MANCHESTER COLLEGE
Department of Education
LESSON PLAN by: Stephanie Hofer
Lesson: The Cask of Amontillado
Length: three class periods: each 70 minutes
*This is written as a continuous lesson plan, but will last about three class periods.
Whatever cannot be finished in the first class period will be continued into the
second and third class periods.
Age or Grade Intended: Spanish II students
Academic Standard(s):
MH 10.2.2
Demonstrate comprehension of both authentic and non-authentic written
and spoken language through developmentally appropriate tasks.
MH 10.2.3
Make educated guesses about meaning in familiar contexts, using cognates
and familiar vocabulary.
MH 10.5.2
Integrate content area concepts and skills through relevant activities.
MH 10.7.1
Recognize and use cognates, words shared between English and the target
language, and word families to expand vocabulary and guess meaning.
MH 10.7.2
Recognize and use simple language structures.
Performance Objectives:
1. Given a copy of The Cask of Amontillado (attached), students will read the story out loud
as a class for participation, verified by the teacher.
2. Given the Cask of Amontillado Vocabulary sheet (attached), students will utilize each
vocabulary word properly in a sentence in both the target language and English to enhance
understanding of the story‘s complex vocabulary, scoring all four possible points. (Each
vocabulary word will be worth four points: correct usage and sentence structure in English
and correct usage and sentence structure in Spanish.)
3. Given a copy of the comprehension questions located at the back of the story (attached to
the copy of the story), student will answer each question in groups, verified by the teacher
for completion.
4. Given the Class Walk Around Activity Questions (attached) written on a large post-it note
or poster, student will answer each question category by walking around the room in
groups to enhance their understanding of the story, verified by the teacher for participation.
5. Given the Relate-a-Quote Activity (attached) with each quote on a separate sheet of paper,
students will discuss the relevance of the quote to the story in groups, verified by the
teacher for participation.
Assessment: Because this is a three day lesson, the assessment is divided between each day.
Because I do not know exactly how long each activity will take, I designed the lesson so that
once one activity was finished we could move on to the next; if an activity takes more than the
length of the class period, it can be finished at the start of the next class. I have also included
some enrichment ideas in case these activities do not take the full class period for three days. The
first activity involves the teacher assigning a specific student a specific part of the story. (The
assigned parts include: Montresor, Fortunato, and Luchesi.) The class will read the story out loud
through a student-led manner. This is a participation exercise; those that are not reading should
be focused and following along. The second activity introduces the students to the vocabulary,
using the Vocabulary Sheet (attached) to gain further knowledge of the story. Students will turn
in when finished so the teacher can check for: the Spanish translation of each word, each word‘s
definition in English, and using the word in one sentence in both English and Spanish. This
assignment will be worth a total of 36 points (each vocabulary word will be worth four points):
correct usage and sentence structure in English and correct usage and sentence structure in
Spanish. The third activity asks students to answer the comprehension questions on paper that
are located at the end of the text. These questions can be answered in small groups, but must be
turned in for a completion grade. The idea behind this task is that students will gain further
understanding of the text, leading to a class discussion about the answers. The fourth task is for
the teacher to show students a video of the story , which is about 20 minutes long. During the
movie, students are expected to be attentive and listen. (http://vimeo.com/14854607) The fifth
task is the Class Walk Around Activity Questions (attached). The boxes on the attached page
will be written on poster-size post-it notes and placed around the room. Students will be placed
into groups. One group will start at each poster and answer the questions. When the teacher says
‗switch‘ the students will rotate posters until each group has answered each set of questions
(there are four sets of questions). The answers will be written directly on the poster! Students are
expected to fully evaluate and put thought into each question and participate fully. The final task
is the Relate-a-Quote Activity (attached). The famous quotes on the attached page will be written
on a piece of paper. Students will be divided into groups and each group will be given one of
these five quotes. The students‘ goal is to write down three ways that each quote relates to the
central idea of the story. Again, each group will rotate the quote until each group has seen each
of the five quotes once. This is also designed as a participation exercise, but it will ideally lead to
a productive class discussion, ending the lesson on Edgar Allen Poe‘s The Cask of Amontillado.
