8-1
“The Cask of
Amontillado”
Summary
A Story of Revenge
• Considered one of Poe’s most famous works
• Best-known revenge fantasies by any author
• Poe’s feud with Thomas Dunn English
retribution
• Something that is done as a repayment or reward
• punishment inflicted on someone as vengeance for a wrong or
criminal act
Exposition
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•
•
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Montresor – upset with Fortunato
Seeks revenge
Wine taster
Fortunato does not know that he is Montresor’s enemy.
Rising Action
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Montresor bring Fortunato to the catacomb
Fortunato is intoxicated
Not completely aware
Montresor claims he has a pipe of Amontillado
He has his doubts
Montresor warns Fortunato about
the air in the vaults
• He is trying to warn Fortunato that he's headed for certain
death.
Climax
• Montresor chains Fortunato to the wall
Falling Action
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Fortunato stops screaming
Montresor hears only the bells jingling
Throws in torch
Finishes sealing the wall
Wall up
Verb
1.
wall up enclose with a wall
wall up with brick
Resolution
• Fortunato is left to
• “Rest in peace.”
Irony
• A contrast or an incongruity between what is stated and what
is really meant, or between what is expected to happen and
what actually does happen.
Irony
• Verbal irony
• Dramatic irony
• Situation irony
Verbal Irony
• the use of words to mean something different from what a
person actually says.
• “Thanks for the ticket, officer, you just made my day!”
• sarcasm is used to insult or to cause harm.
• What is verbal irony? (3:28)
“My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met.”
Dramatic Irony
• This type of irony is popular in works of art such as movies, books,
poems and plays.
• It occurs when the audience is aware of something that the
characters in the story are not aware of.
• a detective does not know that the criminal responsible for the
crimes in the city is his partner.
• The audience, however, is already aware of this fact and waits
anxiously to know what will happen once the character finds out
what they already know.
• In on a secret? That's dramatic irony 2:49
Fortunato tells Montresor not to worry about his health.
Situational Irony
• involves a discrepancy between what is expected to
happen and what actually happens.
• occurs when the exact opposite of what is meant to
happen, happens.
• For situation irony to occur there has to be
something that leads a person to think that a
particular event or situation is unlikely happen.
• Situational irony: The opposite of what you think
(3:11)
Cask
Fortunato
Niter
• Foreshadows Montresor’s murder of
Fortunato,
• Montresor comments on how Fortunato
should not go into the vault because he
has a cold.
Niter
• Montresor calls it "the white web work which
gleams from these cavern walls."
The niter, therefore, represents the web, or the trap, Montresor
has set for his victim.
Mason
• 1. a builder and worker in stone.
• 2. Freemason- a member of an international order; holds
elaborate secret ceremonies
MOOD:
• mood is a literary element that evokes certain feelings or
vibes in readers through words and descriptions.
• Usually, mood is referred to as the atmosphere of
a literary piece, as it creates an emotional situation that
surrounds the readers.
What is the mood of “The Cask of Amontillado”?
•usually perceived as threatening, suspenseful,
ominous.
•The threatening mood can be felt in Montresor’s
words early in the story:
“I continued as was my wont, to smile in his face, and
he did not perceive that my smile now was at the
thought of his immolation.”
That he can smile at his enemy while imagining his
death sets up a mood, or feeling, of something dark or
evil hidden beneath the surface.