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Name____________________________________
Period______________
Study Guide for “The Cask of Amontillado”
Pre-Reading on the story
1. What is amontillado?
2. What is carnival?
3. What is a coat of arms?
4. What are catacombs?
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Elements of a short story:
Setting__________________________________________________________________
Main Characters
1.______________________________________________________________________
2.______________________________________________________________________
Theme _________________________________________________________________
Plot____________________________________________________________________
Exposition:______________________________________________________________
Rising Action:____________________________________________________________
Man versus ___________________
Climax__________________________________________________________________
Falling Action:___________________________________________________________
Resolution_______________________________________________________________
Vocabulary
Virtuoso________________________________________________________________
Impunity_______________________________________________________________
Fettered________________________________________________________________
Connoisseur_____________________________________________________________
Gait___________________________________________________________________
Precluded______________________________________________________________
Retribution_____________________________________________________________
Afflicted ______________________________________________________________
Explicit_______________________________________________________________
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Please answer the questions below after reading the story.
1.
Why did Montresor seek revenge on Fortunato?
2.
Describe Fortunato’s character.
3.
How did Montresor know that the house would be empty that evening?
4.
Describe the catacombs in the basement of the Montresor home.
5.
Where were the stone and mortar hidden that Montresor used to wall up the entrance
to the niche?
6.
Why does Montresor make sure Fortunato has drunk a lot of wine?
7. Why does Montresor appear concerned about Fortunato’s health?
8.
Who is Luchesi and what is his role in the story?
9.
What is the Montresor coat of arms?
10. What does this coat of arms tell us about him?
11.
What interest do Montresor and Fortunato share?
12.
Describe Montresor’s character.
13.
Do you think Montresor should have killed Fortunato? Why or why not?
Irony – using words to suggest the opposite of their literal meaning.
Foreshadowing – hints or suggestions of something to come in the story, usually
something unpleasant.
Directions: Read the passages from the story listed below and decide whether these are
examples of irony, foreshadowing, or both. Explain what Poe is really saying.
1.
Fortunato (hint: a play on words)
2.
Cask of Amontillado (hint: “cask” is part of another word associated with death)
3.
“The cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough.”
4.
“I drink,” he said, “to the buried that repose around us.” “And to your long life.”
5.
“Let us be gone.” “Yes,” I said, “let us be gone.”