Advanced Preparation by Teacher:
6. Pre-read the story. Understand the basic plot and be ready to ask questions. Refer to the
Teacher‘s Notes (attached) if necessary during class discussion.
7. Find a copy of the story (attached) and give each student one.
8. Make and copy the vocabulary list/worksheet (attached)
9. Make sure that the version of the story the teacher picks has comprehension questions at
the end! (My version already had comprehension questions. If the version found does not
have comprehension questions, make some.)
10. Find a good video clip that covers the story (example: http://vimeo.com/14854607)
11. Prepare the Class Walk Around Activity Questions (attached) and find large post-it notes or
posters
12. Prepare the Relate-a-Quote Activity (attached) and put each quote on a separate sheet of
paper
Procedure:
Introduction/Motivation: ¡Hola, clase! (Hello, class.) Since we are nearing Halloween, I
wanted to spend a few days on a fun scary story. Has anyone ever heard of a story or seen a
movie in which someone was buried alive? Well, that is the topic of today‘s story. We will
be talking about Edgar Allen Poe‘s The Cask of Amontillado.
Step-by-Step Plan:
1. Assign a specific student a specific part of the story. The assigned parts include:
Montresor, Fortunato, and Luchesi. Read the story as a class through a student-led
manner.
(Gardner: Visual/Spatial, Verbal/Linguistic)
(Bloom‘s: What do we already know about this story? – Knowledge)
(Bloom‘s: Summarize the story. – Comprehension)
2. Introduce students to the vocabulary list to gain further knowledge of the story.
Students will: (turn in when finished)
 look up the Spanish translation of each word
 Write each word‘s definition in English.
 Use the word in one sentence in both English and Spanish.
(Gardner: Intrapersonal, Visual/Spatial, Verbal/Linguistic)
(Bloom‘s: Utilize each word in a sentence. – Application)
3. Students will answer the comprehension questions on paper that are located at the
end of the text. These questions can be answered in small groups.
(Gardner: Interpersonal, Visual/Spatial, Verbal/Linguistic)
(Bloom‘s: How is this story related to Spanish class? – Analysis)
(Bloom‘s: Identify the different parts of the story to help you answer the questions.
– Analysis)
4. Use the answers students wrote to the comprehension questions at the end of the
text and lead a class discussion.
(Gardner: Interpersonal)
(Bloom‘s: How would you adapt the story to create a different ending? – Synthesis)
5. Show students a video of the story (about 20 minutes): http://vimeo.com/14854607
(Gardner: Visual/Spatial)
(Bloom‘s: Why do think the director of the movie chose to eliminate some of the
lines from the story? – Evaluation)
(Bloom‘s: Even with those lines eliminated, did the movie still follow the story? –
Evaluation)
6. Class Walk Around Activity Questions (attached): These boxes will be written on
poster-size post-it notes and placed around the room. Students will be placed into
groups. One group will start at each poster and answer the questions. When the
teacher says ‗switch‘ the students will rotate posters until each group has answered
each set of questions (there are four sets of questions). The answers will be written
directly on the poster!
(Gardner: Interpersonal, Visual/Spatial, Verbal/Linguistic, Bodily-Kinesthetic)
(Bloom‘s: What choice would you have made if you were Montresor? Fortunato? –
Evaluation)
(Bloom‘s: Varying levels of Bloom‘s are embedded into the questions on the poster
during the Class Walk Around Activity Questions)
7. Relate-a-Quote Activity (attached): These famous quotes will be written on a piece
of paper. Students will be divided into groups and each group will be given one of
these five quotes. The students‘ goal is to write down three ways that each quote
relates to the central idea of the story. Again, each group will rotate the quote until
each group has seen each of the five quotes once.
(Gardner: Interpersonal, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Visual/Spatial, Logical/Mathematical,
Verbal/Linguistic)
(Bloom‘s: How does this quote relate to the story? – Analysis)
Closure: I hope that you enjoyed Edgar Allen Poe‘s story and that you understand why we
read this story in Spanish class. Tomorrow, we will talk about another fun story that relates
to Halloween and compare the two stories. ¡Hasta mañana chicos!
