Monday, December 15, 2014

In "The Cask of Amontillado" what is the setting, time and place, and who are the characters?

The setting of this story is Venice, in Italy, but most particularly, the catacombs --what were once underground graves--beneath Montresor's home. Think of the characters as going through a series of dark, underground tunnels or caverns, lit only by the flame of their torches. Near the end of their journey, we do see piles of bones from old corpses.


The time is the Mardi Gras, the festival that occurs the day before Lent, so probably February. The story takes place 50 years before Montresor, on his deathbed, is telling it, but the year is not specified.  


The story has only two characters who are part of the action: Montresor and Fortunato. They have known each other for many years. Both love fine wines. Montresor feels he has suffered injuries, and worse, insult, from Fortunato, so he wants revenge: he wants to kill Fortunato in some way so that Fortunato knows Montresor is the murderer but nobody else finds out. Fortunato shows that he is proud of his knowledge of wines. He is also drunk and easily tricked by Montresor. 

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