Coming up: vocabulary quiz on Wednesday. (another copy below)
In class: finishing up the assessment on "The Raven"; this is due at the close of class today. For those receiving extended time, this will be collected at the beginning of class tomorrow.
Note: We are reading Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" beginning tomorrow. If you are absent, make sure you keep up. There is a copy below. (class handout in class today)
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Name__________________________
THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO
by Edgar Allan Poe
(1846)
(1846)
THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could,
but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature
of my soul, will not suppose, however, that gave utterance to a threat. At
length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely, settled --but the very
definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk. I must
not only punish but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when
retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger
fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.
It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given
Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as was my in to smile in
his face, and he did not perceive that my to smile now was at the thought of
his immolation.
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
connoisseurship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the
most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity, to
practise imposture upon the British and Austrian millionaires. In painting and
gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack, but in the matter of old
wines he was sincere. In this respect I did not differ from him materially; --I
was skilful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I
could.
It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the
carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with excessive
warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a
tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical
cap and bells. I was so pleased to see him that I thought I should never have
done wringing his hand.
I said to him --"My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How
remarkably well you are looking to-day. But I have received a pipe of what
passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts."
"How?" said he. "Amontillado, A pipe? Impossible!
And in the middle of the carnival!"
"I have my doubts," I replied; "and I was silly
enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter.
You were not to be found, and I was fearful of losing a bargain."
"Amontillado!"
"I have my doubts."
"Amontillado!"
"And I must satisfy them."
"Amontillado!"
"As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchresi. If any one
has a critical turn it is he. He will tell me --"
"Luchresi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry."
"And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match
for your own.
"Come, let us go."
"Whither?"
"To your vaults."
"My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature. I
perceive you have an engagement. Luchresi--"
"I have no engagement; --come."
"My friend, no. It is not the engagement, but the severe cold
with which I perceive you are afflicted. The vaults are insufferably damp. They
are encrusted with nitre."
"Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely nothing.
Amontillado! You have been imposed upon. And as for Luchresi, he cannot
distinguish Sherry from Amontillado."
Thus speaking, Fortunato possessed himself of my arm; and putting
on a mask of black silk and drawing a roquelaire closely about my person, I
suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo.
There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry
in honour of the time. I had told them that I should not return until the
morning, and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house. These
orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappearance,
one and all, as soon as my back was turned.
I took from their sconces two flambeaux, and giving one to
Fortunato, bowed him through several suites of rooms to the archway that led
into the vaults. I passed down a long and winding staircase, requesting him to
be cautious as he followed. We came at length to the foot of the descent, and
stood together upon the damp ground of the catacombs of the Montresors.
The gait of my friend was unsteady, and the bells upon his cap
jingled as he strode.
"The pipe," he said.
"It is farther on," said I; "but observe the white
web-work which gleams from these cavern walls."
He turned towards me, and looked into my eves with two filmy orbs
that distilled the rheum of intoxication.
"Nitre?" he asked, at length.
"Nitre," I replied. "How long have you had that
cough?"
"Ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh!
ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh!"
My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes.
"It is nothing," he said, at last.
"Come," I said, with decision, "we will go back;
your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are
happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We
will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is
Luchresi --"
"Enough," he said; "the cough's a mere nothing; it
will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough."
"True --true," I replied; "and, indeed, I had no
intention of alarming you unnecessarily --but you should use all proper
caution. A draught of this Medoc will defend us from the damps.
Here I knocked off the neck of a bottle which I drew from a long
row of its fellows that lay upon the mould.
"Drink," I said, presenting him the wine.
He raised it to his lips with a leer. He paused and nodded to me
familiarly, while his bells jingled.
"I drink," he said, "to the buried that repose around
us."
"And I to your long life."
He again took my arm, and we proceeded.
"These vaults," he said, "are extensive."
"The Montresors," I replied, "were a great and
numerous family."
"I forget your arms."
"A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a
serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel."
"And the motto?"
"Nemo me impune lacessit."
"Good!" he said.
The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy
grew warm with the Medoc. 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 nitre!" 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 draught of the Medoc."
I broke and reached him a flagon of De Grave. He emptied it at a
breath. His eyes flashed with a fierce light. He laughed and threw the bottle
upwards with a gesticulation I did not understand.
I looked at him in surprise. He repeated the movement --a
grotesque one.
"You do not comprehend?" he said.
"Not I," I replied.
"Then you are not of the brotherhood."
"How?"
"You are not of the masons."
"Yes, yes," I said; "yes, yes."
"You? Impossible! A mason?"
"A mason," I replied.
"A sign," he said, "a sign."
"It is this," I answered, producing from beneath the
folds of my roquelaire a trowel.
"You jest," he exclaimed, recoiling a few paces.
"But let us proceed to the Amontillado."
