The Cask of Amontillado
The Cask of Amontillado [1846]
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
VOCABULARY
Amontillado: (n) a dry to sweet amber wine from the Jerez region of southern Spain
azure: (adj) a light shade of blue
catacomb: (n) an underground tunnel with recesses where bodies are buried
coat of arms: (n) a shield-shaped pattern which is the official symbol of a family, university or city
connoisseurship: (n) competence in passing judgments regarding fine objects or or in matters of taste
d'or: French phrase meaning "of gold"
draught: (n) a serving of drink (usually alcoholic) drawn from a keg
flagon: (n) a large metal or pottery vessel with a handle and spout; used to hold alcoholic beverages (usually wine)
gemmary: (n) jewels or gems
gesticulation: (n) a deliberate and vigorous gesture or motion
grotesque: (adj) abnormal and hideous
ignoramus: (n) an ignorant person
immolation: (n) killing or offering as a sacrifice
In pace requiescat: Latin phrase meaning "rest in peace"
Mason: (n) a Freemason; a member of a widespread secret fraternal order pledged to mutual assistance and brotherly love
motley: (adj) having sections or patches colored differently and usually brightly
nitre: (n) a mineral form of potassium nitrate
palazzo:(n) a large splendid residence, especially in Italy
quack: (n) a person who dishonestly claims to have special knowledge and skill in some field
trowel: (n) a small tool consisting of a flat metal blade joined to a handle, used for spreading building materials such as cement
unredressed: (adj) not relieved from injustice
virtuoso: (n) having or revealing supreme mastery or skill
wane: (v) grow smaller
LITERARY ELEMENTS
dramatic irony: irony that occurs when the meaning of a situation is understood by the audience or reader but not by a character in the story or play
unreliable narrator: a narrating character or storyteller who provides inaccurate, misleading, conflicting, or otherwise questionable information to the audience or reader
Radio Adaptation
MONTRESOR
FORTUNATO
MONTRESOR (narrates): One must not only punish--that is not enough. A wrong is unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong. So, neither by word nor deed, did I give Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as was my want, to smile in his face. And he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation.
SUSPENSE
FESTIVE CROWD
FORTUNATO: (laughing) Oh, Montresors, my good, good friend! Well met!
MONTRESOR: Luckily met, my dear Fortunato. How remarkably well you are looking today. What a handsome disguise--motley cap and bells! But you're no fool, are you?
FORTUNATO: Not I. Mad perhaps. (coughs) For all men are mad at carnival time. (laughing) Where is your costume, Montresors? Have you not one feather to spare for the carnival plumage?
MONTRESOR: I have a mask under my cloak.
FORTUNATO: Nothing more?
MONTRESOR: Forgive me, Fortunato, my thoughts have been occupied. I have received a cask of what passes for Amontillado--and I have my doubts.
FORTUNATO: Ha! Amontillado? A cask? (coughs) That's impossible! And in the middle of the carnival!
MONTRESOR: I have my doubts and I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the manner. You were not to be found and I was fearful of losing a bargain.
FORTUNATO: Amontillado!
MONTRESOR: I have my doubts.
FORTUNATO: Amontillado!
MONTRESOR: And I must satisfy them.
FORTUNATO: Amontillado!
MONTRESOR: As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi. If any one has a critical turn, it is he. He will tell me --
FORTUNATO: He will tell you? Luchesi? Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry.
MONTRESOR: And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for your own.
FORTUNATO: Come let us go.
MONTRESOR: Whither?
FORTUNATO: To your vaults.
MONTRESOR: My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature. I perceive you have an engagement Luchesi--
FORTUNATO: I have no engagement; come.
MONTRESOR: My friend, no. It is not the engagement, but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted. The vaults are insufferably damp. They are encrusted with nitre.
FORTUNATO: Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely (coughs) nothing. Amontillado! You have been imposed upon; and as for Luchesi, he cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado.
