THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO
CASK is a barrel.
AMONTILLADO is a very fine Spanish wine.
Catacomb: is an underground place where wine and bodies are buried.
Carnival: Mardi Gras. We celebrate Mardi Gras in February or March. It is usually the five days leading up to the beginning of Lent. Lent begins forty days before Easter. During Lent the devoted give up something they love in order to experience the suffering Christ endured during the crucifixion.
During Mardi Gras – WE PARTAY!!!!!!!!!!!
During Mardi Gras we wear masks and we SINNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We drink and we dance and we smoke and we eat too much, and we kiss random people.
Fortunato is a man at whom the narrator is mad.
Injuries: bruises, pain, suffering
Borne: to endure, to suffer, to put up with
Ventured upon insult: Fortunato began to insult the narrator.
Utter: to say a word
Utterance: the things you say.
The narrator never uttered a word of a threat to Fortunato.
Definitiveness: definitely
Avenge: payback
Precluded: action taken before hand to prevent something from occurring.
Redress: to right a wrong
Unredressed: to not be avenged.
Redresser: someone who rights a wrong.
Impunity: without punishment; to get away with something and not get punished for it.
Retribution: punishment; the act that avenges the wrong committed against another.
Fortunato: he prides himself on his connoisseurship in wine.
The narrator didn’t care how long it took to take revenge on Fortunato
As long as he did not get punished.
If the redresser gets punished then the wrong still remains unpunished.
It remains unpunished if the punisher (the avenger) does not make the wrongdoer feels (realize) the same amount of pain as he did when he was hurt.
Quack: a rip-off artist; a fraud
Luchesi: a rival with Fortunato in his knowledge of fine wines.
The name of the narrator and his family is the Montresors. Montresor is very similar to the word monster.
Orbs: round spheres or globes. It refers to Fortunato’s eyes.
Rheumy: watery discharge
Intoxication: a state of drunkenness.
“My poor friend” Montresor calling him “my poor friend” would suggest sympathy or friendliness. Do you think Montresor, the narrator, likes him? What kind of irony might this be – saying something that might not reflect how you’re really feeling?
Puns and Irony: A bricklayer is not always a Mason.
Mason: a secret organization open only to Christian men. It is very exclusive and not open to everyone who applies for admission. Women are are not allowed in the Masons.
Mason: also a brick layer.
A trowel: a tiny hand shovel used by masons to lay brick and mortar.
The Unreliable Narrator:
The narrator is unreliable. This technique is used a lot by Poe.
Can we trust the narrator, Montresor, in “The Cask of Amontillado”?
Going beyond the story:
There are a few clues that hint at the reasons Montresor hates Fortunato. They are:
Montresor: “You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as I once was. You are a man to be missed.”
What is implied when he says he was once admired and respected?
“You will become sick and I cannot be held responsible.”
Why is it important that he not be held responsible for Fortunato’s ill health?
“The Montresors were a great and numerous family.”
What do you think happened to his family?
"You? A mason? Impossible!"
Why would Fortunato expressed incredulity at Montresor being a member of the exclusive and secretive Masons?
Assignment:
Write down a brief story, description or scenario explaining Montresor’s hatred for Forunato. Use the limited information given or implied by Montresor to explain what possibly may have happened.
Marina, Anna, Sergey: Fortunato continually put Montresor and his family down for many years.
Why would Fortunato express incredulity at Montresor being a mason?
Fortunato: “You? Impossible! You’re a mason?”
What do you think happened in the past to Montresor and his family?
Vocabulary:
Crypt: an underground vault where dead people are buried.
Recess: a shallow closet or depression in a wall without a door.
Explain the visual pun Montresor does when he holds up a trowel to Fortunato’s question,”Are you a mason?” Why is this ironic?
Puns:
What’s a pun? It is a play on words. Example: That was very punny!
A penny saved is a penny earned. A benny shaved is a benny urned.
Why cantalope with me? Because the celery won’t lettuce.
Assignment:
Draw a picture of the crypt to which Montresor leads Fortunato. (The description is on page 177.)
Vocabulary:
From one of these (iron staples) depended a short chain, from the other (chain) a padlock. The word “depend” comes from the Latin word for “hang down.”
Fetter: to chain up or to tie.
Assignment:
Read the story from page 178, “He is an ignoramus…” all the way to the end of the story. While one of you reads the story, the other two people in the group will act it out.
