RL.8.6: Dramatic Irony and How What Readers Know Creates Suspense and Humor
In plain English: RL.8.6 is the Common Core grade 8 ELA standard that asks students to analyze how differences between what characters know and what the reader or audience knows, for example through dramatic irony, create effects such as suspense or humor. It builds on RL.7.6, which compares the points of view of characters and narrators.
Analyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the audience or reader (e.g., created through the use of dramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy · Domain: Reading Standards for Literature · Cluster: Craft and Structure · Official standard
Students analyze how a difference between what a character knows and what the reader or audience knows creates an effect such as suspense or humor. The official example is dramatic irony: the reader knows something a character does not, so the character's words mean one thing to the character and something else to us. The lesson starts with Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado, whose narrator tells the reader on the first page that he has vowed revenge, and then spends the story being friendly to the man he plans to kill. The gap creates suspense and a dark kind of humor.
Students then work on their own with Anton Chekhov's one-act comedy The Proposal, where the audience learns early why a nervous neighbor has come to visit, and a character on stage does not. The same kind of gap now makes the audience laugh. The homework returns to Poe for the story's deeper scenes and ending. The key move is always the same: say who knows what, say who does not, and explain what that difference makes the reader feel.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Identify what a character knows or believes and what the reader or audience knows at a given moment
Explain dramatic irony and find examples of it in a story and in a play
Analyze how a difference in points of view creates suspense, with evidence from the text
Analyze how a difference in points of view creates humor, with evidence from the text
Explain how a line with a double meaning works on the character and on the reader
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
Analyzing how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators RL.7.6
Citing the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis RL.8.1
Analyzing how lines of dialogue reveal a character or propel the action RL.8.3
Reading a play script with speaker names and stage directions
"Picture two movie scenes. In the first, you can see a stranger hiding behind a door, and a girl says, 'I'll just grab my phone from the other room.' In the second, you know her friends are hiding in the dark for a surprise party, and she walks in saying, 'Nobody even remembered my birthday.' Write one sentence about what you feel during each scene, and one sentence about what you know that the girl does not."
Collect a few answers. In both scenes the audience knows something the character does not, but the feeling is different: fear and tension in the first, amusement in the second. Tell students that writers create this gap on purpose, and that RL.8.6 asks them to explain how the gap between a character's point of view and the reader's creates effects such as suspense or humor.
Direct Instruction15-20 minutes
Terms to know:
Point of view: in this standard, what a person knows or believes about what is going on. A character's point of view can differ from the reader's.
Audience or reader: the people watching a play or reading a story. They often learn things that some characters never hear.
Dramatic irony: when the audience or reader knows something that a character does not, so the character's words and actions mean more to us than to them.
Suspense: the tense, uneasy feeling of waiting to find out what will happen, especially when we fear something bad.
Humor: what makes a scene funny. Dramatic irony often makes us laugh when characters talk past each other while we know the truth.
First-person narrator: a character who tells the story and calls himself "I." We learn what he chooses to tell us.
Double meaning: words that mean one thing to the character who hears them and another thing to the reader.
Introduce the text. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American writer of short stories and poems, many of them tales of terror. In The Cask of Amontillado, a man named Montresor tells how he took revenge on Fortunato during carnival, a festival season of costumes and parties in an Italian city. Montresor is the narrator; notice what he tells the reader that he never tells Fortunato. Read the first two passages aloud.
Words to know: injuries (wrongs, harms), with impunity (without being punished), A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser (a wrong is not paid back if the person taking revenge gets punished), wont (habit), immolation (being killed, like a sacrifice), connoisseurship (expert knowledge), virtuoso (expert), imposture (trickery), gemmary (the study of jewels), quack (a fake expert), accosted (came up and spoke to), motley (the many-colored costume of a jester, or clown), conical cap and bells (a jester's pointed cap with bells), pipe (a very large barrel of wine), Amontillado (a rare, costly Spanish wine), Luchesi (another man who claims to know wine), a critical turn (a sharp sense of taste), vaults (underground rooms), nitre (a white crust that forms on damp stone), roquelaire (a knee-length cloak), palazzo (a large Italian house).
1The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitively settled—but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved, precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.
2It must be understood, that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. 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.
3He had a weak point—this Fortunato—although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity—to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian millionaires. In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack—but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. In this respect I did not differ from him materially: I was skilful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could.
4It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells. I was so pleased to see him, that I thought I should never have done wringing his hand.
Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado (opening) (1846; this edition 1903). Public domain (published 1903). Source text.
1I said to him: “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day! But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts.”
2“How?” said he. “Amontillado? A pipe? Impossible! And in the middle of the carnival!”
3“I have my doubts,” I replied; “and I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter. You were not to be found, and I was fearful of losing a bargain.”
4“Amontillado!”
5“I have my doubts.”
6“Amontillado!”
7“And I must satisfy them.”
8“Amontillado!”
9“As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi. If any one has a critical turn, it is he. He will tell me—”
10“Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry.”
11“And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for your own.”
12“Come, let us go.”
13“Whither?”
14“To your vaults.”
15“My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature. I perceive you have an engagement. Luchesi—”
16“I have no engagement;—come.”
17“My friend, no. It is not the engagement, but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted. The vaults are insufferably damp. They are encrusted with nitre.”
18“Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely nothing. Amontillado! You have been imposed upon. And as for Luchesi, he cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado.”
19Thus speaking, Fortunato possessed himself of my arm. Putting on a mask of black silk, and drawing a roquelaire closely about my person, I suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo.
Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado (the meeting) (1846; this edition 1903). Public domain (published 1903). Source text.
Setting up the gap between reader and character
In the first two paragraphs, what does Montresor tell the reader that Fortunato does not know?
Result: Montresor tells us, "I vowed revenge" (first passage, paragraph 1), and then, "neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will" (paragraph 2). He smiles in Fortunato's face, "and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation" (paragraph 2). From the first page, the reader knows Fortunato is in danger and Fortunato does not. That difference in points of view is dramatic irony, and it creates suspense: every friendly scene that follows makes us wonder when the trap will close.
A greeting with a double meaning
Montresor greets Fortunato: "My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day!" (second passage, paragraph 1). What does Fortunato hear, and what does the reader hear?
Result: Fortunato hears a warm, friendly greeting. The reader, who knows about the vow of revenge, hears that the meeting is lucky for Montresor, who has found his victim, and that remarking on how well he looks is cruel, since Montresor plans his death. The difference between the two points of view turns a polite greeting into a threat that only the reader can hear, and the suspense grows.
Using the victim's pride to build suspense
Montresor keeps saying he will ask Luchesi about the wine instead (second passage, paragraphs 9 and 15). Why does this make the scene more tense for the reader?
Result: The opening told us Fortunato's "weak point": "He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine" (first passage, paragraph 3). Each time Montresor names Luchesi, Fortunato's pride pushes him harder, until he insists, "Come, let us go" (second passage, paragraph 12). The reader knows about the vow and about Fortunato's weak point, so every mention of Luchesi looks like bait. Watching a character walk himself toward danger, while we can do nothing, is the suspense that dramatic irony creates.
Dramatic irony and dark humor
Fortunato is dressed for carnival: "The man wore motley... his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells" (first passage, paragraph 4). Why might Poe dress him as a jester?
Result: Fortunato does not know that he is being fooled, but the reader does, and he is dressed as a fool. The costume is a grim joke that only the reader gets. Dramatic irony can create humor as well as suspense; here the humor is dark (it comes from something frightening) and adds to the dread instead of relieving it. Students should say which effect a moment creates and explain why.
Who knows, who doesn't, what we feel. Model the three moves for every example: say what the reader knows, with a quotation; say what the character knows or believes, with a quotation; and name the effect (suspense, humor or both) and explain why the gap creates it. Give two sentence frames: "We know ___ (paragraph __), but ___ believes ___, so when he says '___,' we feel ___." and "The line '___' means ___ to ___ but ___ to the reader." Show Diagram 1 and ask why the reader's column says "Suspects" in the last row, not "Knows."
Guided Practice15 minutes
Read the third passage aloud. Two paragraphs are skipped before it: the servants have left the house, and the men go down a winding staircase into the Montresor family's catacombs (underground burial vaults). Words to know: gait (way of walking), filmy orbs (cloudy eyes), distilled the rheum of intoxication (dripped the watery tears of a drunk man), with decision (firmly), draught (a drink), Medoc (a French red wine), mould (damp soil), leer (a sly look), repose (rest).
1The gait of my friend was unsteady, and the bells upon his cap jingled as he strode.
2“The pipe,” said he.
3“It is farther on,” said I; “but observe the white web-work which gleams from these cavern walls.”
4He turned towards me, and looked into my eyes with two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication.
5“Nitre?” he asked, at length.
