“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is the story of one man's revenge on another. Montresor feels insulted by Fortunato for unspecified reasons. At the height of the carnival season Montresor meets Fortunato and lures him to his death with the offer of a rare sherry. Fortunato reveals before his death that he is a Freemason but Montresor is not. Montresor is Catholic. The Catholic Church considers Freemasons heretics. This reveals the “mockery” that Montresor had to endure from Fortunato. It is Montresor's duty to act as the hand of God and kill this heretic. Fortunato is foolish to trust Montresor, believing that Montresor is his friend. Fortunato is consumed by his hedonistic lifestyle to the point of leading to his death. Edgar Allan Poe's "The Barrel of Amontillado" symbolically conveys the anti-Masonic beliefs of the Catholic Church through Montresor's murder of Fortunato, the heretic. Montresor was a man who came from a wealthy family. His family bore the coat of arms of “a huge human foot of gold, in a field of blue; the foot crushes a rampant serpent whose fangs are embedded in the heel” (Poe 110). His family had the motto “Nemo me impune lacessit” (Poe 110) or “no one provokes me with impunity” (Poe 110). From this it can be deduced that Montresor symbolically represents the snake that strikes the foot to crush it. A snake can represent evil in the form of a devil or heretic. This could mean that “Montresor [he] is not the serpent but the figure whose heel wounds the serpent's head” (St John Stott 86). Montresor took on the role of “defender of the faith” (Rocce par. 1). It is his duty to kill the heretic Fortunato. Fortunato turns out to be a Free...... middle of paper......territory of society. Works Cited Cervo, Nathan. “Poe's 'The Cask of Amontillado'.” The Explicator, (51:3), 1993, 155-56.Hutchinsson, James M. Poe. Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2005. 204. Google books. 204. Network. November 13, 2013. Johnstone, Michael. The Freemasons The illustrated book of an ancient brotherhood. New York: Gramercy Books, 2005. 109-112. Print.Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Cask of Amontillado." Norton's introduction to literature. Portable 10th ed. Eds. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2010. 107-113. Print.Rocks, James E. “Marginalla”. Poe Studies. Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, October 24, 2013. Web. November 20, 2013.St. John Stott, Graham. “Poe's 'The Cask of Amontillado'.” The Explicator, (62:2), 2004, 85-88. Thierens, A.E. General Book of the Tarot. Sacred-text.com. Evinity Publishing Inc., 2011. 61. Web. 20 November 2013.