Adaptations/Enrichment:
Enrichment: If this lesson finished early, the teacher could:
 Ask students for examples of other stories with the same general plot
 Ask students to write a scary story, using important people or objects from the
target culture
 Have students recreate the ending of the story (and end it differently)
 Readdress the vocabulary from the vocabulary worksheet
 Have students write a version of the story in the target language
Self-Reflection:
 Was the lesson successful?
 Were students engaged in each of the lesson‘s activities?
 Did this activity make sense to the students?
 Did the students understand my directions for each activity?
 Was this type of assessment appropriate?
 What would I do differently next time to improve the lesson?
 Which activity needs the most adjustment for next time?
Lesson Specific:
 Were students able to read the story fluently without multiple pronunciation problems?
 Were students able to gain further understanding from the vocabulary sheet? Should I have
done this first before reading?
 Were the comprehension questions from the text appropriate or should I have developed
my own?
 Did the video cover enough of the text to help students understand the text? Was the video
truly helpful for student understanding?
 Was the Class Walk Around Activity Questions an educational way to get students moving
and put deep thought into the content? Were students on task during this activity or did it
provide for too much down time?
 Was the Relate-a-Quote Activity a good way to bring in other ideas besides just the text?
Teacher’s Notes
The Cask of Amontillado
Adapted from: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/poestories/characters.html
*Used by the teacher in case students have questions or to add to class discussions.
Montresor - The narrator, Montresor, murders Fortunato for insulting him by walling him up
alive behind bricks in a wine cellar.
Fortunato - A wine expert murdered by Montresor. Dressed as a court jester, Fortunato falls
prey to Montresor‘s scheme at a particularly carefree moment during a carnival.
Luchesi - Luchesi isn‘t really a character. He‘s more of a plot device. He helps drive the action.
Luchesi is Fortunato‘s rival in wine tasting. Montresor doesn‘t really need to bring up Luchesi to
lure Fortunato to his dire fate. The prospect of Amontillado is enough. Luchesi is a kind of
insurance for Montresor. He brings Luchesi up whenever he wants to keep Fortunato distracted –
like right before he ―fetter[s] him to the granite.‖ But again, Montresor doesn‘t really need to
evoke the name of Luchesi. Fortunato is not only drunk, but also willing to do anything to get to
the Amontillado. Montresor is just playing with him, exploiting Fortunato‘s ―weak point[s],‖
with a little help from Luchesi.
―Fortunato‖
In ―The Cask of Amontillado,‖ Poe uses Fortunato‘s name symbolically, as an ironic device. Though his name means ―the
fortunate one‖in Italian, Fortunato meets an unfortunate fate as the victim of Montresor‘s revenge. Fortunato adds to the irony of
his name by wearing the costume of a court jester. While Fortunato plays in jest, Montresor sets out to fool him, with murderous
results.
Summary
The narrator, Montresor, opens the story by stating that he has been irreparably insulted by his acquaintance, Fortunato, and that
he seeks revenge. He wants to exact this revenge, however, in a measured way, without placing himself at risk. He decides to use
Fortunato‘s fondness for wine against him. During the carnival season, Montresor, wearing a mask of black silk, approaches
Fortunato. He tells Fortunato that he has acquired something that could pass for Amontillado, a light Spanish sherry. Fortunato
(Italian for―fortunate‖) wears the multicolored costume of the jester, including a cone cap with bells. Montresor tells Fortunato
that if he is too busy, he will ask a man named Luchesi to taste it. Fortunato apparently considers Luchesi a competitor and
claims that this man could not tell Amontillado from other types of sherry. Fortunato is anxious to taste the wine and to determine
for Montresor whether or not it is truly Amontillado. Fortunato insists that they go to Montresor‘s vaults.
