The Cask of Amontillado

1. The Cask of Amontillado By Edgar Allan Poe “…but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.”

2. What is a Cask? • Casks are barrels for storing wine or other drinks, and they come in many sizes.

3. What is Amontillado? • ə-ˌmän-tə-ˈlädō • Sherry or a type of wine • Why would a story be named after an alcoholic beverage?

4. Parts of the Story… • SETTING: Mid 1800’s in Italy during Carnival season. • PROTAGONIST: Montessor (French: My treasure) • ANTAGONIST: Fortunato (good fortune, luck) • POINT OF VIEW: 1st person, Montessor is the narrator

5. Carnival • A religious event during the week before Lent in Roman Catholic countries to bid farewell to meat-eating. • Carn + Val = FLESH (Meat) + FAREWELL • Participants engage in extreme dancing, parting, alcohol, eating, and masquerading.

6. “The Cask of Amontillado” is set during the “supreme madness” of Carnival. In such a riotous atmosphere, it is easy to see how a crime could go unnoticed.

7. Life of the Rich Palazzos (mansions) The wealthy could opt for family catacombs beneath their estates.

8. Literary Terms to remember… • Protagonist • Antagonist • Mood • Theme • Foreshadow • Symbol • Imagery

9. Irony • A contradiction between appearance and reality, between expectation and outcome, or between meaning and intention. • Three different kinds of irony: • Verbal • Situational • Dramatic

10. Verbal Irony • Occurs when someone says something that deliberately contradicts what that person actually means. • Ex: Negative connotations- Sarcasm. “Go ahead and keep sleeping during class, why don’t you?” could be said to a sleepy student even though the teacher clearly doesn’t want the student to keep sleeping.

11. Situational Irony • Occurs when something happens that contradicts our expectation. • A man jumps over a giant waterfall like Niagara Falls in a barrel and survives, only to take a clean-up shower where he slips on the soap and dies from trauma.

12. Dramatic Irony • Occurs when the reader or audience is aware of a contradiction that a character(s) does not know.

13. Catacombs • Underground tunnels or rooms dug out to use a cemeteries or tombs. Sometimes used for religious worship.

14. And now, a trip through the catacombs in Paris.

15. virtuoso • Noun • a person who has special knowledge or skill in a field.

16. accosted • Verb • Greeted in an aggressive way.

17. fettered • Noun • a chain or shackle placed on the feet.

18. connoisseur • Noun • a person who is especially competent to pass critical judgments in an art, particularly one of the fine arts, or in matters of taste: a connoisseur of modern art.

19. precluded • Verb • to prevent or to make impossible

20. retribution • Noun • To pay back, a punishment for a misdeed.

21. afflicted • Verb • Suffering or sickened

22. explicit • Adjective • Clearly stated

23. recoiling • Verb • Staggering back

24. termination • Noun • To end

25. subsided • Verb • To settle down, to become less active

26. Why might Fortunato’s name be IRONIC? • He is not fortunate in his interactions with Montresor, which lead to his death. • This is the opposite of what we might expect for someone whose name implies good luck or fortune.

27. Give examples of IRONY in the story, including SITUATIONAL, DRAMATIC, and VERBAL IRONY. • Situational: Fortunato expects Amontillado and instead receives death • Dramatic: Fortunato doesn’t know he’ll be killed; but reader does, and thus gets the trowel joke (p. 171) and the cough joke (p. 170) • Verbal: the compliments M pays to F; p. 171 M “implores” F to return.