MONTRESOR: If you insist, my friend.
CREAKING DOOR
FORTUNATO: Where are your servants?
MONTRESOR: I dismissed them all for the evening that they may celebrate the carnival. Cautious, Fortunato, their stairs are treacherous.
ECHOING FOOTSTEPS
MONTRESOR: Here we are: the catacombs of the Montressors.
FORTUNATO: The cask?
MONTRESOR: It is farther on, but observe the white webwork which gleams from these cavern walls.
FORTUNATO: Nitre?
MONTRESOR: Nitre.
[Fortunato coughs violently.]
MONTRESOR: How long have you had that cough?
FORTUNATO: [coughing and gasping] It's nothing.
MONTRESOR: Come. We will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchesi--
FORTUNATO: No, enough! The cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough.
MONTRESOR: True--true. And, indeed, I had no intention of alarming you unnecessarily--but you should use all proper caution. A draught of this Medoc will defend us from the damps. Here, drink.
FORTUNATO: I drink to the buried that repose around us.
MONTRESOR: And I to your long life.
FORTUNATO: Let us proceed.
ECHOING FOOTSTEPS
FORTUNATO: These vaults are extensive.
MONTRESOR: The Montresors were a great and numerous family.
FORTUNATO: I forget your arms.
MONTRESOR: A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.
FORTUNATO: And the motto?
MONTRESOR: Nemo me impune lacessit...no man insults me with impunity.
FORTUNATO: (laughs) Good! (laughing and gasping) Excellent! (coughs)
MONTRESOR: Stop. The nitre! Hold up your torch. See it increases. It hangs like moss upon the vaults. We are below the river's bed. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones. Come, we will go back ere it is too late. Your cough--
FORTUNATO: Oh, no! It is nothing. Let us go on. But first, another draught of the Medoc.
MONTRESOR: Ah! A flagon of De Grave.
POURING
[Fortunato empties it at a breath. He laughs and throws the bottle upwards with a grotesque gesticulation.]
FORTUNATO: Observe.
MONTRESOR: What are you doing?
FORTUNATO: Making...the sign.
MONTRESOR: Sign?
FORTUNATO: (laughing) You do not comprehend?
MONTRESOR: Not I.
FORTUNATO: Then you are not of the brotherhood.
MONTRESOR: How?
FORTUNATO: You are not of the Masons.
MONTRESOR: The Masons? Yes! Yes.
FORTUNATO: You? Impossible! A Mason?
MONTRESOR: A Mason.
FORTUNATO: A sign?
MONTRESOR: It is this--under my cloak.
FORTUNATO: A trowel?
MONTRESOR: Correct. A trowel--a mason's trowel.
FORTUNATO: You jest. But let us proceed to the Amontillado.
MONTRESOR: Be it so.
ECHOING FOOTSTEPS
FORTUNATO: Oh, how much farther?
MONTRESOR: We must go to the most remote end of the crypt where the Amontillado is guarded by the bones of the first Montresors. Do you weary?
FORTUNATO: No--not at all.
MONTRESOR: Are you certain? Your steps are unsteady. Perhaps this last flagon of Medoc--
FORTUNATO: Nonsense. (gasping)
MONTRESOR: The air here is particularly foul. See how the light of the torches wane? How feeble the flames are now.
FORTUNATO: Why do you hesitate?
MONTRESOR: We are here.
FORTUNATO: The cask!
MONTRESOR: In that recess.
FORTUNATO: In there, you say?
MONTRESOR: Yes.
FORTUNATO: I--I can see nothing.
MONTRESOR: The light is too dim. You must go within. Proceed. In the little chamber is the Amontillado. As for Luchesi--
FORTUNATO: Bah! He is an ignoramus.
CELL DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING
CHAINS RATTLING
LOCK CLOSING
MONTRESOR: Pass your hand over the wall; you cannot help feeling the nitre. Indeed it is very damp. Once more let me implore you to return. No? Then I must positively leave you. But I must first render you all the little attentions in my power.