6“Nitre,” I replied. “How long have you had that cough?”
8My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes.
9“It is nothing,” he said, at last.
10“Come,” I said, with decision, “we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchesi—”
11“Enough,” he said; “the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough.”
12“True—true,” I replied; “and, indeed, I had no intention of alarming you unnecessarily—but you should use all proper caution. A draught of this Medoc will defend us from the damps.”
13Here I knocked off the neck of a bottle which I drew from a long row of its fellows that lay upon the mould.
14“Drink,” I said, presenting him the wine.
15He raised it to his lips with a leer. He paused and nodded to me familiarly, while his bells jingled.
16“I drink,” he said, “to the buried that repose around us.”
17“And I to your long life.”
18He again took my arm, and we proceeded.
Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado (in the vaults) (1846; this edition 1903). Public domain (published 1903). Source text.
Pairs work through three lines. For each, they write what Fortunato hears and what the reader hears before you reveal the teacher note.
"I shall not die of a cough." / "True, true," I replied (paragraphs 11-12; Poe prints the two words with a dash between them). What does each man mean? Teacher note: Fortunato means that his cough is not serious. Montresor agrees, and to the reader his "True" has a second meaning: Fortunato will not die of a cough, because Montresor has planned a different death. The reply creates suspense, and a chill of dark humor.
"I drink," he said, "to the buried that repose around us." / "And I to your long life" (paragraphs 16-17). Why is this toast ironic? Teacher note: Fortunato makes a friendly toast to the dead in the family tombs, never thinking he will join them. Montresor wishes him a long life, which the reader knows is the opposite of his plan. The gap between what Fortunato hears and what the reader hears is the whole effect of the scene.
"You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed" (paragraph 10). What does Montresor seem to be doing, and what is he really doing? Teacher note: on the surface, Montresor is a worried friend who wants to turn back. The reader sees two things Fortunato cannot: "as once I was" hints at Montresor's grudge, and "a man to be missed" hints that Fortunato is about to disappear. Offering to turn back also works like the Luchesi trick: it makes Fortunato insist on going on.
Show Diagram 2 and compare it with the pairs' answers. Then ask: in this passage, is the main effect suspense, humor, or both? Each pair writes a three-sentence answer: the line, what each point of view hears, and the effect.
Independent Practice15 minutes
Students now read three passages from Anton Chekhov's one-act comedy The Proposal. Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian writer of short stories and plays. The play is set in the country house of a landowner, Chubukov; his neighbor Lomov, a nervous man who worries about his health, arrives in formal clothes. In a play, words in [brackets] are stage directions, and [Aside] means a character speaks to the audience, or to himself, and the other characters do not hear. Paragraph numbers restart in each passage. Between the second and third passages, Natalya and Lomov quarrel more and more loudly about the Meadows, her father joins in, and Lomov storms out.
Words to know: honoured (respected, a polite form of address), ask the hand of your daughter in marriage (ask to marry her), By Jove and egad (old mild exclamations, like "wow"), love-sick (longing for someone), négligé (a loose house dress), shelling peas (taking peas out of their pods), stacked hay (dried grass piled up for animal feed), evening dress (formal clothes), Oxen Meadows (the name of a field), birchwoods (woods of birch trees), Burnt Marsh (the name of a wet field), turnip-ghost, stuffed sausage and wizen-faced frump (comic insults), hysterics (a fit of wild crying), palpitating (beating hard and fast), on principle (because of a rule he believes in, not for gain), shooting (hunting birds).
1LOMOV. Well, you see, it’s like this. [Takes his arm] I’ve come to you, honoured Stepan Stepanovitch, to trouble you with a request. Not once or twice have I already had the privilege of applying to you for help, and you have always, so to speak... I must ask your pardon, I am getting excited. I shall drink some water, honoured Stepan Stepanovitch. [Drinks.]
2CHUBUKOV. [Aside] He’s come to borrow money! Shan’t give him any! [Aloud] What is it, my beauty?
3LOMOV. You see, Honour Stepanitch... I beg pardon, Stepan Honouritch... I mean, I’m awfully excited, as you will please notice.... In short, you alone can help me, though I don’t deserve it, of course... and haven’t any right to count on your assistance....
4CHUBUKOV. Oh, don’t go round and round it, darling! Spit it out! Well?
5LOMOV. One moment... this very minute. The fact is, I’ve come to ask the hand of your daughter, Natalya Stepanovna, in marriage.
6CHUBUKOV. [Joyfully] By Jove! Ivan Vassilevitch! Say it again--I didn’t hear it all!
