by Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

 Born 1809 Died 1849  Orphan at the age of two  Never adopted but lived with a childless couple  Dropped out of college after a gambling debt  Expelled from military training  Made living from selling short stories  Author, not the narrator of the story, “The Cask of Amontillado”  Developed characters whose sanity is questionable  Father of the short story genre

 Moved in with his aunt and 12 year old cousin  Virginia (cousin) becomes his wife at age 13  Poe gained fame for his writing  Virginia dies from Tuberculosis  Poe became depressed and an alcoholic  Most of his stories deal with death, murder, and cannibalism  Remembered for being the first American writers to become a major figure in world lit

 Sherry wine from the Amontillado Mountains  Only made in Spain

 Means a wooden container for storing wine

 Potassium Nitrate Salt  Known as saltpeter  Salt of the rock  Minerals that leach through soil  Hangs from ceiling of catacombs

 Hand tool used by brick masons

European Carnival

 “Carn” means meat  “Val” means farewell  A secular holiday like Mardi Gras(not religious)  Evolved from the Christian practice of Lent  40 day fast prior to Easter (giving up something one enjoys)  Traditionally, fasting during Lent involves not eating meat  Anticipation of Lent led to extravagant farewell celebration

 Carnival is a time of excess indulgence  Bingeing upon food and alcohol  People partied in the streets  Wore masques (masquerade)  Combination of anonymity and alcohol--- people felt they could get away with …?

 “Cities of the dead” undergroun d  Sites for Early Christian worship  In the late 18 th century, people who could not afford proper burials were dumped there  The wealthy had catacombs under their estates where they buried their own relatives

Catacomb

 Wine was often stored in the catacombs  Wine does well where temperatures stay constantly cool year round

 Secret Society – by invite only  Member of the fraternity of Freemasons, a worldwide charitable organization OR….  One whose occupation is to build with stone or brick

 Italy  “It was dusk one evening during the supreme madness of the Carnival.”  A crime could easily go undetected  The narrator plans revenge

 Haughty wine connoisseur (expert)  His name suggest good fortune or luck Verbal Irony  Dressed up as a jester for carnival (his hat has bells on it that jingle)

 Not an actual character  Helps drive the plot!