ENG-215 HW#1

The Cask of Amontillado 1. From the text I inferred that Montresor was probably wealthy and may have been some sort of nobility. This is evident because he has a family crest and says that the Montresors were a great and numerous family. He had a wine cellar in his family catacombs large enough that all the dialogue could have taken place while walking through it. He says that he has servants, when he mentions how he got rid of them. Montresor may have been an unreliable narrator. He seems egotistical in that he must be acknowledged by the reader for his brilliant plan. He also seems jealous of Fortunatos place in society, feeling that he deserves it. The fact that he thought up and carried out this plan implies that he is mentally unstable, and so may be unreliable. 2. This question is answered in my other paper. 3. Poe uses foreshadowing to heighten the suspense in the story. Montresor repeatedly asks Fortunato to turn back for his own health, foreshadowing his death at in the catacombs. Montresors description of the family arms and motto along with the readers knowledge that Fortunato has injured Montresor and that Montresor intends revenge creates suspense.

Montresor shows Fortunato the trowel he intends to wall him in with when Fortunato asks if he is a mason. All these things foreshadow Fortunatos death and add suspense by increasing the likelihood that Fortunato will turn back or discover Montresors plan. The outcome is never really in doubt because Montresor is telling the story after the fact and his ego suggests that his plan must have worked for him to be telling the story. It is possible that the story may have been the story of how Fortunato escaped his devious plan, but that seems less likely. Roman Fever 1. The first hint that there may be a submerged conflict is when Mrs. Slade thinks that she would rather live opposite a speakeasy, than opposite Mrs. Ansley as she considers Mrs. Ansley boring. She not only thinks it but tells her friends as a joke and slight against Mrs. Ansley and doesnt really care if Mrs. Ansley finds out. Mrs. Slades confident personality is shown when she calls over the head waiter and informs him that they will be staying, while Mrs. Ansley was nervous of what the head waiter was thinking and avoided him. At the end Mrs. Slade is dumbfounded and Mrs. Ansley gets up and decides that they should leave and Mrs. Slade follows her lead. Mrs. Ansley says that she is sorry for Mrs. Slade, seeing how jealousy has ravaged her. When Mrs. Slade tries to hurt Mrs. Ansley by saying that she never had anything of Mr. Slade, but a letter he didnt write, Mrs. Ansley doesnt just take it as she normally may have, she throws back a crusher at Mrs. Slade. 2. Dramatic irony comes into play after reading Roman Fever, because neither character is aware of what really happened, but each character thinks that only they know what happened.

We know after reading that Mrs. Slade is leading up to her revelation of having written the letter when she brings up the story about Mrs. Ansleys great-aunt and of Mrs. Ansleys illness after shed written the letter. The full story is that Mrs. Slade wrote the letter to test her friend, to make sure she wasnt interested in her fianc. Mrs. Ansley doesnt know this. Mrs. Slade doesnt know that Mrs. Ansley answered the letter and met Mr. Slade in the Colosseum. Mrs. Slade also doesnt know that Mrs. Ansleys illness was pregnancy and that Barbara is Mr. Slades daughter. The turning point for Mrs. Slade is her one last attempt not to hate Mrs. Ansley. The turning point for Mrs. Ansley is when Mrs. Slade apologizes for getting Mrs. Ansley sick; this causes Mrs. Ansley to reveal that she hadnt waited in the Colloseum. Another turning point for Mrs. Ansley is when Mrs. Slade insists that Mrs. Ansley should not feel sorry for her, that she should feel sorry for Mrs. Ansley. This prompts Mrs. Ansley to reveal that Barbara is Mr. Slades daughter. 3. The similarities of the womens and their daughters experiences of courtship in Rome are the two pairs spending time with each other while being courted and both sets appreciating the beauty of the city. The differences are that the younger girls go pretty much unsupervised, they are allowed out at night, when the older pair wasnt. The younger pair seem to take care of their mothers while the older pair were taken care of.