7LOMOV. I have the honour to ask...
8CHUBUKOV. [Interrupting] My dear fellow... I’m so glad, and so on.... Yes, indeed, and all that sort of thing. [Embraces and kisses LOMOV] I’ve been hoping for it for a long time. It’s been my continual desire. [Sheds a tear] And I’ve always loved you, my angel, as if you were my own son. May God give you both His help and His love and so on, and I did so much hope... What am I behaving in this idiotic way for? I’m off my balance with joy, absolutely off my balance! Oh, with all my soul... I’ll go and call Natasha, and all that.
9LOMOV. [Greatly moved] Honoured Stepan Stepanovitch, do you think I may count on her consent?
10CHUBUKOV. Why, of course, my darling, and... as if she won’t consent! She’s in love; egad, she’s like a love-sick cat, and so on.... Shan’t be long! [Exit.]
Anton Chekhov, translated by Julius West, The Proposal (Lomov and Chubukov) (1889; this edition 1916). Public domain (published 1916). Source text.
1[NATALYA STEPANOVNA comes in.]
2NATALYA STEPANOVNA. Well, there! It’s you, and papa said, “Go; there’s a merchant come for his goods.” How do you do, Ivan Vassilevitch!
3LOMOV. How do you do, honoured Natalya Stepanovna?
4NATALYA STEPANOVNA. You must excuse my apron and négligé... we’re shelling peas for drying. Why haven’t you been here for such a long time? Sit down. [They seat themselves] Won’t you have some lunch?
5LOMOV. No, thank you, I’ve had some already.
6NATALYA STEPANOVNA. Then smoke.... Here are the matches.... The weather is splendid now, but yesterday it was so wet that the workmen didn’t do anything all day. How much hay have you stacked? Just think, I felt greedy and had a whole field cut, and now I’m not at all pleased about it because I’m afraid my hay may rot. I ought to have waited a bit. But what’s this? Why, you’re in evening dress! Well, I never! Are you going to a ball, or what?--though I must say you look better. Tell me, why are you got up like that?
7LOMOV. [Excited] You see, honoured Natalya Stepanovna... the fact is, I’ve made up my mind to ask you to hear me out.... Of course you’ll be surprised and perhaps even angry, but a... [Aside] It’s awfully cold!
8NATALYA STEPANOVNA. What’s the matter? [Pause] Well?
9LOMOV. I shall try to be brief. You must know, honoured Natalya Stepanovna, that I have long, since my childhood, in fact, had the privilege of knowing your family. My late aunt and her husband, from whom, as you know, I inherited my land, always had the greatest respect for your father and your late mother. The Lomovs and the Chubukovs have always had the most friendly, and I might almost say the most affectionate, regard for each other. And, as you know, my land is a near neighbour of yours. You will remember that my Oxen Meadows touch your birchwoods.
10NATALYA STEPANOVNA. Excuse my interrupting you. You say, “my Oxen Meadows....” But are they yours?
11LOMOV. Yes, mine.
12NATALYA STEPANOVNA. What are you talking about? Oxen Meadows are ours, not yours!
13LOMOV. No, mine, honoured Natalya Stepanovna.
14NATALYA STEPANOVNA. Well, I never knew that before. How do you make that out?
15LOMOV. How? I’m speaking of those Oxen Meadows which are wedged in between your birchwoods and the Burnt Marsh.
16NATALYA STEPANOVNA. Yes, yes.... They’re ours.
Anton Chekhov, translated by Julius West, The Proposal (Natalya enters) (1889; this edition 1916). Public domain (published 1916). Source text.
1CHUBUKOV. And that blind hen, yes, that turnip-ghost has the confounded cheek to make a proposal, and so on! What? A proposal!
2NATALYA STEPANOVNA. What proposal?
3CHUBUKOV. Why, he came here so as to propose to you.
4NATALYA STEPANOVNA. To propose? To me? Why didn’t you tell me so before?
5CHUBUKOV. So he dresses up in evening clothes. The stuffed sausage! The wizen-faced frump!
6NATALYA STEPANOVNA. To propose to me? Ah! [Falls into an easy-chair and wails] Bring him back! Back! Ah! Bring him here.
10LOMOV. My heart’s palpitating awfully.... My foot’s gone to sleep.... There’s something keeps pulling in my side.
11NATALYA STEPANOVNA. Forgive us, Ivan Vassilevitch, we were all a little heated.... I remember now: Oxen Meadows really are yours.
