The Cask of Amontillado

Written by

Edgar Allan Poe

Morning AssignmentsPreclude

retribution

Accost Afflict

Explicit Recoil

Terminate Subside

Cask Amontillado

Palazzo Impose

endeavor immolate

impunity succession

obstinate connoisseur

Please copy down these vocabulary words in your

notebook under the heading of “The Cask of

Amontillado” Vocabulary- use the dictionary to define-

you may work in pairs.

Selection Support Book pages 1 and 2 – you may work in

pairs

Build Grammar Skills

Pronouns help writers avoid repeating names. The use of pronouns is especially important in this story because there are only two characters. Pronoun case refers to the different forms a pronoun takes to indicate its function in the sentence.

Pronoun Case

refers to the different forms a pronoun takes to indicate its function in the sentence.

Subjective Case Pronoun

I, we, you, he, she, it, they are used when the pronoun performs the action

It is I.

The Objective Case Me, us, you, him, her, it, them

is used when the pronoun receives the action of the verb or object of a preposition

Subject ob. of prep.

In this respect I did not differ from him materially.

Please place your homework Please place your homework assignments on the front table assignments on the front table (journal writing)(journal writing)

In your notebook, answer the In your notebook, answer the following prompt. You must following prompt. You must answer in complete sentences answer in complete sentences and in a full paragraph. and in a full paragraph.

A catacomb is an underground A catacomb is an underground cemetery or crypt. There are cemetery or crypt. There are recesses for placing bodies of recesses for placing bodies of the dead. For your journal, the dead. For your journal, imagine how your five senses imagine how your five senses might react in an underground might react in an underground cemetery. For starters, it is dark cemetery. For starters, it is dark and damp..and damp..

Today’s Assignments Please place your homework assignments on the front

table (journal writing) Read information about Edgar Allan Poe pg. 2 in

Textbook Background and understanding Literary focus : Mood

Plot The plot is quite simple. The first-person narrator, whom we

later discover to be named Montresor, announces immediately that someone named Fortunato has injured him repeatedly and has recently insulted him.

Montresor can stand no more; he vows revenge upon Fortunato. The remainder of the story deals with Montresor's methods of entrapping Fortunato and effecting his revenge upon the unfortunate Fortunato.

Foremost is the fact that Montresor has never let Fortunato know of his hatred.

SettingThe story begins around dusk, one evening

during the carnival season (similar to the Mardi Gras festival in New Orleans) in an unnamed European city. The location quickly changes from the lighthearted activites associated with such a festival to the damp, dark catacombs under Montressor's palazzo which helps to establish the sinister atmosphere of the story.

Characters

When the two meet during the carnival season, there

is a warm greeting with excessive shaking of hands

which Montresor attributes to the fact that Fortunato

had been drinking. Montresor also appears to be

"happy" to see Fortunato since he is planning to

murder him. Fortunato's clown or jester's costume

appears to be appropriate not only for the carnival

season but also for the fact that Montresor intends to

make a "fool" out of him.

Point of View Poe writes this story from the perspective of Montresor who

vows revenge against Fortunato in an effort to support his time-honored family motto: "Nemo me impune lacessit" or "No one assails me with impunity." (No one can attack me without being punished .)

Poe does not intend for the reader to sympathize with Montresor because he has been wronged by Fortunato, but rather to judge him.

Telling the story from Montresor's point of view, intensifies the effect of moral shock and horror. Once again, the reader is invited to delve into the inner workings of a sinister mind.

Style and Interpretation

Poe's story is a case of premeditated murder.

The reader becomes quickly aware of the fact that Montresor is not a reliable narrator, and that he has a tendency to hold grudges and exaggerate terribly.