"The Cask of Amontillado" - The Story

Question 1

Why does Montresor want revenge?

Answer 1

Fortunato had insulted him and inflicted “a thousand injuries,” according to Montresor.

Question 2

When is a wrong unredressed?

Answer 2

1. When retribution overtakes redresser

OR…

2. When the avenger fails to get revenge on the person responsible for having done “the wrong.”

Question 3

What sets off the chain of retribution?

Answer 3

Betrayal

Question 4

What were the dimentions of the Crypt/Recess

Answer 4

Four feet in depth. Three feet in width. Six or seven feet in height.

Question 5

Montresor not only wants to punish, but he wants to ____

Answer 5

“punish with impunity.”

Question 6

What makes Montresor smile?

Answer 6

The thought of Fortunato’s immolation (destruction).

Question 7

What do Montresor and Fortunato have in common?

Answer 7

They both have extensive knowledge and appetite for fine wines.

Question 8

What is Fortunato’s “weak point”?

Answer 8

He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine

Question 9

When and where does this story take place?

“Hint” SETTING !!!

Answer 9

Carnival season in Italy

Question 10

Why does Montresor “need” Fortunato’s help?

Answer 10

He has received a barrel of amontillado but he is not sure if it really is amontillado and wants to get someone to taste it for confirmation.

Question 11

How does Montresor play to Fortunato’s vanity?

Answer 11

He threatens to ask Luchesi for help instead; he tells Fortunato he doesn’t want to impose upon his engagement; he tells Fortunato the vaults are damp and crusted with niter, and he does not want to worsen his cold.

Question 12

Where are all the attendants?

Answer 12

They had absconded (left hurriedly and secretly) to make merry in honor of the time.

Montresor told them that he would not return until the morning and had given them explicit orders to not stray from the house. He knew that these orders ensured his disappearance as soon as he left.

Question 13

Where does Montresor lead Fortunato?

Answer 13

First, to the catacombs of the Montresor family (vaults)

As they get to the end, Fortunato is led into a recess (or niche) before he is chained.

Question 14

What is the motto behind the arms?

Answer 14

“Nobody attacks me with impunity”

OR…

“Nobody attacks me without punishment”

Question 15

Who are the masons?

Answer 15

A secret society of people who believe in brotherhood, giving to the poor, and helping one another

Question 16

How does Montresor try to prove that he is part of the masons?

Answer 16

He takes out a trowel (a flat tool with a pointed blade that the masons used to use)

Question 17

What does Montresor do to Fortunato in the niche?

Answer 17

He chains him to the granite

Question 18

What did Montresor then begin to do once Fortunato was chained to the wall?

Answer 18

He begins to build up the entrance of the niche with building stone and mortar.

Question 19

What does Montresor do when Fortunato screams?

Answer 19

He replies to the screams with louder screams of his own

Question 20

How long has it been sense the day Fortunato was put in the Niche

Answer 20

50 years!!!

Question 21

What is the genre of the story?

Answer 21

Gothic Fiction

Question 22

What did Fortunato say multiple times about Luchesi?

Answer 22

“Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from sherry.”

Question 23

What is Fortunato dressed as when Montresor meets him?

Answer 23

He wore motley - a tight-fitting parti-striped dress.

His head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.

Question 24

What does Fortunato do that confuses Montresor?

Answer 24

He emptied a flagon of De Grave wine and then started laughing, throwing the bottle upwards with a gesticulation that Montresor did not understand.

Question 25

Who is/are the main character(s)?

Answer 25

Montresor is the main character.

Another important character is Fortunato, who is he trying to get revenge on.

Question 26

What time was it by the time Montresor finally finished his “task”?

Answer 26

About midnight

Question 27

What was the last tier of stones Montresor had stacked (give a number) and what did Montresor thrust through the remaining aperture (hole or gap in the wall) before finishing the job?

Answer 27

The last tier of stones was the 11th tier.

He thrust a torch into the remaining aperture and let it fall within, before finally placing the last stone into position

Question 28

When did Montresor meet Fortunato in the story?

Answer 28

About dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season.

Question 29

What fields do Fortunato and his countrymen dishonestly claim to have special knowledge about?

Answer 29

Fortunato was a quack in painting and gemmary.

Quack - One who dishonestly claims to have special knowledge and skill in a particular field.

Question 30

How does Montresor conclude the story? What does he say at the very end?

Answer 30

“May he rest in peace!”

Question 31

After Fortunato is chained, he screams for help and is mocked by Montresor. What does he do and say afterward?

Answer 31

He laughs weakly and says he is the subject of a joke (and that people will be waiting for him, such as Lady Fortunato).

He then says “For the love of God, Montresor!” to which Montresor replies “Yes, for the love of God!”

Question 32

Few Italians have what?

Answer 32

Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit in wine.

Question 33

What does Montresor claim to be skillful at?

Answer 33

Montresor claims to be skillful in the Italian vintages himself, and buys it whenever he can.

Question 34

What did the remote end of the crypt look like?

Answer 34

Its walls were lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, like the fashion of the great catacombs in Paris.

3 sides were still ornamented in this manner while on the 4th side, the bones had been thrown down and lay promiscuously upon the earth.

Question 35

Why does Fortunato question whether Montresor is of the brotherhood?

Answer 35

Montresor does not understand Fortunato’s grotesque act of throwing the flagon bottle upwards while laughing.

Question 36

What wines do Fortunato and Montresor drink as they head deeper and deeper into the vaults?

Answer 36

They have two drafts of the Médoc. Fortunato also drinks a flagon of expensive De Grave wine

Question 37

What is Montresor’s family coat of arms?

Answer 37

A golden foot in a blue background crushing a snake whose fangs are embedded in the foot’s heel, with the motto in Latin for “No one provokes me with impunity.”