12LOMOV. My heart’s beating awfully.... My Meadows.... My eyebrows are both twitching....
13NATALYA STEPANOVNA. The Meadows are yours, yes, yours.... Do sit down.... [They sit] We were wrong....
14LOMOV. I did it on principle.... My land is worth little to me, but the principle...
15NATALYA STEPANOVNA. Yes, the principle, just so.... Now let’s talk of something else.
16LOMOV. The more so as I have evidence. My aunt’s grandmother gave the land to your father’s grandfather’s peasants...
17NATALYA STEPANOVNA. Yes, yes, let that pass.... [Aside] I wish I knew how to get him started.... [Aloud] Are you going to start shooting soon?
Anton Chekhov, translated by Julius West, The Proposal (after the quarrel, shortened) (1889; this edition 1916). Public domain (published 1916). Source text.
On the handout, students fill in a three-column chart (What the audience knows, What the character knows or believes, What the difference makes us feel) for four moments of their choice, at least one from each passage. Then they write two or three sentences: which moment is the funniest, and exactly what gap between a character and the audience makes it funny? The quiz uses all three passages; do not discuss the answers until students have finished the chart.
Closure5-10 minutes
Exit ticket: (1) In one sentence, define dramatic irony in your own words. (2) Name one moment from The Cask of Amontillado where the reader knows more than Fortunato, and name the effect it creates.
Teacher note on language and content:The Cask of Amontillado (1846) is a story of revenge and murder, and the two men drink wine throughout; Fortunato is drunk. The drinking is part of Montresor's trap: he keeps offering wine so that Fortunato is easier to lead, which is worth pointing out as manipulation rather than fun. Present the story as a study of how Poe builds dread, and let students know before reading that it ends in a death: Montresor walls Fortunato up alive, although the homework passages describe this without graphic detail. Some students may find this disturbing; allow a written response instead of discussion if they prefer. In the opening, the narrator makes a sweeping and unfair claim about Italians ("Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit," paragraph 3); point out that this is the narrator's prejudice and a sign of how he judges others. The passage is kept exactly as Poe wrote it. The Proposal (1889) is a comedy: the insults are exaggerated for laughs, and the third passage is shortened where marked [...] to leave out a stretch described in the source note under it.
For homework: students read two more passages of The Cask of Amontillado, printed below. The first follows directly from the third passage. Words to know: extensive (very large), arms (a coat of arms, a family's picture emblem), d'or (of gold), in a field azure (on a blue background), serpent rampant (a snake rearing up), Nemo me impune lacessit (Latin: "No one provokes me without being punished"), fancy (imagination), casks and puncheons (barrels), inmost recesses (deepest parts), flagon (a large bottle), De Grâve (a French wine), gesticulation (a gesture), grotesque (strange and ugly), the brotherhood and the masons (the Freemasons, a private society whose members know secret signs), trowel (a small hand tool with a flat blade), jest (joke), crypt (an underground room for the dead), tier (a row of stones in a wall), niche (a small hollow in a wall), aperture (opening), rampart (wall), In pace requiescat (Latin: "May he rest in peace").
1“These vaults,” he said, “are extensive.”
2“The Montresors,” I replied, “were a great and numerous family.”
3“I forget your arms.”
4“A huge human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.”
5“And the motto?”
6“Nemo me impune lacessit.”
7“Good!” he said.
8The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy grew warm with the Medoc. We had passed through walls of piled bones, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs. I paused again, and this time I made bold to seize Fortunato by an arm above the elbow.
9“The nitre!” I said: “see, it increases. It hangs like moss upon the vaults. We are below the river’s bed. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones. Come, we will go back ere it is too late. Your cough—”
10“It is nothing,” he said; “let us go on. But first, another draught of the Medoc.”
11I broke and reached him a flagon of De Grâve. He emptied it at a breath. His eyes flashed with a fierce light. He laughed and threw the bottle upwards with a gesticulation I did not understand.
12I looked at him in surprise. He repeated the movement—a grotesque one.
13“You do not comprehend?” he said.
14“Not I,” I replied.
15“Then you are not of the brotherhood.”
16“How?”
17“You are not of the masons.”
18“Yes, yes,” I said, “yes, yes.”
19“You? Impossible! A mason?”
20“A mason,” I replied.
21“A sign,” he said.
22“It is this,” I answered, producing a trowel from beneath the folds of my roquelaire.
23“You jest,” he exclaimed, recoiling a few paces. “But let us proceed to the Amontillado.”
