Poe's narrator opens: "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge." What does starting with the vow do?

In "The Cask of Amontillado," Montresor names "the thousand injuries" and an insult, but never says what Fortunato actually did. What does withholding the motive achieve?

Poe's narrator says: "I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation." What does telling us this early create?

In Poe's story Fortunato drinks "to the buried that repose around us." Montresor answers, "And I to your long life." What does the reply do for a reader who knows the vow?

Fortunato says, "the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough." Montresor answers "True--true" and offers more wine. What makes this ironic?

Again and again Montresor urges his victim to turn back: "Come, we will go back ere it is too late. Your cough--" What does this repeated urging do?

Fortunato demands a sign of the masons. Montresor answers, "It is this," producing "a trowel from beneath the folds of my roquelaire." What does the trowel set up?

Asked for his family motto, Montresor answers, "Nemo me impune lacessit" -- no one attacks me unpunished. He has already vowed to "punish with impunity." What does the motto do here?

Montresor describes his arms: "a huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel." What does the detail foreshadow?

Only when the pair reach the palazzo does Montresor mention that he told the servants "that I should not return until the morning," knowing they would leave. What does saving this detail do?

Poe has Montresor count the wall: "I laid the second tier, and the third, and the fourth; and then I heard the furious vibrations of the chain." What does counting the tiers do?

After the screams, Montresor admits: "For a brief moment I hesitated--I trembled." What does letting the killer report his own hesitation do?

From the sealed niche Fortunato calls it "a very good joke indeed--an excellent jest" and expects "many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo" later. What does Poe gain from this?

Fortunato cries, "For the love of God, Montresor!" Montresor repeats the phrase back, almost word for word, and says nothing else. What does the echo, rather than an answer, do?

Montresor calls twice and gets no answer. "I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells." What does this reply tell the reader?

Montresor says, "My heart grew sick on account of the dampness of the catacombs." What does the second half of that sentence do?

Poe's last lines: "For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!" What does saving this until the end do to everything before it?

Montresor's first paragraph says: "You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat." What does this "you" add?

"The Cask of Amontillado" has no outside narrator to correct or confirm Montresor. What does the absence of that second voice do to the reader?

Poe dresses Fortunato in "the conical cap and bells" while Montresor puts on "a mask of black silk" before leading him down. What does the pairing prepare the reader for?