FORTUNATO: The Amontillado!
MONTRESOR: True. The Amontillado. The thousands of injuries you have inflicted on me I borne as I best could, but when you ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.
[Fortunato begins to weep.]
MONTRESOR: You have a weak point, Fortunato. Although in other regards you are a man to be respected and even feared. You pride yourself on your connoisseurship in wine. (laughing) Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian millionaires. In painting and gemmary, you, like our countrymen, are a quack, but in the matter of old wines you are sincere.
TROWEL SCRAPING AND STACKING OF STONES
FORTUNATO: (desperately) A very good joke indeed--an excellent jest. We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo-- (laughing) Over our wine-- (laughing)
MONTRESOR: The Amontillado!
FORTUNATO: (laughing weakly) Yes, the Amontillado. (desperately) But is it not getting late? Will not they be awaiting us at the palazzo, the Lady Fortunato and the rest? Let us be gone.
MONTRESOR: Yes, let us be gone.
FORTUNATO: For the love of God, Montresor!
MONTRESOR: Yes, for the love of God!
TROWEL SCRAPING AND STACKING OF STONES
MONTRESOR: Fortunato? Fortunato? Oh, well. One more stone. In pace requiescat!
Questions for Discussion
1. What emotion motivates Montresor to seek revenge against Fortunato?
A) greed
B) fear
C) kindness
D) pride
E) love
2. What can you conclude about Montresor’s feelings toward those who have allegedly wronged him?
A) Holding grudges is a waste of time.
B) One must not let injustice dominate reason.
C) Wrongdoers must be punished, and the wrong must be avenged.
D) If the injustice is intentional, retaliation is justified.
3. During what event or season does the story take place?
A) All Hallows Eve
B) Christmas
C) Day of the Dead
D) Carnival
E) Lent
4. Why is Montresor happy to meet Fortunato?
A) To invite him to see the catacombs
B) To invite him to share the Amontillado
C) To attend the carnival together
D) To put into effect his plan for revenge
5. As what does Fortunato dress for the carnival?
A) A bullfighter
B) A black-masked villain
C) A court jester
D) A French musketeer
6. How does Montresor get Fortunato to follow him?
A) He tells Fortunato he will pay him money if he follows.
B) He forces Fortunato to follow by wielding a knife at him.
C) He tells Fortunato that he has an Amontillado to taste.
D) He tells Fortunato that Fortunato’s wife is in danger.
E) He convinces Fortunato that he is a Mason.
7. When the narrator says to Fortunato, “I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter,” he is appealing to Fortunato’s
A) vanity
B) expertise
C) humility
D) pragmatism
8. How are Montresor and Fortunato alike?
A) They both have a revengeful nature.
B) They share an interest in fine wine.
C) They both have respect for Luchesi.
D) They have an affection for each other.
9. The skeletons in the walls of the catacombs are the remains of
A) Montresor’s disobedient servants.
B) Montresor family enemies.
C) carnival merrymakers.
D) Montresor’s ancestors.
10. What nonhuman animal appears on Montresor’s coat of arms?
A) A dog
B) A rat
C) A serpent
D) A bear
11. With what does Fortunato indicate to Montresor that he is a Mason?
A) A hand signal
B) A trowel
C) A secret slogan
D) A piece of paper
12. Fortunato’s weak point is his
A) habit of dressing in silly costumes
B) pride about his knowledge of fine wines
C) jealousy of Luchesi
D) poor sense of direction
13. Montresor kills Fortunato by
A) walling him up
C) poisoning his wine
B) stabbing him
D) beating him to death with iron rods
14. What detail shows the reader that Montresor’s crime was premeditated?
A) Fortunato has been drinking at carnival.
B) Building stone and mortar is hidden near the entrance to the recess.
C) The walls of the catacombs are covered in niter.
