MANCHESTER COLLEGE

Department of Education

LESSON PLAN by: Stephanie Hofer

Lesson: The Cask of Amontillado

Length: three class periods: each 70 minutes

*This is written as a continuous lesson plan, but will last about three class periods.

Whatever cannot be finished in the first class period will be continued into the

second and third class periods.

Age or Grade Intended: Spanish II students

Academic Standard(s):

MH 10.2.2 Demonstrate comprehension of both authentic and non-authentic written

and spoken language through developmentally appropriate tasks.

MH 10.2.3 Make educated guesses about meaning in familiar contexts, using cognates

and familiar vocabulary.

MH 10.5.2 Integrate content area concepts and skills through relevant activities.

MH 10.7.1 Recognize and use cognates, words shared between English and the target

language, and word families to expand vocabulary and guess meaning.

MH 10.7.2 Recognize and use simple language structures.

Performance Objectives: 1. Given a copy of The Cask of Amontillado (attached), students will read the story out loud

as a class for participation, verified by the teacher.

2. Given the Cask of Amontillado Vocabulary sheet (attached), students will utilize each

vocabulary word properly in a sentence in both the target language and English to enhance

understanding of the story‘s complex vocabulary, scoring all four possible points. (Each

vocabulary word will be worth four points: correct usage and sentence structure in English

and correct usage and sentence structure in Spanish.)

3. Given a copy of the comprehension questions located at the back of the story (attached to

the copy of the story), student will answer each question in groups, verified by the teacher

for completion.

4. Given the Class Walk Around Activity Questions (attached) written on a large post-it note

or poster, student will answer each question category by walking around the room in

groups to enhance their understanding of the story, verified by the teacher for participation.

5. Given the Relate-a-Quote Activity (attached) with each quote on a separate sheet of paper,

students will discuss the relevance of the quote to the story in groups, verified by the

teacher for participation.

Assessment: Because this is a three day lesson, the assessment is divided between each day.

Because I do not know exactly how long each activity will take, I designed the lesson so that

once one activity was finished we could move on to the next; if an activity takes more than the

length of the class period, it can be finished at the start of the next class. I have also included

some enrichment ideas in case these activities do not take the full class period for three days. The

first activity involves the teacher assigning a specific student a specific part of the story. (The

assigned parts include: Montresor, Fortunato, and Luchesi.) The class will read the story out loud

through a student-led manner. This is a participation exercise; those that are not reading should

be focused and following along. The second activity introduces the students to the vocabulary,

using the Vocabulary Sheet (attached) to gain further knowledge of the story. Students will turn

in when finished so the teacher can check for: the Spanish translation of each word, each word‘s

definition in English, and using the word in one sentence in both English and Spanish. This

assignment will be worth a total of 36 points (each vocabulary word will be worth four points):

correct usage and sentence structure in English and correct usage and sentence structure in

Spanish. The third activity asks students to answer the comprehension questions on paper that

are located at the end of the text. These questions can be answered in small groups, but must be

turned in for a completion grade. The idea behind this task is that students will gain further

understanding of the text, leading to a class discussion about the answers. The fourth task is for

the teacher to show students a video of the story , which is about 20 minutes long. During the

movie, students are expected to be attentive and listen. (http://vimeo.com/14854607) The fifth

task is the Class Walk Around Activity Questions (attached). The boxes on the attached page

will be written on poster-size post-it notes and placed around the room. Students will be placed

into groups. One group will start at each poster and answer the questions. When the teacher says

‗switch‘ the students will rotate posters until each group has answered each set of questions

(there are four sets of questions). The answers will be written directly on the poster! Students are

expected to fully evaluate and put thought into each question and participate fully. The final task

is the Relate-a-Quote Activity (attached). The famous quotes on the attached page will be written

on a piece of paper. Students will be divided into groups and each group will be given one of

these five quotes. The students‘ goal is to write down three ways that each quote relates to the

central idea of the story. Again, each group will rotate the quote until each group has seen each

of the five quotes once. This is also designed as a participation exercise, but it will ideally lead to

a productive class discussion, ending the lesson on Edgar Allen Poe‘s The Cask of Amontillado.

