Poe Amontillado PDF

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Discussion Questions for Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado"...

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Discussion Questions for Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" 1.) What do you think Montresor’s motivation is for killing Fortunato? What do you think Montresor means in the 1st paragraph of the story by “the thousand injuries” and “insult”? Montresor claims that Fortunato has seriously insulted him and conspires to get his revenge. Even he did not tell the reader what Fortunato had done, but it was somewhat inexcusable and unforgivable. When Montresor said, “the thousand injuries” and “insults” he was referring to all the negative things Fortunato did or said. It was his way of motivating his killing of Fortunato. 2) How does Poe motivate the behavior of Montresor? Does the story provide any hints as to the “thousand injuries” he has suffered? Are any hints necessary? The reader does not get any details about all the insults he has suffered. Neither does he name the injuries inflicted by Fortunato. The story is quite short and does not give any details or background information that justify the actions of Montresor, it feels like Poe wanted that the reader could himself interpret the story, making his version short and consistent. 3.) Who do you suppose the “You” is in the 1st paragraph of the story? When he says “You” he even says that “who so well know the nature of my soul” this makes me believe that this person that he is referring to is his own self. It does not feel like it could be anyone else besides his own consciousness, he is talking to himself. 4.) Why do you suppose Poe sets this story during “the carnival season”? Carnival is usually a time of happiness and social gathering. However, it is also a time of disguises and trickery. Montresor uses these motifs to his advantage when he lures Fortunato to his death with a bottle of wine. By already setting the story in this season Poe elevated the feeling and atmosphere of the story and made it more believable.

5.) Why is the setting of the story appropriate? The carnival season is a season of celebrations, during this period people go around masked and there is a festive atmosphere. Fortunato was even drunk at the time which may be one of the reasons behind his killing being so easy. During this time Montresor easily lured him in his plan. 6.) What does Montresor’s treatment of his house servants tell us about his knowledge of human psychology, and how does it prepare us for his treatment of Fortunato? “I had told them that I should not return until the morning and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house. These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappearance, one and all, as soon as my back was turned.” His servants were not obedient, he told them as the quote shows to not leave the house as soon as he left but knowing his servants, they left the house as soon as he went out. This shows how he used reverse psychology to his own win. He knew that the servants would react in that manner, thus leading to him being able to murder Fortunato without anyone witnessing it. 7.) Examine Montresor’s verbal and non-verbal strategies of initially engaging Fortunato and then luring him along throughout the story. Firstly, he pretends that he does not want Fortunato to come and see the wine. He says that there are others that can help him which intrigues Fortunato further to follow him. Montresor knew that Fortunato prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine and that if he said that there were others that could have helped him, he would get jealous and easily get lured in his plan. Then he insists on him being sick and that he should not go further down and instead go back. But Fortunato gets mote willing to follow him and insists that he is not as ill as Montresor thinks. He even enthusiastically shook his hand in the start to make him feel comfortable and give him a friendly impression. And he went on and complimented Fortunato on his looks saying: “…you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day.”

8.) What do you suppose Montresor means when he says, “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”? It gives the reader a hint about his plans of murdering Fortunato. By saying “you are a man to be missed” he insinuated that he was going to die and be missed. Maybe this was his way of warning Fortunato, by doing so he gave him one last chance of going back. 9.) Discuss Montresor’s family’s coat-of-arms and motto. On the way to the catacombs, Fortunato is about Montresor's family motto and coat-of-arms. Both contain elements of revenge. "A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel." "And the motto?" "Nemo me impune lacessit." The details in the coat of arms show Montresor’s rich family background, and this could even be one way of suggesting that Fortunato tried to undermine his status which could possibly be the reason why Montresor wanted a revenge. 10.)

Discuss the references to “the brotherhood” and “the masons.”

Montresor is part of a brotherhood that is called the masons. Fortunato believed that Montresor was talking about him being a builder that laid stones to build buildings meanwhile Montresor was referring to a secret brotherhood. This is ironical in a sense because Montresor at the end of the story ends up bricks to wall up Fortunato.

11.)

Discuss the section when Montresor is erecting the wall to entomb Fortunato,

especially both Fortunato’s and Montresor’s sounds, words, and movements. When they reach their destination, there is no Amontillado, but there is a hole in the wall. Montresor attaches Fortunato inside, and begins to seal up the wall with bricks. As the last bricks are laid, Fortunato screams for Montresor to stop, but it's too late. Montresor has taken his revenge. Montresor walks away with just the sound of a jingling of the bells.

12.)

How does Poe increase the elements of suspense as Fortunato is gradually

walled into the catacombs? By giving details description of the surroundings. How Fortunato became more ill the further down they went and how he got more and more drunk by the time going by. How he was fully intoxicated when he reached the end. By giving details of Fortunato’s pleadings to Montresor when he was being welled into the wall. And how Fortunato stopped making any sounds and that way finalizing his death. 13.)

Examine the very last paragraph of the story – especially (1) the phrase, “My

heart grew sick …” and (2) the very last sentence. He said that his heart grew sick but still he placed the last brick. After that, at the end of the story Montresor claims that no one has bothered them for 50 years. But the fact that he still remembered everything after half of a century shows that there is remorse in Montresor. 14.) Do you see any irony in the story? When Montresor lures him into the catacombs, he asks Fortunato about his well-being. Fortunato has a cough, which becomes increasingly difficult the further down the catacombs they travel. Montresor asks if Fortunato would like to return. Fortunato replies, "I won't die from a cough." Montresor consciously responds, "True-true." Montresor seemed to mean that the cough was harmless, but he had already planned to kill Fortunato. One specific example in this story is the name that shows Poe’s work of irony is the name “Fortunato, which means "lucky of fortunate" in Italian. Despite his name, Fortunato's fate is truly unfortunate....