume holds deeper meanings. Firstly, the costume emphasizes Fortunato's foolishness. He is easily duped by Montresor, who plays upon Fortunato's vanity and pride to get him to follow him into the catacombs. He is also drunk and slow to discover that he is being led to his own murder. However, the costume also represents Fortunato's tendency to make jabs at Montresor, much like a jester does to a royal court. For example, he scoffs at the idea that Montresor could be a mason, suggesting a sort of snobbishness. He constantly insults Luchesi as well. Of course, this superior attitude combined with the jester outfit is all the more ironic, since Fortunato cannot see that he is being manipulated by Montresor.

So, the costume ultimately takes on symbolic weight. It represents Fortunato's foolishness, contrasting with his superior attitude and arrogance as he is led like a lamb to the slaughter by the man he believes to be his friend.

In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," what is the significance of Fortunato's costume?

When people choose a costume to wear at a party, it is natural for them to choose one that represents how they think of themselves or what they would like to be. This is still true today, although most people only wear costumes on Halloween. Fortunato is drunk when Montresor encounters him, but he wasn't drunk when he chose his costume. In those days he would have had to have the costume tailor-made, so he would have made his choice some time before the carnival. The fact that he chose a court jester's costume shows that he thinks of himself as a funny fellow, a jester, a man who likes to play practical jokes. No doubt he is enjoying himself by blowing a tin horn in people's ears and throwing confetti in their faces. This is one of the characteristics Poe wants to give Fortunato. It suggests that many of the "thousand injuries" he has inflicted on Montresor, though cruel, were regarded by Fortunato as "jests." What Montresor does to him in revenge might be considered a practical joke. Fortunato himself tries to laugh it off as a jest in order to give Montresor a chance to change his mind and an excuse for having lured him into this trap. Here are Fortunato's words.

“Ha! ha! ha!—he! he! he!—a very good joke, indeed—an excellent jest. We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo—he! he! he!—over our wine—he! he! he!”

“The Amontillado!” I said.

“He! he! he!—he! he! he!—yes, the Amontillado. But is it not getting late? Will not they be awaiting us at the palazzo, the Lady Fortunato and the rest? Let us be gone.”

Although the author doesn't say as much in words, there is a strong suggestion that the two men earn their livings through buying and selling luxury items.

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.

Most of the injuries Montresor has suffered have probably been in business relations. Sometimes they are competitors and sometimes they may be partners--but Fortunato always comes out ahead and laughs it off as an excellent jest. He is not a fun-loving man but a cruel man who gets fun out of hurting others through cunning trickery. Montresor continues his pretense of friendship because Fortunato is rich while he himself is poor. He may need to borrow money. He may collect a finder's fee when a particular object, such as a Renaissance painting, is too rich for his blood. Or he may go into ad hoc partnerships with Fortunato, in which case his "good friend" might demand a sixty-forty split of the profits. Venice was full of old aristocratic families who were gradually selling off paintings, statues, jewelry (gemmary), antiques, wall hangings, and other valuables in order to stay alive.

Neither of these men is interested in buying a "pipe" of Amontillado for personal consumption. A pipe contains 126 gallons. What interests Fortunato, as it supposedly does Montresor, is that he bought his cask as a "bargain" price. He supposedly intends to make a profit, but he supposedly needs to have the wine authenticated before he buys more. Montresor knows that Fortunato will immediately be thinking of one of his clever "jests." He will taste Montresor's (nonexistent) wine and say it is only ordinary sherry. Then he will find the Spanish ship that must have just arrived from Barcelona and buy up the entire cargo. When Montresor supposedly finds out that he has been tricked, Fortunato will laugh off this one-thousand-and-first injury as "a clever jest." But this time the joke is on Fortunato.

(Please refer to my extended explication of "The Cask of Amontillado" by clicking the eNotes reference link below.)

In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," what is the significance of Fortunato's costume?

In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story The Cask of Amontillado, Fortunato, as described by the man who will murder him, Montresor, is no fool; he is “a man to be respected and even feared.”  As such, Montresor has had to carefully plan his assault on the man who has cast a “thousand injuries” upon him, waiting for the moment when his intended victim would be at his most vulnerable.  Knowing Fortunato well, Montresor has chosen the annual carnival in this presumably fictitious Italian city or village, when much of the local populace can be expected to be inebriated, which proves the case with Fortunato:

“. . .the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a tightfitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.”

The significance of Fortunato’s attire lies in the impression of the fool he conveys dressed as he is and stumbling about from excessive drink.  Montresor has planned well; this man to be respected and even feared has his guard down and is incapable of rational thought or resistance because of his drunken state.  The costume Fortunato wears symbolizes the diminished mental state – in effect, he has become ‘the idiot’ --  to which he has descended.

In "The Cask of Amontillado," why is it appropriate that Fortunato wears a jester's costume?

1. Poe wanted to increase Montresor's difficulties in consumating his crime by making the victim conspicuous, even having bells on his cap.

2. People choose masquerade costumes to suit their characters. Fortunato likes to make jests like the court jesters of old. Some of these can be cruel. No doubt Fortunato's jests are among the "thousand injuries" Montresor has suffered.

3. Poe describes the costume as "tight-fitting." This would show that Fortunato is unarmed, while Montresor has a sword under his cloak.

