Reading Check
a. According to Montresor, what makes a perfect crime?
b. How does Montresor lure Fortunato into the catacombs?
c. What does Montresor admit is his motive for this crime?
d. According to Montresor, what kind of person is Fortunato?
e. What evidence suggests that Montresor committed the perfect crime?
First Thoughts
1. Draw a head with thought bubbles and fill in the bubbles with words and pictures that show what you think Montresor is thinking as he says
“In pace requiescat.” Be prepared to explain your interpretation.
Shaping Interpretations
2. To whom could Montresor be talking, fifty years after the murder, and for what reasons?
3. Part of the story’s horrifying effect comes from Poe’s use of irony. What do we know that Fortunato does not know about why he has been invited into the vaults? When did you figure out what Montresor was up to?
4. Which of Montresor’s comments to the unsuspecting Fortunato are ironic—that is, which ones mean something different from what they seem to mean?
5. The story is full of other examples of irony. Think about these uses of irony and how they made you feel:
6. Think about whether or not Montresor is a reliable narrator. Do any details suggest that he might have imagined “the thousand injuries” and the insult—or even the whole story? Can you find evidence in the story to support Montresor’s claim that Fortunato
did in fact injure and insult him?
Extending the Text
7. Is this just a gripping horror story told only for entertainment, or do you think it reveals some truth about the way people sometimes behave when they are consumed by a desire for revenge? Give reasons for your opinions.
Challenging the Text
8. What do you think of the way the story ends? Consider this question: Do writers have an obligation to punish murderers for their fictional crimes?
9. Some people feel that violence in fiction and on TV (like the violence in Poe’s story) results in real-life violence. How do you feel about this?
Writer’s Notebook
1. Collecting Ideas for an Essay of Evaluation
How did it make you feel? While reading the stories in this collection, you may have made notes on criteria you can use when you evaluate a story or movie for the Writer’s Workshop found in this collection. Now, focus on the emotional content of a story.
Set up a scale and rank the depth of sympathy you feel for a particular character, the effectiveness of the ending, or your feelings about what happened in the story.
When you write an evaluation, you’ll have to support your rating by citing details from the story.
Emotional Scale
effectiveness of ending
0 1 2 3 4 5
(not (very
effective)
powerful)
Creative Writing
2. From Fortunato’s Point of View
Suppose this story was being told from the point of view of the gullible Fortunato instead of by Montresor. Write a new beginning. Start when the two men meet at dusk, and end when they begin their journey underground. Let the reader know what Fortunato thinks of Montresor. Is he guilty of the thousand injuries and the insult? Tell the story as an omniscient, or all-knowing, narrator who zooms in on Fortunato’s thoughts.
Explaining a Theory
3. Finding a Motive
Suppose a detective assigned to the case at the time it happened wrote a report with this theory about the disappearance of Fortunato:
“Montresor is the last member of an old aristocratic Catholic family that lost its money. Fortunato was a businessman who had recently become wealthy and wasn’t above cheating to make money. Fortunato also was a member of the Masons, a secret Protestant organization that Catholics cannot join. These facts explain Montresor’s hatred of Fortunato. They also supply him with a motive for murder.”
Now you are another detective assigned to the still unsolved case a few years later. In a report to your supervisor, explain exactly what you think of this theory. If you agree or disagree, tell why and find reasons in the story to support your case.
Critical Thinking
4. Crime and Punishment
Suppose the person to whom Montresor is telling his story has turned him over to the police. Montresor’s lawyer might argue that his client is insane. The prosecution will argue that Montresor knew exactly what he was doing, even planned it in advance. Write a speech for either lawyer.
Choices and Grammar (PDF)
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