Advanced Preparation by Teacher: 6. Pre-read the story. Understand the basic plot and be ready to ask questions. Refer to the

Teacher‘s Notes (attached) if necessary during class discussion.

7. Find a copy of the story (attached) and give each student one.

8. Make and copy the vocabulary list/worksheet (attached)

9. Make sure that the version of the story the teacher picks has comprehension questions at

the end! (My version already had comprehension questions. If the version found does not

have comprehension questions, make some.)

10. Find a good video clip that covers the story (example: http://vimeo.com/14854607)

11. Prepare the Class Walk Around Activity Questions (attached) and find large post-it notes or

posters

12. Prepare the Relate-a-Quote Activity (attached) and put each quote on a separate sheet of

paper

Procedure:

Introduction/Motivation: ¡Hola, clase! (Hello, class.) Since we are nearing Halloween, I

wanted to spend a few days on a fun scary story. Has anyone ever heard of a story or seen a

movie in which someone was buried alive? Well, that is the topic of today‘s story. We will

be talking about Edgar Allen Poe‘s The Cask of Amontillado.

Step-by-Step Plan: 1. Assign a specific student a specific part of the story. The assigned parts include:

Montresor, Fortunato, and Luchesi. Read the story as a class through a student-led

manner.

(Gardner: Visual/Spatial, Verbal/Linguistic)

(Bloom‘s: What do we already know about this story? – Knowledge)

(Bloom‘s: Summarize the story. – Comprehension)

2. Introduce students to the vocabulary list to gain further knowledge of the story.

Students will: (turn in when finished)

look up the Spanish translation of each word

Write each word‘s definition in English.

Use the word in one sentence in both English and Spanish.

(Gardner: Intrapersonal, Visual/Spatial, Verbal/Linguistic)

(Bloom‘s: Utilize each word in a sentence. – Application)

3. Students will answer the comprehension questions on paper that are located at the

end of the text. These questions can be answered in small groups.

(Gardner: Interpersonal, Visual/Spatial, Verbal/Linguistic)

(Bloom‘s: How is this story related to Spanish class? – Analysis)

(Bloom‘s: Identify the different parts of the story to help you answer the questions.

– Analysis)

4. Use the answers students wrote to the comprehension questions at the end of the

text and lead a class discussion.

(Gardner: Interpersonal)

(Bloom‘s: How would you adapt the story to create a different ending? – Synthesis)

5. Show students a video of the story (about 20 minutes): http://vimeo.com/14854607

(Gardner: Visual/Spatial)

(Bloom‘s: Why do think the director of the movie chose to eliminate some of the

lines from the story? – Evaluation)

(Bloom‘s: Even with those lines eliminated, did the movie still follow the story? –

Evaluation)

6. Class Walk Around Activity Questions (attached): These boxes will be written on

poster-size post-it notes and placed around the room. Students will be placed into

groups. One group will start at each poster and answer the questions. When the

teacher says ‗switch‘ the students will rotate posters until each group has answered

each set of questions (there are four sets of questions). The answers will be written

directly on the poster!

(Gardner: Interpersonal, Visual/Spatial, Verbal/Linguistic, Bodily-Kinesthetic)

(Bloom‘s: What choice would you have made if you were Montresor? Fortunato? –

Evaluation)

(Bloom‘s: Varying levels of Bloom‘s are embedded into the questions on the poster

during the Class Walk Around Activity Questions)

7. Relate-a-Quote Activity (attached): These famous quotes will be written on a piece

of paper. Students will be divided into groups and each group will be given one of

these five quotes. The students‘ goal is to write down three ways that each quote

relates to the central idea of the story. Again, each group will rotate the quote until

each group has seen each of the five quotes once.

(Gardner: Interpersonal, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Visual/Spatial, Logical/Mathematical,

Verbal/Linguistic)

(Bloom‘s: How does this quote relate to the story? – Analysis)

Closure: I hope that you enjoyed Edgar Allen Poe‘s story and that you understand why we

read this story in Spanish class. Tomorrow, we will talk about another fun story that relates

to Halloween and compare the two stories. ¡Hasta mañana chicos!

