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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Complete the following elements of this short story:
Setting__________________________________________________________________
Main Characters
1.__________________________
2.___________________________
Theme _________________________________________________________________
Plot____________________________________________________________________
Conflict: Man versus _____________________
Exposition_______________________________________________________________
Rising Action____________________________________________________________
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 –
a technique of indicating, as through character or plot development, an
intention or attitude opposite to that which is ostensibly stated.
Foreshadowing – hints or suggestions of something to come in the story, often
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
2.
Cask of Amontillado
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.”