Montresor has strategically planned for this meeting by sending his servants away to the carnival. The two men descend into the
damp vaults, which are covered with nitre, or saltpeter, a whitish mineral. Apparently aggravated by the nitre, Fortunato begins to
cough. The narrator keeps offering to bring Fortunato back home, but Fortunato refuses. Instead, he accepts wine as the antidote
to his cough. The men continue to explore the deep vaults, which are full of the dead bodies of the Montresor family. In response
to the crypts, Fortunato claims to have forgotten Montresor‘s family coat of arms and motto. Montresor responds that his family
shield portrays ―a huge human foot d‘or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the
heel.‖ The motto, in Latin, is ―nemo me impune lacessit,‖ that is, ―no one attacks me with impunity.‖
Later in their journey, Fortunato makes a hand movement that is a secret sign of the Masons, an exclusive fraternal organization.
Montresor does not recognize this hand signal, though he claims that he is a Mason. When Fortunato asks for proof, Montresor
shows him his trowel, the implication being that Montresor is an actual stonemason. Fortunato says that he must be jesting, and
the two men continue onward. The men walk into a crypt, where human bones decorate three of the four walls. The bones from
the fourth wall have been thrown down on the ground. On the exposed wall is a small recess, where Montresor tells Fortunato
that the Amontillado is being stored. Fortunato, now heavily intoxicated, goes to the back of the recess. Montresor then suddenly
chains the slow-footed Fortunato to a stone.
Taunting Fortunato with an offer to leave, Montresor begins to wall up the entrance to this small crypt, thereby trapping
Fortunato inside. Fortunato screams confusedly as Montresor builds the first layer of the wall. The alcohol soon wears off and
Fortunato moans, terrified and helpless. As the layers continue to rise, though, Fortunato falls silent. Just as Montresor is about to
finish, Fortunato laughs as if Montresor is playing a joke on him, but Montresor is not joking. At last, after a final plea, ―For the
love of God, Montresor!‖ Fortunato stops answering Montresor, who then twice calls out his enemy‘s name. After no response,
Montresor claims that his heart feels sick because of the dampness of the catacombs. He fits the last stone into place and plasters
the wall closed, his actions accompanied only by the jingling of Fortunato‘s bells. He finally repositions the bones on the fourth
wall. For fifty years, he writes, no one has disturbed them. He concludes with a Latin phrase meaning ―May he rest in peace.‖
Analysis
The terror of ―The Cask of Amontillado,‖ as in many of Poe‘s tales, resides in the lack of evidence that accompanies Montresor‘s
claims to Fortunato‘s ―thousand injuries‖ and ―insult.‖ The story features revenge and secret murder as a way to avoid using legal
channels for retribution. Law is nowhere on Montresor‘s—or Poe‘s—radar screen, and the enduring horror of the story is the fact
of punishment without proof. Montresor uses his subjective experience of Fortunato‘s insult to name himself judge, jury, and
executioner in this tale, which also makes him an unreliable narrator. Montresor confesses this story fifty years after its
occurrence; such a significant passage of time between the events and the narration of the events makes the narrative all the more
unreliable. Montresor‘s unreliability overrides the rational consideration of evidence, such as particular occurrences of insult, that
would necessarily precede any guilty sentence in a non-Poe world. ―The Cask of Amontillado‖ takes subjective interpretation—
the fact that different people interpret the same things differently—to its horrific endpoint.
Poe‘s use of color imagery is central to his questioning of Montresor‘s motives. His face covered in a black silk mask, Montresor
represents not blind justice but rather its Gothic opposite: biased revenge. In contrast, Fortunato dons the motley-colored costume
of the court fool, who gets literally and tragically fooled by Montresor‘s masked motives. The color schemes here represent the
irony of Fortunato‘s death sentence. Fortunato, Italian for ―the fortunate one,‖ faces the realization that even the carnival season
can be murderously serious. Montresor chooses the setting of the carnival for its abandonment of social order. While the carnival
usually indicates joyful social interaction, Montresor distorts its merry abandon, turning the carnival on its head. The repeated
allusions to the bones of Montresor‘s family that line the vaults foreshadow the story‘s descent into the underworld. The two
men‘s underground travels are a metaphor for their trip to hell. Because the carnival, in the land of the living, does not occur as
Montresor wants it to, he takes the carnival below ground, to the realm of the dead and the satanic.
To build suspense in the story, Poe often employs foreshadowing. For example, when Fortunato says, ―I shall not die of a cough,‖
Montresor replies, ―True,‖ because he knows that Fortunato will in fact die from dehydration and starvation in the crypt.
