The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

 

Throughout secondary school, if given a choice of classic authors to read from, most students would immediately choose Poe. Poe is considerably different in many ways when it comes to what we think of when we think of classic authors. Poe builds upon the gothic, the dread to be found in one's imagination, the sheer horror that causes the blood to pump in our ears. Because Poe can get us to feel suspense and dread in such unique ways, students tend to enjoy him. When they think of classic authors, they think of dull stories that put them to sleep not only because of their plots but because of the intense vocabulary to be found within the stories. Poe's plots are anything but boring, yet he is still able to maintain such sophisticated vocabulary all the same. This is why he is a dream to teach for English teachers.

My favorite story by Poe was read in my freshman year of high school. The story was not inherently gruesome or horrifying. The way it captured me was by its suspense. I knew of the beef the narrator had with his victim, and the victim was blind to any indication that he was in grave danger. Knowing this and not knowing exactly what the narrator intended to do create such a feeling of being on edge.  The story is called "The Cask of Amontillado." I don't remember what we ended up doing with this short story in class, but it was impactful enough for me to remember this story and want to rave about it.

I would teach this story to either a freshman honors class or a regular sophomore/junior class. I would probably have us read the story together out loud but break it up into chunks and analyze what Poe did with the story and why he did it. I would want to look for foreshadowing, point of view, themes, symbolism, tone, irony etc. I want students to recognize what makes Poe so brilliant.

And of course, this would be a Halloween unit to get students into the spirit of the holiday.