Adaptations/Enrichment:

Enrichment: If this lesson finished early, the teacher could:

Ask students for examples of other stories with the same general plot

Ask students to write a scary story, using important people or objects from the

target culture

Have students recreate the ending of the story (and end it differently)

Readdress the vocabulary from the vocabulary worksheet

Have students write a version of the story in the target language

Self-Reflection:

Was the lesson successful?

Were students engaged in each of the lesson‘s activities?

Did this activity make sense to the students?

Did the students understand my directions for each activity?

Was this type of assessment appropriate?

What would I do differently next time to improve the lesson?

Which activity needs the most adjustment for next time?

Lesson Specific:

Were students able to read the story fluently without multiple pronunciation problems?

Were students able to gain further understanding from the vocabulary sheet? Should I have

done this first before reading?

Were the comprehension questions from the text appropriate or should I have developed

my own?

Did the video cover enough of the text to help students understand the text? Was the video

truly helpful for student understanding?

Was the Class Walk Around Activity Questions an educational way to get students moving

and put deep thought into the content? Were students on task during this activity or did it

provide for too much down time?

Was the Relate-a-Quote Activity a good way to bring in other ideas besides just the text?

Teacher’s Notes

The Cask of Amontillado Adapted from: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/poestories/characters.html

*Used by the teacher in case students have questions or to add to class discussions.

Montresor - The narrator, Montresor, murders Fortunato for insulting him by walling him up

alive behind bricks in a wine cellar.

Fortunato - A wine expert murdered by Montresor. Dressed as a court jester, Fortunato falls

prey to Montresor‘s scheme at a particularly carefree moment during a carnival.

Luchesi - Luchesi isn‘t really a character. He‘s more of a plot device. He helps drive the action.

Luchesi is Fortunato‘s rival in wine tasting. Montresor doesn‘t really need to bring up Luchesi to

lure Fortunato to his dire fate. The prospect of Amontillado is enough. Luchesi is a kind of

insurance for Montresor. He brings Luchesi up whenever he wants to keep Fortunato distracted –

like right before he ―fetter[s] him to the granite.‖ But again, Montresor doesn‘t really need to

evoke the name of Luchesi. Fortunato is not only drunk, but also willing to do anything to get to

the Amontillado. Montresor is just playing with him, exploiting Fortunato‘s ―weak point[s],‖

with a little help from Luchesi.

―Fortunato‖

In ―The Cask of Amontillado,‖ Poe uses Fortunato‘s name symbolically, as an ironic device. Though his name means ―the

fortunate one‖in Italian, Fortunato meets an unfortunate fate as the victim of Montresor‘s revenge. Fortunato adds to the irony of

his name by wearing the costume of a court jester. While Fortunato plays in jest, Montresor sets out to fool him, with murderous

results.

Summary

The narrator, Montresor, opens the story by stating that he has been irreparably insulted by his acquaintance, Fortunato, and that

he seeks revenge. He wants to exact this revenge, however, in a measured way, without placing himself at risk. He decides to use

Fortunato‘s fondness for wine against him. During the carnival season, Montresor, wearing a mask of black silk, approaches

Fortunato. He tells Fortunato that he has acquired something that could pass for Amontillado, a light Spanish sherry. Fortunato

(Italian for―fortunate‖) wears the multicolored costume of the jester, including a cone cap with bells. Montresor tells Fortunato

that if he is too busy, he will ask a man named Luchesi to taste it. Fortunato apparently considers Luchesi a competitor and

claims that this man could not tell Amontillado from other types of sherry. Fortunato is anxious to taste the wine and to determine

for Montresor whether or not it is truly Amontillado. Fortunato insists that they go to Montresor‘s vaults.