24“Be it so,” I said, replacing the tool beneath the cloak, and again offering him my arm. He leaned upon it heavily. We continued our route in search of the Amontillado. We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame.
Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado (deeper in the vaults) (1846; this edition 1903). Public domain (published 1903). Source text.
What happens between the two homework passages: at the far end of the vaults, Montresor leads Fortunato into a small recess (a hollow in the wall) and, in a few seconds, chains him to the rock. Then he uncovers a pile of building stone and mortar hidden under the bones and, with his trowel, begins to build a wall across the opening, one row of stones at a time, while Fortunato moans, rattles the chain and screams.
1It was now midnight, and my task was drawing to a close. I had completed the eighth, the ninth, and the tenth tier. I had finished a portion of the last and the eleventh; there remained but a single stone to be fitted and plastered in. I struggled with its weight; I placed it partially in its destined position. But now there came from out the niche a low laugh that erected the hairs upon my head. It was succeeded by a sad voice, which I had difficulty in recognising as that of the noble Fortunato. The voice said—
2“Ha! ha! ha!—he! he!—a very good joke indeed—an excellent jest. We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo—he! he! he!—over our wine—he! he! he!”
3“The Amontillado!” I said.
4“He! he! he!—he! he! he!—yes, the Amontillado. But is it not getting late? Will not they be awaiting us at the palazzo, the Lady Fortunato and the rest? Let us be gone.”
5“Yes,” I said, “let us be gone.”
6“For the love of God, Montressor!”
7“Yes,” I said, “for the love of God!”
8But to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply. I grew impatient. I called aloud—
9“Fortunato!”
10No answer. I called again—
11“Fortunato!”
12No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells. My heart grew sick—on account of the dampness of the catacombs. I hastened to make an end of my labor. I forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up. Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!
Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado (the ending) (1846; this edition 1903). Public domain (published 1903). Source text.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give a two-column card for every passage, "What the reader knows" and "What the character thinks," and have them fill it in before naming any effect
Read the play passages aloud in parts, with the teacher reading the stage directions, so students hear the asides as asides
Offer the effect words on a card (suspense, humor, dread, surprise) with one example of each from the warm-up
For Advanced Students
Ask them to find a moment in the first two Poe passages where the reader does not yet know as much as Montresor, and explain how holding back information adds to the suspense
Have them rewrite a short exchange from the second Poe passage so that it creates humor instead of suspense, and explain what they changed about the gap
Ask them to explain why Poe chose a first-person narrator who is the murderer, and how the story would feel if Fortunato told it
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
Check that each answer states two points of view: what the reader or audience knows, and what the character knows or believes, each supported by a quotation with its paragraph number. Then check that the answer names an effect (suspense, humor or both) and explains why the gap creates it, for example "we know he is walking into a trap, so his cheerful toast makes us uneasy." Weak answers name dramatic irony without saying who knows what, or summarize the plot instead of explaining the effect.
02
Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
Two Meanings: What Fortunato Hears, What We Hear
15 minPairs
Pairs get 6 cards, each with one line Montresor says in the second passage, and a mat with three columns: What Fortunato hears, What the reader hears, and Effect. They write both meanings for each card and choose the effect it creates.
The Cards
"But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts." (paragraph 1)
"I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter." (paragraph 3)
"And I must satisfy them." (paragraph 7)
"And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for your own." (paragraph 11)
"My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature." (paragraph 15)
"The vaults are insufferably damp. They are encrusted with nitre." (paragraph 17)
Procedure
Pairs fill in all three columns for every card
They rank the cards from the line with the smallest gap between the two meanings to the one with the largest
Each pair reads its top card aloud twice: once as Fortunato would hear it, and once as the reader hears it
Discussion Questions
Which line sounds most like a real friend talking? Why does that make it more frightening?
On which card does Montresor seem to try to stop Fortunato? Why does that make Fortunato more eager to go?
Does any card create humor as well as suspense? Explain.
Modification
For students who need support, use three cards (paragraphs 1, 11 and 17) and give the "What Fortunato hears" column already filled in, so students write only what the reader hears and the effect.
2
Remove the Gap, Test the Effect
15 minGroups of 3-4
Groups test how much the effect depends on what the reader knows. They imagine the story without its first two paragraphs, so the reader does not learn about the vow of revenge, and reread the second passage as if for the first time.