"Be it so," I said, replacing the tool beneath the cloak
and again offering him my arm. He leaned upon it heavily. We continued our
route in search of the Amontillado. We passed through a range of low arches,
descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which
the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame.
At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less
spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault
overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. Three sides of this
interior crypt were still ornamented in this manner. From the fourth side the
bones had been thrown down, and lay promiscuously upon the earth, forming at
one point a mound of some size. Within the wall thus exposed by the displacing
of the bones, we perceived a still interior crypt or recess, in depth about
four feet, in width three, in height six or seven. It seemed to have been
constructed for no especial use within itself, but formed merely the interval
between two of the colossal supports of the roof of the catacombs, and was
backed by one of their circumscribing walls of solid granite.
It was in vain that Fortunato, uplifting his dull torch,
endeavoured 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. As
for Luchresi --"
"He is an ignoramus," interrupted my friend, as he
stepped unsteadily forward, while I followed immediately at his heels. In
niche, and finding an instant he had reached the extremity of the niche, and
finding his progress arrested by the rock, stood stupidly bewildered. A moment
more and I had fettered him to the granite. In its surface were two iron
staples, distant from each other about two feet, horizontally. From one of
these depended a short chain, from the other a padlock. Throwing the links
about his waist, it was but the work of a few seconds to secure it. He was too
much astounded to resist. Withdrawing the key I stepped back from the recess.
"Pass your hand," I said, "over the wall; you cannot
help feeling the nitre. Indeed, it is very damp. Once more let me implore you
to return. No? Then I must positively leave you. But I must first render you
all the little attentions in my power."
"The Amontillado!" ejaculated my friend, not yet recovered
from his astonishment.
"True," I replied; "the Amontillado."
As I said these words I busied myself among the pile of bones of
which I have before spoken. Throwing them aside, I soon uncovered a quantity of
building stone and mortar. With these materials and with the aid of my trowel,
I began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche.
I had scarcely laid the first tier of the masonry when I
discovered that the intoxication of Fortunato had in a great measure worn off.
The earliest indication I had of this was a low moaning cry from the depth of
the recess. It was not the cry of a drunken man. There was then a long and
obstinate silence. I laid the second tier, and the third, and the fourth; and
then I heard the furious vibrations of the chain. The noise lasted for several
minutes, during which, that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I
ceased my labours and sat down upon the bones. When at last the clanking
subsided, I resumed the trowel, and finished without interruption the fifth,
the sixth, and the seventh tier. The wall was now nearly upon a level with my
breast. I again paused, and holding the flambeaux over the mason-work, threw a
few feeble rays upon the figure within.
A succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting suddenly from
the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me violently back. For a brief
moment I hesitated, I trembled. Unsheathing my rapier, I began to grope with it
about the recess; but the thought of an instant reassured me. I placed my hand
upon the solid fabric of the catacombs, and felt satisfied. I reapproached the wall;
I replied to the yells of him who clamoured. I re-echoed, I aided, I surpassed
them in volume and in strength. I did this, and the clamourer grew still.
It was now midnight, and my task was drawing to a close. I had
completed the eighth, the ninth and the tenth tier. I had finished a portion of
the last and the eleventh; there remained but a single stone to be fitted and
plastered in. I struggled with its weight; I placed it partially in its
destined position. But now there came from out the niche a low laugh that
erected the hairs upon my head. It was succeeded by a sad voice, which I had
difficulty in recognizing as that of the noble Fortunato. The voice said--
"Ha! ha! ha! --he! he! he! --a very good joke, indeed --an
excellent jest. We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo --he!
he! he! --over our wine --he! he! he!"
"The Amontillado!" I said.
"He! he! he! --he! he! he! --yes, the Amontillado. But is it
not getting late? Will not they be awaiting us at the palazzo, the Lady
Fortunato and the rest? Let us be gone."
"Yes," I said, "let us be gone."
"For the love of God, Montresor!"
"Yes," I said, "for the love of God!"
But to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply. I grew
impatient. I called aloud --
"Fortunato!"
No answer. I called again --
"Fortunato!"
No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture
and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of the
bells. My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it
so. I hastened to make an end of my labour. I forced the last stone into its
position; I plastered it up. Against the new masonry I re-erected the old
rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In
pace requiescat!
“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe vocabulary words QUIZ on Wednesday. January 10
1. cask (noun)….a cylindrical container that holds liquids
2. to venture (verb)…to proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers
3. vow (noun); to vow (verb)- a promise or to promise
4. avenge (verb)- to take action for a perceived wrong
5. to preclude (verb)- to make possible, especially beforehand
6. impunity (noun)- exemption from punishment or loss
7. wont (noun)- one’s usually way of doing something, an established custom
8. to accost (verb)- to approach or speak to someone aggressively
9. to abscond (verb)- to run away, usually taking something or someone along
10. feeble (adjective)- pathetically lacking in effort
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