Montresor‘s description of his family‘s coat of arms also foreshadows future events. The shield features a human foot crushing a
tenacious serpent. In this image, the foot represents Montresor and the serpent represents Fortunato. Although Fortunato has hurt
Montresor with biting insults, Montresor will ultimately crush him. The conversation about Masons also foreshadows Fortunato‘s
demise. Fortunato challenges Montresor‘s claim that he is a member of the Masonic order, and Montresor replies insidiously with
a visual pun. When he declares that he is a ―mason‖by showing his trowel, he means that he is a literal stonemason—that is, that
he constructs things out of stones and mortar, namely Fortunato‘s grave.
The final moments of conversation between Montresor and Fortunato heighten the horror and suggest that Fortunato ultimately—
and ironically—achieves some type of upper hand over Montresor. Fortunato‘s plea, ―For the love of God, Montresor!‖ has
provoked much critical controversy. Some critics suggest that Montresor has at last brought Fortunato to the pit of desperation
and despair, indicated by his invocation of a God that has long left him behind. Other critics, however, argue that Fortunato
ultimately mocks the ―love of God,‖thereby employing the same irony that Montresor has effectively used to lure him to the
crypts. These are Fortunato‘s final words, and the strange desperation that Montresor demonstrates in response suggests that he
needs Fortunato more than he wants to admit. Only when he twice screams ―Fortunato!‖ loudly, with no response, does
Montresor claim to have a sick heart. The reasons for Fortunato‘s silence are unclear, but perhaps his willing refusal to answer
Montresor is a type of strange victory in otherwise dire circumstances.
Nombre____________________________________ Período__________
Cask of Amontillado Vocabulary
Below is a list of terms that would be beneficial to know and understand in both English and
Spanish.




Look up the Spanish translation of each word
Write each word‘s definition in English.
Use the word in one sentence in both English and Spanish.
Follow the example below.
Cask‐el barril‐ A cask is a container made and shaped like a barrel and holds liquids such as
wine.
I have 70 casks of wine in the basement. Tengo setenta barriles de vino en el sótano.
Amontillado‐___________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Catacomb‐_____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Impunity‐______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Immolation‐____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Irony‐_________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Revenge‐______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Carnival‐______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Palazzo‐_______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Foreshadowing‐_________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
The Cask of Amontillado
Class Walk Around Activity Questions
These boxes will be written on poster-size post-it notes and placed around the room.
NARRATOR:
1. How do you feel about the narrator?
2. Do his feelings seem justified?
3. How does Poe make the narrator‘s
character seem more sympathetic than
we would expect him to be in this
story?
1.
2.
3.
4.
1.
2.
3.
4.
GENERAL CHARACTERS:
Which character seems more likeable at
the beginning?
Which character seems more likeable in
the middle of the story?
Which character seems more likeable at
the end of the story?
Did you think that Montressor‘s actions
were justified? Why or why not?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
FORTUNADO:
What does Fortunado‘s name seem to
imply about his character
What does Fortunado‘s dress imply
about his character?
How does Fortunado seem to feel about
the narrator?
How do you feel about Fortunado?
STORY COMPREHENSION:
How was this story ironic?
How would you change the ending?
How is setting important in this story?
What other stories to you know of that
have a similar plot?
Why do you think we read this story in
Spanish class?
The Cask of Amontillado
Relate-a-Quote Activity
These famous quotes will be written on a piece of paper. Students will be divided into groups
and each group will be given one of these five quotes. The students‘ goal is to write down three
ways that each quote relates to the central idea of the story.
1. ―An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.‖ -- Mahatma Gandhi
2. ―Don't get mad, get even.‖ -- Robert F. Kennedy
3. ―She got even in a way that was almost cruel. She forgave them.‖ -- Ralph McGill
about Eleanor Roosevelt
4. ―Success is the sweetest revenge.‖ -- Vanessa Williams
5. ―Revenge is often like biting a dog because the dog bit you.‖ -- Austin O'Malley
*Ideas for this part of the lesson were taken and adapted from:
http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/2259