Begin planning to write a narrative essay using the Narrative Organizer.

Choose one of the following topics for your narrative essay.

In the short story, "The Cask of Amontillado," the reader is never told what the exact insult was that caused Montresor to seek revenge against Fortunato. Write to tell what happened before the story begins in "The Cask of Amontillado."

or

In the short story, "The Cask of Amontillado," the reader is never told what becomes of Montresor after he completes his plot against Fortunato. Write to tell what happened after the story ends in "The Cask of Amontillado."

You will only submit Part One of your Narrative Organizer, though you will be completely writing a narrative essay of 1,000 to 1,500 words in subsequent lessons.

"The Cask of Amontillado" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book.

The story is set in an unnamed Italian city at carnival time in an unspecified year, and is about a man taking fatal revenge on a friend who, he believes, has insulted him. Like several of Poe's stories, and in keeping with the 19th-century fascination with the subject, the narrative revolves around a person being buried alive-in this case, by immurement. As in "The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart", Poe conveys the story from the murderer's perspective.

Plot summary

The story's narrator, Montresor, tells the story of the day that he took his revenge on Fortunato, a fellow nobleman, to an unspecified person who knows him very well. Angry over numerous injuries and some unspecified insult, he plots to murder his friend during Carnival when the man is drunk, dizzy, and wearing a jester's motley.