4. The tight-fitting costume made it easy to confine Fortunato tightly against the wall with two lengths of chain only two feet apart. This would prevent Fortunato from interfering with the wall-building in that very confined space. If Fortunato had been wearing a cloak or heavier clothing, there might have been a danger of his slipping out of the single chain around his waist.

5. Fortunato is not a fool. Montresordescribes him as "a man to be respected and even feared." The costume characterizes him as a jokester, a man who enjoys playing jokes on people. At the end he pretends to believe Montresor is only playing a joke on him, and he compliments him on "a very clever jest," like a connoisseur of jests. He wants to give Montresor a plausible excuse for changing his mind and releasing him, although he does not not for a moment believe this entrapment is a jest.

What is the purpose of Fortunato's clothing description in The Cask of Amontillado?

When Montresor initially meets Fortunato, he is dressed in motley and is wearing tight-fitting, striped pants with a conical hat and bells attached to it. Fortunato is dressed in a traditional jester's garb, which helps characterize him as a fool, who is manipulated by Montresor into following him down into the catacombs, where he eventually loses his life. Fortunato's outfit not only characterizes him as a fool but the multicolored pattern also symbolizes his various character traits. Despite Montresor's brief description of his enemy, Fortunato is a complex man, who is both respected and feared by his peers. Inside the catacombs, Montresor even comments that Fortunato is admired, loved, and a happy man. Fortunato's myriad of character traits are reflected by his multicolored outfit. Fortunato's motley garb is also juxtaposed next to Montresor's dark and inconspicuous outfit, which hides his face and body. The conical hat with bells attached also acts as a motif that represents time, builds towards the climactic moment, and denotes death.

What is the purpose of Fortunato's clothing description in The Cask of Amontillado?

It's carnival time and the streets are thronged with people enjoying themselves. Many of them are wearing costumes, and Fortunato is one of them. He's sporting a jester's costume complete with cap and bells and consisting of a patchwork of different colors, or motley. Fortunato's colorful garb is highly significant. First of all, he looks the part of a fool, which is precisely what he ends up being after Montresor plays his deadly trick upon him.

But if you've ever seen the many wonderful clowns in Shakespeare, you'll know that there's much more to them than their foolish exterior. They're often highly intelligent, witty and perceptive, like Feste in Twelfth Night, for example. The multicolored costumes they wear reflect the myriad complexities of their characters. And it's the same with Fortunato too. After all, there must be another side to his character, one that enabled him to put one over on Montresor and thus led the latter to exact his terrible revenge.

In "The Cask of Amontillado," why is Fortunato dressed as a jester?

People choose costumes that show how they think of themselves or how they would like to be. Fortunato does not think of himself as a fool but as a clever jester or prankster.

The only serious problem for the protagonist is to lure Fortunato off the crowded streets and down into his catacombs without being recognized. It doesn't matter if Fortunato is recognized by many celebrants, so long as Montresor remains unrecognized as his companion. Poe showed his genius by dressing Fortunato in the most conspicuous costume possible, even providing him with a cap with ringing bells. The costume attracts attention to Fortunato but makes Montresor, in his black cloak and black mask, virtually invisible. He is like Fortunato's shadow. No one will remember seeing him the next day when Fortunato's relatives and friends begin inquiriing about him.

He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.

The fact that the costume is tight-fitting and probably has no pockets will make it easier for Montresor to chain him tightly to the rock wall. The costume could contain no concealed weapons or anything the victim might use as a tool to pick the padlock or file at the chains. Here is Montresor's description of the niche and chains:

Within the wall thus exposed by the displacing of the bones, we perceived a still interior recess, in depth about four feet, in width three, in height six or seven.

A moment more and I had fettered him to the granite. In its surface were two iron staples, distant from each other about two feet, horizontally. From one of these depended a short chain, from the other a padlock.

Fortunato will be only four feet from the wall Montresor is building, but his arms would be only about three feet long. If his clothing were a bit looser, or if he had been wearing a cloak, he might have been able to slip out of the tight chains or at least to reach out and push against the wall while the mortar was still wet. No doubt he would wait until Montresor left him alone and might stand some chance of escaping. But Poe has plotted the story in such a way that Fortunato cannot free himself and cannot reach the wall, which is only one foot beyond his reach. It must have been frustrating.

When Fortunato realizes he is trapped, he tries using psychology. He pretends to laugh and says:

"...a very good joke indeed -- an excellent jest."

He represents himself as a connoisseur of jokes and jests. No doubt some injuries suffered by Montresor were laughed off by Fortunato as mere jests. He is a clever scoundrel, but he thinks of himself as an amusing fellow who plays clever jokes. In this story Montresor has turned the tables on his friendly enemy and played an excellent jest on him.

The third paragraph of "The Cask of Amontillado" strongly suggests that Montresor and Fortunato are "gentlemen merchants" dealing in expensive articles such as paintings, antiques, "gemmary," and possibly gourmet wines. Montresor knows Fortunato plans to taste the nonexistent wine, declare it to be ordinary sherry, then rush off to find the source and buy up the entire shipment. He plans to laugh this additional "injury" off as another "excellent jest," as he has often done in the past.

The "thousand injuries" must have been in business dealings. Fortunato is rich, Montresor is poor. Fortunato would always have the advantage. Montresor would have to tolerate him because they would sometimes cooperate in business ventures.