Montresor has strategically planned for this meeting by sending his servants away to the carnival. The two men descend into the

damp vaults, which are covered with nitre, or saltpeter, a whitish mineral. Apparently aggravated by the nitre, Fortunato begins to

cough. The narrator keeps offering to bring Fortunato back home, but Fortunato refuses. Instead, he accepts wine as the antidote

to his cough. The men continue to explore the deep vaults, which are full of the dead bodies of the Montresor family. In response

to the crypts, Fortunato claims to have forgotten Montresor‘s family coat of arms and motto. Montresor responds that his family

shield portrays ―a huge human foot d‘or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the

heel.‖ The motto, in Latin, is ―nemo me impune lacessit,‖ that is, ―no one attacks me with impunity.‖

Later in their journey, Fortunato makes a hand movement that is a secret sign of the Masons, an exclusive fraternal organization.

Montresor does not recognize this hand signal, though he claims that he is a Mason. When Fortunato asks for proof, Montresor

shows him his trowel, the implication being that Montresor is an actual stonemason. Fortunato says that he must be jesting, and

the two men continue onward. The men walk into a crypt, where human bones decorate three of the four walls. The bones from

the fourth wall have been thrown down on the ground. On the exposed wall is a small recess, where Montresor tells Fortunato

that the Amontillado is being stored. Fortunato, now heavily intoxicated, goes to the back of the recess. Montresor then suddenly

chains the slow-footed Fortunato to a stone.

Taunting Fortunato with an offer to leave, Montresor begins to wall up the entrance to this small crypt, thereby trapping

Fortunato inside. Fortunato screams confusedly as Montresor builds the first layer of the wall. The alcohol soon wears off and

Fortunato moans, terrified and helpless. As the layers continue to rise, though, Fortunato falls silent. Just as Montresor is about to

finish, Fortunato laughs as if Montresor is playing a joke on him, but Montresor is not joking. At last, after a final plea, ―For the

love of God, Montresor!‖ Fortunato stops answering Montresor, who then twice calls out his enemy‘s name. After no response,

Montresor claims that his heart feels sick because of the dampness of the catacombs. He fits the last stone into place and plasters

the wall closed, his actions accompanied only by the jingling of Fortunato‘s bells. He finally repositions the bones on the fourth

wall. For fifty years, he writes, no one has disturbed them. He concludes with a Latin phrase meaning ―May he rest in peace.‖

Analysis

The terror of ―The Cask of Amontillado,‖ as in many of Poe‘s tales, resides in the lack of evidence that accompanies Montresor‘s

claims to Fortunato‘s ―thousand injuries‖ and ―insult.‖ The story features revenge and secret murder as a way to avoid using legal

channels for retribution. Law is nowhere on Montresor‘s—or Poe‘s—radar screen, and the enduring horror of the story is the fact

of punishment without proof. Montresor uses his subjective experience of Fortunato‘s insult to name himself judge, jury, and

executioner in this tale, which also makes him an unreliable narrator. Montresor confesses this story fifty years after its

occurrence; such a significant passage of time between the events and the narration of the events makes the narrative all the more

unreliable. Montresor‘s unreliability overrides the rational consideration of evidence, such as particular occurrences of insult, that

would necessarily precede any guilty sentence in a non-Poe world. ―The Cask of Amontillado‖ takes subjective interpretation—

the fact that different people interpret the same things differently—to its horrific endpoint.

Poe‘s use of color imagery is central to his questioning of Montresor‘s motives. His face covered in a black silk mask, Montresor

represents not blind justice but rather its Gothic opposite: biased revenge. In contrast, Fortunato dons the motley-colored costume

of the court fool, who gets literally and tragically fooled by Montresor‘s masked motives. The color schemes here represent the

irony of Fortunato‘s death sentence. Fortunato, Italian for ―the fortunate one,‖ faces the realization that even the carnival season

can be murderously serious. Montresor chooses the setting of the carnival for its abandonment of social order. While the carnival

usually indicates joyful social interaction, Montresor distorts its merry abandon, turning the carnival on its head. The repeated

allusions to the bones of Montresor‘s family that line the vaults foreshadow the story‘s descent into the underworld. The two

men‘s underground travels are a metaphor for their trip to hell. Because the carnival, in the land of the living, does not occur as

Montresor wants it to, he takes the carnival below ground, to the realm of the dead and the satanic.

To build suspense in the story, Poe often employs foreshadowing. For example, when Fortunato says, ―I shall not die of a cough,‖

Montresor replies, ―True,‖ because he knows that Fortunato will in fact die from dehydration and starvation in the crypt.