Procedure
Cover the first two paragraphs of the first passage and read the second passage aloud
List what a first-time reader would feel at the greeting in paragraph 1 and at "Come, let us go" in paragraph 12, without the vow
Uncover the paragraphs and list what the reader feels at the same two moments now
Write two sentences: "Without the gap, the scene feels ___ because ___." and "With the gap, the scene feels ___ because ___."
Discussion Questions
Without the vow, would the reader feel suspense, surprise, or nothing at all when the trap closes?
Why might Poe tell the reader the plan at the start instead of saving it for a twist?
Which do you prefer as a reader: knowing more than the character, or finding out with the character? Why?
Variation
Groups rewrite the greeting in paragraph 1 of the second passage for a version of the story in which the reader does not know the plan, and a version in which the reader knows it, then read both aloud and discuss which details they changed.
3
Write a Scene with an Aside
10-15 minGroups of 3
Groups write and perform a short original scene of 8-10 lines in which the audience knows something one character does not. At least one line must be an aside, spoken to the audience only. The class then names the gap and the effect.
Model
MAYA. [Aside] The whole team is hiding behind the couch. Don't look at the couch, Leo. LEO. Why are you standing in front of the couch? MAYA. No reason. Want to go get pizza instead? Right now? LEO. I'm too tired. I'll just lie down on the couch for a while. What the model does: the aside tells the audience about the hidden team, so Leo's ordinary lines about the couch become funny, because we know exactly what he is about to find.
Procedure
Groups choose a secret (a surprise, a mix-up, a hidden object) and decide who knows it
They write the scene with speaker names and at least one [Aside]
After each performance, the audience says who knew what and names the effect: suspense, humor or both
Variation
Groups write the same scene twice with the same secret: once so that it is funny and once so that it is tense. Then they explain which details changed the effect.
03
Diagrams & Visual Aids
2 diagrams
Diagram 1: Who Knows What in The Cask of Amontillado
What each person knows after the first two passages. Montresor, the narrator, knows his plan; Fortunato knows nothing about it; the reader knows about the revenge but not yet what will happen in the vaults. That middle position, knowing enough to fear but not enough to be sure, is where suspense comes from. Green and red mark knows and does not know.
Diagram 2: One Line, Two Meanings
The three lines from Guided Practice, each read from two points of view. The words are the same; what changes is what the listener knows. Fortunato hears a friend; the reader hears a threat.
04
Homework Assignment
~30 min
RL.8.6 Homework: Deeper into the Vaults
Directions: Read the last two passages from The Cask of Amontillado at the end of the lesson plan (in Closure), and the short summary printed between them. Paragraph numbers restart in each passage. Answer in complete sentences. Put every quotation in quotation marks and give its passage and paragraph number. For each moment, say what the reader knows, what Fortunato knows or believes, and what effect the difference creates.
Part 1: Signs Only the Reader Can Read (Problems 1-2)
Montresor describes his family's coat of arms, a foot crushing a snake "whose fangs are imbedded in the heel," and its motto, Nemo me impune lacessit (fourth passage, paragraphs 4-6). Fortunato answers, "Good!" (paragraph 7). Explain what the arms and the motto mean to the reader, and why Fortunato's answer adds to the suspense.
In paragraph 9 of the fourth passage, Montresor says, "Come, we will go back ere it is too late." Explain the two meanings of "ere it is too late" and how this line creates suspense for the reader.
Part 2: The Mason and the Trowel (Problems 3-4)
Fortunato asks whether Montresor is one of "the masons," and Montresor answers by showing a trowel (fourth passage, paragraphs 17-22). Explain the two meanings of "mason" in this exchange. What does the reader understand about the trowel that Fortunato does not?
Fortunato reacts with "You jest" and then, "But let us proceed to the Amontillado" (fourth passage, paragraph 23). What does his reaction show about his point of view? Explain whether this moment creates suspense, dark humor or both, and why.
Part 3: The Ending (Problems 5-6)
In the fifth passage, Fortunato laughs and calls the wall "a very good joke indeed" (paragraph 2). Now he knows he is trapped. How has the gap between his point of view and the reader's changed since the first passages? Explain what effect his words create now.
