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“…but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.”
“The Cask of Amontillado” is the narrator’s account of his ability
to carry out a chilling plot of revenge against his offender.
PlotThe plot is quite simple. The first-person narrator, whom we later discover to be named Montresor, announces immediately that someone named Fortunato has injured him repeatedly and has recently insulted him.
Montresor can stand no more; he vows revenge upon Fortunato. The remainder of the story deals with Montresor's methods of entrapping Fortunato and effecting his revenge upon the unfortunate Fortunato.
Foremost is the fact that Montresor has never let Fortunato know of his hatred.
SettingThe story begins around dusk, one evening during the carnival season (similar to the Mardi Gras festival in New Orleans) in an unnamed European city. The location quickly changes from the lighthearted activites associated with such a festival to the damp, dark catacombs under Montressor's palazzo which helps to establish the sinister atmosphere of the story.
Carnival
• Carnival is a secular holiday, but it evolved from the Christian observance known as Lent.
• Lent is a solemn forty-day period of fasting prior to Easter.
CARNIVAL
• Traditionally, the fasting during Lent involves abstaining from eating meat.
• Modern interpretations of fasting may involve abstaining from anything one enjoys.
Carn + Val
FLESH (Meat) + FAREWELL
In anticipation of the solemnity of Lent, the celebration of Carnival evolved.
Participants engage in excessive and extreme behavior to bid farewell to meat-eating (and merriment).
What happens during Carnival?
• Carnival is a time of EXCESS and INDULGENCE.
• BINGEING upon food and alcohol is common.
The combination of alcohol and costumes creates an atmosphere where people tend to let down
their inhibitions.
“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.
Vineyards, where the grapes for producing wine are grown, create picturesque settings for owners’
estates.
The narrator plans for his revenge to take place in the
catacombs beneath his estate.
What are catacombs?
At a certain point in European history, catacombs, underground burial chambers, became a viable
alternative to cemeteries.
Catacombs are characterized by extensive tunnels leading to
chambers or recesses where the dead repose for eternity.
The narrator of “The Cask of Amontillado” carries out his
revenge within the catacombs beneath his palazzo.
The narrator is able to lure his victim into the catacombs with the promise of amontillado, a
fine sherry wine.(The l’s are pronounced like the
l’s in tortilla.)
The “supreme madness” of Carnival aside, why doesn’t the suggestion of a journey to the catacombs for a taste of wine seem odd or suspicious to the
victim?
For wines to maintain their best quality, they need to be stored at
fairly cool and constant temperatures.
During the time period in which the story is set, modern electric refrigeration was not available.
To protect wine collections, connoisseurs adopted the practice of storing wines under the ground where temperatures remain ideal
year-round.
Basements, cellars, and even catacombs serve as excellent
storage facilities for the precious vintages.
Herein, where wine bottles intermingle with the bones of the dead, the narrator carries out his
plan for revenge.
Nitre is a potassium nitrate salt formerly known as saltpeter. Saltpeter is composed of the names “Sal” or salt, and “Petrae” or rock. Literally, salt of the rock.
“…but observe the white webwork which gleams from the these cavern walls.”
an ancient vault or catacomb
MASONS
Two definitions:
A member of the fraternity of Freemasons, a worldwide fraternal organization
OR
One whose occupation is to build with stone or brick; also, one who prepares stone for building purposes.
Symbol for the Freemasons
THE FAMILY ARMS
“A huge foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heal.”
FAMILY MOTTO“Nemo me impune lacessit” Translation: “No one provokes me with impunity” /A more colloquial translation into English would be “No one attacks me and gets away with it.”