Montresor‘s description of his family‘s coat of arms also foreshadows future events. The shield features a human foot crushing a

tenacious serpent. In this image, the foot represents Montresor and the serpent represents Fortunato. Although Fortunato has hurt

Montresor with biting insults, Montresor will ultimately crush him. The conversation about Masons also foreshadows Fortunato‘s

demise. Fortunato challenges Montresor‘s claim that he is a member of the Masonic order, and Montresor replies insidiously with

a visual pun. When he declares that he is a ―mason‖by showing his trowel, he means that he is a literal stonemason—that is, that

he constructs things out of stones and mortar, namely Fortunato‘s grave.

The final moments of conversation between Montresor and Fortunato heighten the horror and suggest that Fortunato ultimately—

and ironically—achieves some type of upper hand over Montresor. Fortunato‘s plea, ―For the love of God, Montresor!‖ has

provoked much critical controversy. Some critics suggest that Montresor has at last brought Fortunato to the pit of desperation

and despair, indicated by his invocation of a God that has long left him behind. Other critics, however, argue that Fortunato

ultimately mocks the ―love of God,‖thereby employing the same irony that Montresor has effectively used to lure him to the

crypts. These are Fortunato‘s final words, and the strange desperation that Montresor demonstrates in response suggests that he

needs Fortunato more than he wants to admit. Only when he twice screams ―Fortunato!‖ loudly, with no response, does

Montresor claim to have a sick heart. The reasons for Fortunato‘s silence are unclear, but perhaps his willing refusal to answer

Montresor is a type of strange victory in otherwise dire circumstances.

Nombre____________________________________ Período__________

Cask of Amontillado Vocabulary

Below is a list of terms that would be beneficial to know and understand in both English and

Spanish.

Look up the Spanish translation of each word

Write each word‘s definition in English.

Use the word in one sentence in both English and Spanish.

Follow the example below.

Cask‐el barril‐ A cask is a container made and shaped like a barrel and holds liquids such as

wine.

I have 70 casks of wine in the basement. Tengo setenta barriles de vino en el sótano.

Amontillado‐___________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Catacomb‐_____________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Impunity‐______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Immolation‐____________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Irony‐_________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Revenge‐______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Carnival‐______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Palazzo‐_______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Foreshadowing‐_________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

The Cask of Amontillado Class Walk Around Activity Questions

These boxes will be written on poster-size post-it notes and placed around the room.

NARRATOR:

1. How do you feel about the narrator?

2. Do his feelings seem justified?

3. How does Poe make the narrator‘s

character seem more sympathetic than

we would expect him to be in this

story?

FORTUNADO:

1. What does Fortunado‘s name seem to

imply about his character

2. What does Fortunado‘s dress imply

about his character?

3. How does Fortunado seem to feel about

the narrator?

4. How do you feel about Fortunado?

GENERAL CHARACTERS:

1. Which character seems more likeable at

the beginning?

2. Which character seems more likeable in

the middle of the story?

3. Which character seems more likeable at

the end of the story?

4. Did you think that Montressor‘s actions

were justified? Why or why not?

STORY COMPREHENSION:

1. How was this story ironic?

2. How would you change the ending?

3. How is setting important in this story?

4. What other stories to you know of that

have a similar plot?

5. Why do you think we read this story in

Spanish class?

The Cask of Amontillado Relate-a-Quote Activity

These famous quotes will be written on a piece of paper. Students will be divided into groups

and each group will be given one of these five quotes. The students‘ goal is to write down three

ways that each quote relates to the central idea of the story.

1. ―An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.‖ -- Mahatma Gandhi

2. ―Don't get mad, get even.‖ -- Robert F. Kennedy

3. ―She got even in a way that was almost cruel. She forgave them.‖ -- Ralph McGill

about Eleanor Roosevelt

4. ―Success is the sweetest revenge.‖ -- Vanessa Williams

5. ―Revenge is often like biting a dog because the dog bit you.‖ -- Austin O'Malley

*Ideas for this part of the lesson were taken and adapted from:

http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/2259