1. The Characters: Describe the narrator of “The Cask of Amontillado.” What do we know about him? What do we not know? Do you consider him a villain? Feel free to speculate about his motivations for killing Fortunato, but be sure to support these speculations with textual evidence!
1b. What other characteristics of Montresor can you give?
Consider, for instance, what he thinks about Italians and the way he lures Fortunato into a trap.
Why do you think Montresor told his servants to stay in the castle during the holiday although he said that he would be absent? Why wouldn’t he just tell them that they were free?
Why does he repeat the name of Luchesi?
2 How is the theme of vengeance addressed in the story?
3) What other topics / themes can you trace?
4) Can you trace any irony in the above story?
5) When and where do you think Montresor tells his story?
6) Follow how the tension is built in the plot. How does Poe use:
1) Design (arranges the events in the story according to the plan he has in mind in advance)
2) Irony and other devices, such as symbols, images, tropes (give examples)
3) Suspense
4) What is the climax of the story?
II. 1. Examine the story for instances of irony. What role does irony play in this tale?
2. What has Fortunato done to Montresor and his family? Does Fortunato’s punishment fit his crime?
3. Are we meant to sympathize with Montresor? How would the story differ if told by Fortunato?
4. Why does Montresor end his tale with “In pace resquiescat!” (“Rest in peace!”)?
5. To whom is Montresor telling his story? Why does he wait fifty years to tell it?
6. Why does Montresor echo Fortunato’s screams and last words?
7. Why does Montresor twice ask Fortunato to turn back and leave the vaults?
8. What is the significance of clothing and costume in the story?
9. What does wine represent in the story? Why is the tale entitled “The Cask of Amontillado,” though there is no such cask?
10. Does Montresor feel any regret for murdering Fortunato?
III.In his famous review of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales, Poe writes:
A skillful literary artist has constructed a tale. If wise, he has not fashioned his thoughts to accommodate his incidents; but having conceived, with deliberate care, a certain unique or single effect to be wrought out, he then invents such incidents––he then combines such events as may best aid him in establishing this preconceived effect. If his very initial sentence tend not to the outbringing of this effect, then he has failed in his first step. In the whole composition there should be no word written, of which the tendency, direct or indirect, is not to the one preestablished design. And by such means, with such care and skill, a picture is at length painted which leaves in the mind of him who contemplates it with a kindred art, a sense of the fullest satisfaction.
Analyze “The Cask of Amontillado” based on this passage. Does Poe meet his own literary standards? If so, how? If not, why not? 5
IV In his famous essay “The Philosophy of Composition” Edgar Poe sets a number of criteria, such as, requirements to the development of the plot, design, effect, the subject and the object of poetry, the theme, the setting, the tone, rhythm, meter, rhyme, sound arrangement, necessary for creating a great poem. Applying Poe’s criteria, analyze “The Raven” and some of his other works.
In what meaning is the word “Philosophy” used here?
7) Discuss some of the poetic techniques Poe uses in “The Raven.” You might consider alliteration, assonance, rhyme, meter, and enjambment. How does the use of such techniques enhance the poem?
7b) What is the Climax of the poem?
8) William Butler Yeats, a great Irish poet, Nobel prize winner for literature, and literary peer, denounced Poe’s achievement and wrote: “Analyse ‘The Raven’ and you find that its subject is a commonplace and its execution a rhythmical trick. Its rhythm never lives for a moment, never once moves with an emotional life. The whole thing seems to me insincere and vulgar.” Another Nobel prize winner for literature T. S. Eliot commented in a November 1948 lecture: “An irresponsibility towards the meaning of words is not infrequent with Poe… Several words in the poem seem to be inserted either merely to fill out the line to the required measure or for the sake of rhyme.” But more favorable critical assessments of “The Raven” have continued to lift to poem beyond the grasp of critical strangulation. In his 1992 work, biographer Jeffrey Meyers recalled the sensation the poem created in 1848: “Surpassing the popularity of any previous American poem, `The Raven’ was reprinted throughout the country and inspired a great number of imitations and parodies.” Great French poets Baudelaire and Mallarme praised Poe’s poem and translated them. Write an argumentative essay based on Poe’s “The Raven,” “The Conqueror Worm,” “To Helen,” “Silence,” “Lenore” or other poems, supporting either those who criticize or admire Poe’s poetry.
9. Discuss how are the views of Poe as stated in “The Philosophy of Composition” can be applied not only to “The Raven” but also “To Lenore,” “To Helen,” and “Annabel Lee.”
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|