Discussion Topic
The relationship between Montresor's family motto and crest, his anger, and Fortunato's reactions
Summary:
Montresor's family motto, "Nemo me impune lacessit" ("No one attacks me with impunity"), and his family crest—a foot crushing a serpent—symbolize his vengeful nature. His anger towards Fortunato is deeply personal, driven by perceived insults. Fortunato's dismissive and mocking reactions exacerbate Montresor's fury, ultimately leading to Fortunato's demise as Montresor enacts his family's motto through his meticulous revenge.
In "The Cask of Amontillado," how does Montresor's family motto relate to his treatment of Fortunato?
In "The Cask of Amontillado," referring to a wine, Montresor has received offenses and an insult from Fortunato. It is the insult that determines Montresor on revenge. The Latin language family motto of "Nemo me impune lacessit" is loosely translated to English as "No one I leave unpunished who harasses me."
Fortunato apparently did "harass" Montressor. It may have related to the fraternal organization of Freemasons (Masons), as the gesture Fortunato makes is unknown to Montresor and Fortunado makes a big issue of denying that Montresor might himself be a Freemason.
Whatever the cause and issue of the "insult" given to Montresor by Fortunato, Montresor honors his family motto and punishes Fortunato for "harassing" him, and he does it in such a way that Fortunato knows that Montresor is acting as an avenger--though it is not clear that Fortunato knows preciesly what Montresor is punishing and avenging.
In order to...
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find the answer to this, just think about what Montresor does to Fortunato. After all, he takes Fortunato down to his wine cellar and walls him up so that he will slowly die from a lack of water. That's pretty horrible.
We have no idea what Fortunato has done to make Montresor angry, but it can't be anything too big. If it had been, Fortunato would have known Montresor hated him.
So, Fortunato has not really done anything terrible to Montresor. Even so, Montresor kills him in a terrible. way. In this way, Montresor bring the motto to life.
How do the family motto and crest relate to Montresor's anger and Fortunato's reactions in The Cask of Amontillado?
The Montresor family crest (or "arms") is "A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel." That is (in plain English), a huge golden human foot on a sky-blue background; the foot is crushing a snake with the head in profile (the archaic definition of "rampant"), and the lizard's fangs are sunk into the heel.
The implication of this imagery is that Montresor's family may occasionally get "bitten," but they win in the end (by crushing their enemies).
Fortunato doesn't put this together, possibly because he is drunk. He says, "And the motto?"
Montresor replies: "Nemo me impune lacessit." In English, that is, "No one cuts me with impunity." (Or, in clear modern English, "No one hurts me and gets away with it").
Fortunato merely says: "Good!" He is drunk (as mentioned), but also completely oblivious to what Montresor has in mind. Considering the fact that Montresor is clearly a bit mad, it's entirely possible that Fortunato hasn't even done anything truly bad to him; if this is the case, he has not reason to believe Montresor plans to harm him.