Essential question
When Montresor says his heart grows sick because of the damp, what does the surrounding evidence allow us to question?
Marked passage
- Passage location
- Final wall
- Start anchor
- A succession of loud and shrill screams
- End anchor
- For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!
Montresor explains away his hesitation
Ways to teach it
Listening
Listen to the exact passage; visual following is optional. Same question and evidence demand.
Solo
Read the exact passage independently.
Supported
Use narration and sentence highlighting while reading the same passage.
Teacher guide
Close
Name the single detail that most changed or sharpened your interpretation, and explain why.
Evidence
Use Montresor's stated damp explanation and contrast it with what is happening around him—Fortunato's suffering, the final silence, or Montresor's own hesitation.
Mark
Box Montresor’s explanation for why his heart grows sick. Then underline the details immediately before and after it that suggest another possible cause. In the margin, write what emotion Montresor refuses to name.
Instructional move
Compare a narrator's explanation with the evidence around it
Notice
• What evidence supports Montresor’s explanation about the damp? • What evidence makes guilt, pity, fear, or horror plausible alternatives? • Why might an unreliable self-explanation matter more here than an outright lie?
Strong answer
Montresor blames the damp for his sickened heart, but the surrounding scene makes guilt, pity, fear, or horror plausible alternatives. The narrator's explanation is possible but suspiciously convenient because it protects his self-image at the moment of murder.
Think
Answer provisionally: When Montresor says his heart grows sick because of the damp, what does the surrounding evidence allow us to question? Choose the strongest interpretation you can defend from this passage alone.
Watch for
Do not insist the text proves Montresor feels guilt. The strongest answer explains why the evidence permits doubt without pretending the alternative motive is certain.
Why this passage
Near the end, Montresor reports a moment of sickness and immediately blames the damp air. Because the surrounding scene contains the suffering of the man he is killing, the explanation invites the reader to test whether Montresor is reporting cause honestly or protecting his self-image.
Write
Write a short evidence-based response to: When Montresor says his heart grows sick because of the damp, what does the surrounding evidence allow us to question? Use at least two details from the assigned passage and explain how they support your interpretation.
Student tasks
Mark
Box Montresor’s explanation for why his heart grows sick. Then underline the details immediately before and after it that suggest another possible cause. In the margin, write what emotion Montresor refuses to name.
Notice
What evidence supports Montresor’s explanation about the damp? What evidence makes guilt, pity, fear, or horror plausible alternatives? Why might an unreliable self-explanation matter more here than an outright lie?
Think
Answer provisionally: When Montresor says his heart grows sick because of the damp, what does the surrounding evidence allow us to question?
Write
Write a short response using at least two pieces of evidence from this passage. Use evidence from the assigned passage. Show what you noticed and how the text supports your interpretation.