Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado": Page 2

The Story

Questions and Comments

"My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature. I perceive you have an engagement. Luchesi--" 2.1

"I have no engagement;--come."

"My friend, no. It is not the engagement, but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted. The vaults are insufferably damp. They are encrusted with nitre." 2.2

"Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely nothing. Amontillado! You have been imposed upon. And as for Luchesi, he cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado."

Thus speaking, Fortunato possessed himself of my arm. Putting on a mask of black silk, and drawing a roquelaire closely about my person, I suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo. 2.3

There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honor of the time. 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. 2.4

I took from their sconces two flambeaux, and giving one to Fortunato, bowed him through several suites of rooms to the archway that led into the vaults 2.5. I passed down a long and winding staircase, requesting him to be cautious as he followed. We came at length to the foot of the descent, and stood together on the damp ground of the catacombs of the Montresors. 2.6

The gait of my friend was unsteady, and the bells upon his cap jingled as he strode. 2.7

"The pipe," he said.

"It is farther on," said I; "but observe the white web-work which gleams from these cavern walls." 2.8

He turned towards me, and looked into my eyes with two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication.

"Nitre?" he asked, at length.

"Nitre," I replied. "How long have you had that cough?"

"Ugh! ugh! ugh!--ugh! Ugh! ugh!--ugh! ugh! ugh!--ugh! ugh! ugh!--ugh! ugh! ugh!"

My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes. 2.9

"It is nothing," he said, at last.

"Come," I said, with decision, "we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. 2.10 You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchesi--" 2.11

"Enough," he said; "the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough."

"True--true," I replied; "and, indeed, I had no intention of alarming you unnecessarily--but you should use all proper caution. A draught of this Medoc will defend us from the damps.2.12

2.1 We soon find that the narrator very much wants Fortunato to go to the narrator's vaults, so why does the narrator say that he does not want Fortunato to go?

2.2 If the narrator perceives that Fortunato is afflicted with a "severe cold," why does the narrator tell Fortunato that he looks "remarkably well" when the characters first meet?

2.3 It is carnival time, so the narrator is wearing a mask and a roquelaire (a cloak), but why else might he be dressed this way?

2.4 What instructions did the narrator give his servants earlier in the evening? Why did he give these instructions? What does this tell us about the narrator?

2.5 "Flambeaux" are torches.

2.6 The narrator finally reveals his last name, Montresor. "Catacombs" are underground tunnels lined with the remains of the dead.

2.7 Why might Fortunato walk in an "unsteady" way?

2.8 This is the "nitre" mentioned earlier. Nitre is "a mineral of potassium nitrate" that apparently can be bad for one's health.

2.9 If the narrator hates Fortunato, why would he refer to Fortunato as his "poor friend"?

2.10 What do the following words suggest about the narrator: "you are happy, as once I was"? Likewise, what do the adjectives the narrator uses to describe Fortunato tell us about him, especially in relation to the narrator?

2.11 Why is the narrator so concerned about Fortunato's health? Note also that the narrator says he cannot be responsible for making Fortunato more ill.

2.12 In a few places on this page, Poe uses "foreshadowing," hints about things that will occur later in the story. Can you identify some of this foreshadowing?

	THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO
	By Edgar Allan Poe Page 2