1. The title “Cask of Amontillado” has a discreet meaning. An amontillado is a rare, expensive form of sherry wine. The reason this specific wine was chosen was for a few reasons. First, if the wine was not this rare and expensive, it would not form good bait for Fortunato. The rarity of this cask is what keeps Fortunato interested, and is what ends up leading him to his death. Therefor, the title and the Amontillado are vital elements of the story, making this title effective. In conclusion, the name “Cask of Amontillado” refers to the rare, cask of wine that holds the story together.
2. The setting of this story helps construct a clear atmosphere. The majority of the story takes place down underground in Montresor's palazzo, where he
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There are quite a few examples of foreshadowing in the short story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe. First, the moment where Fortunato says “I will not die of a cough” and Montresor replies “True.” This is good foreshadowing because the way Montresor reacts makes the reader feel a sinister vibe from it, and it is carried out by the fact that in the end Fortunato will die of suffocation in the wall. The second instance of foreshadowing comes when Fortunato and Montresor are discussing the Masons. Specifically, when Montresor pulls out a trowel because of his misunderstanding of the term “stonemason”. The reader will immediately question this. Montresor having a trowel makes no sense whatsoever, unless you pick up on the hint that Montresor will likely do something bad with that trowel, which ends up being the case when Montresor walls off Fortunato in the niche. Next, at the beginning of the story when you read “He had a weak point—this Fortunato—although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseur-ship in wine.” This is good foreshadowing because the reader will immediately think of how the connoisseur-ship in wine will be a weakness, and from this, if you are clever, you can figure out how the amontillado will be used as bait. Because of how excellent Fortunato is with wine, he will immediately be able to tell the quality of the Amontillado. This is important because Montresor said that he only bought a …show more content…
Montresor’s manipulation of Fortunato is a very important element in this story, and in fact is what the entire story is about. Montresor takes advantage of a few qualities of Fortunato. First, he takes advantage of Fortunato’s connoisseurship of wine. Because Fortunato is a virtuoso in identifying wine, this allows Montresor to draw him in with an offer, if Fortunato can tell the quality of the wine, he and Montresor will win big. However, this is only the start of the manipulation. Fortunato shows a sense of wanting to be better than his rivals. This helps Montresor in a few ways. First, Fortunato might want to prove to Montresor that he is the superior connoisseur of wine. This makes him more likely to want to go with Montresor. Second, it allows Montresor to bring up Luchesi, who is obviously an individual that Fortunato is opposed to. This causes Fortunato to become even more determined to push through and gain an opportunity to get to the Amontillado. Another thing that Montresor takes advantage of is the fact that Fortunato is drunk. This makes him easier to manipulate, as his sense of judgement is clouded. Montresor also continues to give Fortunato more and more wine, to keep him drunk and thus make it much easier to trick him. It is proven that alcohol specifically makes you care less about the consequences of your actions. This is shown because Fortunato does not care about the consequence of getting sick from the nitre, which is a decision that a sober person