"The Cask of Amontillado" Read-Along Questions

Master "The Cask of Amontillado" with engaging reading questions on prediction & plot!

"Thus speaking, Fortunato possessed himself of my arm; and putting on a mask of black silk and drawing a roquelaure closely about my person, I suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo." (pg. 574) What might you predict will happen later in the story based upon this excerpt? "There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honor of the time." (pg. 575) Based upon the above quote, what do you think might happen later in the story? "It was in vain that Fortunato, uplifting his dull torch, endeavored to pry into the depth of the recess. Its termination the feeble light did not enable us to see. 'Proceed,' I said: 'herein is the Amontillado (pg. 578) Based upon what you've just read right here, what do you think will happen? Refer to your first prediction from pg. 574. Were you correct? If not, how was the outcome different from your prediction? Look back at your second prediction from pg. 574. Were you correct? If not, how was the outcome different from your prediction? Look back at your third prediction. Were you correct? How was the outcome different from your initial prediction if not? Plot Diagram Setting: Falling Action Resolution Characters: Conflict 1st Rising Action Inciting Incident 2nd Rising Action: 3rd Rising Action: Climax "The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy grew warm with the Médoc. We had passed through long walls of piled skeletons, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs. I paused again, and this time I made bold to seize Fortunato by an arm above the elbow. "'The niter!' I said; 'see, it increases. It hangs like moss upon the vaults. We are below the river's bed. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones. Come, we will go back ere it is too late. Your cough--' "'It is nothing,' he said; 'let us go on. But first, another draft of the Médoc.'" (pgs. 576-577) What words and phrases make you curious about the outcome of this story? What were two clues that Poe gave that foreshadowed the story's ending other than those discussed here? Did you expect the story's ending? Yes No What was your reaction to the end of the story? Why did you react that way?