The Cask of Amontillado Questions
1. What is Amontillado?
2. Why did Montresor seek revenge on Fortunato?
3. How did Montresor know the house would be empty?
4. Explain the Significance of Montresor’s statement: “At length I would be
avenged: this was point definitely settled…I must not only punish but punish with
impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally
unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done
the wrong.”
5. In your own words, describe the catacombs that Fortunato is led through.
6. Where and when is the story set? Give reasons for your answer.
7. Why does Montresor make sure Fortunato has drunk a lot of wine?
8. What is Luchesi’s role in the story?
9. What preparations had Montresor made for his revenge?
10. Why does Montresor appear concerned about Fortunato’s health?
11. Montresor describes his family coat of arms in the following manner: "A huge
human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are
imbedded in the heel."
How does this description serve as foreshadowing in the story, and what do the
objects represent?
12. How does not knowing what Fortunato did to Montresor intensify the horror of
this story?
13. Explain the Significance of Montresor’s statement: "You are a man to be
missed."
14. Do you think Montresor’s crime will ever be discovered? Why or why not?
15. Why is Fortunato's name ironic in "The Cask of Amontillado"?
16. What are some examples of irony used in the story The Cask of Amontillado?
17. What role does Fortunato's “weak point” play in the narrator's revenge?
18. What are some examples of foreshadowing in the Story? Explain how/what
they foreshadow.
19. Provide two examples of how the reader knows that Fortunato is a drunk.
20. How is the theme, “What goes around comes around” brought out in the
story?