Q 01/05

Its title names a foreign wine, but in which country is The Cask of Amontillado usually said to take place?

A) Spain

B) Italy

C) Greece

D) Portugal

Answer · why

B) Italy

Italy is the usual reading, though Poe never names the place. Montresor sneers that few Italians have real taste, and says most fake it to fool rich f...

Q 02/05

Amontillado, the bait in Poe's The Cask of Amontillado, is a variety of which fortified wine?

A) Port

B) Madeira

C) Marsala

D) Sherry

Answer · why

D) Sherry

Sherry is the very wine Fortunato sneers that a rival cannot tell from Amontillado. The boast undercuts the supposed expert, because Amontillado is it...

Q 03/05

During which festive season does Montresor meet a drunken Fortunato in The Cask of Amontillado?

A) Carnival

B) Christmas

C) Easter

D) Midsummer

Answer · why

A) Carnival

Carnival gives Montresor perfect cover: Fortunato is already drunk and in costume, and the servants have slipped away to join the fun. The house stand...

Q 04/05

What costume has the drunken Fortunato chosen for the festival in The Cask of Amontillado?

A) A plague doctor

B) A court jester

C) A Roman soldier

D) A sea captain

Answer · why

B) A court jester

A court jester's motley is what Fortunato has on, a tight striped suit and a pointed cap. Poe sends the self-styled expert to his death dressed, quite...

Q 05/05

The Montresor arms in The Cask of Amontillado show a gold foot crushing which heel-biting creature?

A) A scorpion

B) A spider

C) A serpent

D) A hound

Answer · why

C) A serpent

A serpent sinks its fangs into the very foot that crushes it. The image reads two ways: Montresor as the foot stamping out an offender, or as the bite...