Judas Iscariot betrayed with a kiss; something reserved for affection and love between loved ones. Such stories of betrayal and revenge are as old as the world itself. The story of Cain and Abel contains elements of a sense of betrayal and contains the act of revenge. The story of Isaac and Esau also tells of a betrayal between brothers. The betrayal in The Cask of Amontillado determines the action of the tightly written story, and Montresor's attack on Fortunato's pride in all things relating to old Italian wines was no less intimate than the kiss of Judas. Montresor betrays his would-be traitor, leaving the reader betrayed as well for never explaining the full reasons for the extreme vengeance exacted on his drunken victim. Montresor says that he had borne Fortunato's thousand wounds as best he could. Unfortunately, the reader must imagine what these injuries could be. The tipping point of this relationship is also not explained. Fortunato insulted Montresor and he could not bear it without taking revenge. Fortunato introduces us to this betrayal of Montresor, but we have no details to explain Montresor's cold and calculating plan. Fortunato must have seriously injured Montresor, but he fails to give us enough or any information to allow the reader to pursue Fortunato for his alleged crime against his friend. Montresor assumes that the reader will understand his wound and becomes not only the judge but also the jury and Fortunato's executioner. The wounded pride of a man which pushes him to attack even a friend is not a new device developed by Edgar Allen Poe, but the little or no explanation given to the reader by his central narrator is a little different. In the famous Burr and ...... middle of paper ...... to follow Montresor's thought, we are as betrayed in our understanding as Fortunato seems to be. Even at the end, he wonders if it's not a cruel joke. We consider this cruel, but we know it's not a joke. The betrayals in the Cask of Amontillado are mysterious and devious. Montresor has a keen, even crazy, mind and he studies human behavior. As he betrays Fortunato deeper and deeper into his plot, Fortunato inexplicably betrays himself by following a madman with a trowel in his coat to his death. At least Fortunato has the excuse of being drunk. As for the betrayal the reader feels, it is the same betrayal many have experienced after spending days, weeks, even months in a courtroom only to realize that a loved one has been killed and that the reason he expected never materialized. Sometimes people and the things they do are just crazy.