Fortunato is like other victims in Poe's tales in that he is innocent of any major wrong-doing, unable to defend himself, entombed in the home, and murdered by an insane man. In "The Tell-Tale Heart," the narrator murders an innocent, helpless old man simply because his discolored eye irritated him. He buries him under the floorboards but continues (or imagines) to hear his heart beat louder and louder. In "The Fall of the House of Usher," Roderick Usher buries his innocent, sickly and weak sister, Madeline, alive in a coffin in the dungeon. He begins to hear her stir below which signals the beginning of his own demise. Ironically, he is ultimately buried alive when his house collapses on him.
Montresor, like the murderers in the previous tales, had no real reason for murdering Fortunato. His insanity helps him rationalize his actions as he incapacitates the victim with wine and buries his old "friend" alive in a wall until he can no longer hear the screams for help.
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