D) Fortunato has a terrible cough.
E) Montresor repeatedly promises to give Fortunato a taste of the Amontillado.
15. Which word best describes the narrator’s mental state?
A) calculating
B) unhinged
C) aware
D) calm
E) All of the above
16. Based on his actions throughout the story, the reader can conclude that the narrator is
A) rational and open-minded
B) patient and forgiving
C) good-natured and sociable
D) treacherous and unbalanced
17. Who is the narrator in “The Cask of Amontillado?”
A) Fortunato
B) Luchesi
C) Edgar Allan Poe
D) Montresor
18. With which of the following statements would the narrator agree?
A) Misery loves company.
B) An insult is harder to forget than an injury.
C) Don’t bite off more than you can chew.
D) Beggars can’t be choosers.
E) Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
19. The insult that Fortunato inflicts on Montresor
A) concerns Montresor’s home.
B) concerns Montresor’s heritage.
C) concerns Montresor’s knowledge of wine.
D) is not revealed in the story.
20. Irony is the difference between what seems to be and what really is. What is ironic about Montresor’s repeated concerns about Fortunato’s cough?
A) Fortunato deliberately gave the cough to Montresor.
B) Montresor actually intends to murder Fortunato.
C) Montresor is a doctor and could easily help Fortunato.
D) Montresor lined the catacombs with niter in order to bother Fortunato.
E) Fortunato considers his cough a sign of good health.
21. Dramatic irony occurs when
A) the reader knows that Montresor plans revenge, but Fortunato does not know
B) Fortunato dresses as a jester
C) the narrator urges Fortunato to try the wine
D) the crime is committed in the crypt
22. Montresor states to Fortunato, “You are a man to be missed.” This is an example of
A) dramatic irony.
B) foreshadowing.
C) theme.
D) both answers A and B.
23. Fortunato says,”Enough, the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough.” This is an example of
A) dramatic irony.
B) simile.
C) metaphor.
D) personification.
24. What is one reason that suggests to the reader that the narrator is unreliable?
A) He is drunk on Amontillado.
B) He is snobbish and wealthy.
C) He does not reveal everything about the past.
E) He is feverish and unable to think clearly.
25. The word that best describes the mood of “The Cask of Amontillado” is
A) depressing
B) dramatic
C) suspenseful
D) hysterical
26. The story’s tone is best described as
A) immature and unaware
B) friendly and warm
C) relaxed throughout
D) mounting hysteria
27. What public event is occurring on the evening Montresor decides to enact his plan?
A) the coronation of a prince
B) Christmas
C) Carnival
D) It is an ordinary evening.
28. When Montresor meets him in the street, Fortunato is
A) depressed and anxious for companionship.
B) drunk and in a good mood.
C) hurrying to a business meeting.
D) accompanied by several beautiful young women.
29. How much time has passed between the events of the story and Montresor’s narration of them?
A) fifty years
B) one year
C) one day
D) The time elapsed is never specified.
30. What technique does Montresor use to get Fortunato to proceed deeper and deeper into the underground vaults?
A) begging and pleading with him to continue
B) urging him not to proceed
C) threatening him with a sword
D) pretending they are lost
31. What European city provides the setting for the story?
A) Milan
B) Madrid
C) Marseilles
D) The city is never specified.
32. What is the nature of the “thousand injuries” and the “insult” that lead Montresor to avenge himself on Fortunato?
A) Fortunato had an affair with Montresor’s wife.
B) Fortunato was instrumental in denying Montresor membership in a powerful secret society he was anxious to join.
C) Fortunato stole land from Montresor’s estate.
D) The story never specifies the nature of the injuries or the insult.
33. Which of the following strategies does Fortunato not adopt in his attempts to stop Montresor from walling him in?
A) shaking and pulling on his chains
B) screaming
C) treating the situation as a joke
D) placing a curse on Montresor
C
B
A
B
D
D
D