Write a paragraph of 5-7 sentences: choose the one moment from any of the five Poe passages where the difference between Fortunato's point of view and the reader's creates the strongest suspense. Quote the moment, explain who knows what, and support your choice by comparing it with one other moment.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
No Credit (0 pts)
Quoting the Moment
Exact words with passage and paragraph number
Correct moment with no number, or a close paraphrase
Wrong or missing
Two Points of View
States clearly what the reader knows and what Fortunato knows or believes
States only one point of view
No points of view named
Naming the Effect
Names suspense, humor or both and explains why the gap creates it
Names an effect with a thin reason
No effect named, or a plot summary instead
Connecting Moments
Links the moment to an earlier or later passage with evidence
Mentions another passage without evidence
Treats the moment alone
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
Questions 2-7 and 14-16 use the first two passages from The Proposal in Independent Practice above, and questions 8-12 use the third passage. Questions 13 and 17 use the play as a whole. Questions 18 and 19 use the second passage of The Cask of Amontillado in Direct Instruction. Questions 1 and 20 ask about the standard in general. Paragraph numbers restart in each passage. Your score updates as you answer, and Reset quiz clears everything.
Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which situation is an example of dramatic irony?
Answer: C
In dramatic irony the reader knows something a character does not: here, readers know the letter is fake while the character trusts it. Choice A is verbal irony (saying the opposite of what you mean), choice B is a surprise ending, in which the reader knows no more than the characters, and choice D describes a narrator who knows everyone's thoughts.
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In the first passage from The Proposal, what does the audience learn about why Lomov has come?
Answer: B
Lomov says it plainly: "I've come to ask the hand of your daughter, Natalya Stepanovna, in marriage" (first passage, paragraph 5). Choice A is Chubukov's wrong guess in paragraph 2, which the next lines prove false. Choice C describes the quarrel that breaks out later, not his reason for coming.
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Chubukov says, "[Aside] He's come to borrow money! Shan't give him any! [Aloud] What is it, my beauty?" (first passage, paragraph 2). What does the aside let the audience see?
Answer: D
An aside is heard by the audience but not by the other characters, so only the audience hears "Shan't give him any!" before Chubukov sweetly says "my beauty." The gap is funny, and it gets funnier when he turns joyful a moment later ("[Joyfully] By Jove!", paragraph 6). Choice A misunderstands an aside: Lomov does not hear it. Choice B is wrong because Chubukov guesses money, not marriage.
Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Natalya enters saying, "papa said, 'Go; there's a merchant come for his goods'" (second passage, paragraph 2). Why is this line funny to the audience?
Answer: A
The audience heard Lomov ask to marry her (first passage, paragraph 5), but her father sent her in with a story about a merchant, so she arrives with no idea that this visit is a proposal. Choice C is wrong because she later asks "What proposal?" (third passage, paragraph 2), which shows she was never told. Choice D contradicts Chubukov's joy in the first passage.
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Before Lomov can explain his visit, Natalya talks about lunch, the weather and her hay (second passage, paragraphs 4 and 6). How does the gap in knowledge shape this moment?
Answer: C
The audience knows Lomov is trying to propose, so every ordinary topic Natalya raises (the peas, the rain, the hay) delays the big moment, and the delay is funny. Choice A misses the point: the chatter matters because of what the audience knows. Choice D confuses this comedy with a story like Poe's; nothing suggests Natalya means harm.
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Natalya asks, "Why, you're in evening dress! Well, I never! Are you going to a ball, or what?" (second passage, paragraph 6). What does the audience know that she does not?
Answer: B
The audience knows why Lomov is in formal clothes: he has come to ask for her hand (first passage, paragraph 5). Natalya guesses at a ball, so her cheerful question points straight at the secret without her knowing it. Choice A takes her guess as the truth, and choice D confuses the merchant story, which her father told her, with Lomov's clothes.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Lomov begins with a long speech about their families and ends it with "my Oxen Meadows touch your birchwoods" (second passage, paragraph 9). Why does the argument that follows make the audience laugh?
Answer: D
The audience expects a proposal, and instead Lomov's own words about "my Oxen Meadows" set off a quarrel with the woman he wants to marry, who has no idea why he is really there. Choice B contradicts paragraph 5 of the first passage, and choice C is wrong because Natalya has not been asked anything yet. Choice A takes a side the play never settles for the audience; the joke works whoever owns the field.
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Chubukov shouts, "What? A proposal!" (third passage, paragraph 1), and Natalya asks, "What proposal?" (paragraph 2). What happens to the gap between Natalya and the audience here?
Answer: A
Chubukov tells her, "he came here so as to propose to you" (paragraph 3), and for the first time Natalya knows what the audience learned in the first passage. Choice B reverses who knows what, and choice D is wrong because Lomov has left the stage and hears none of this.
Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Natalya asks her father, "To propose? To me? Why didn't you tell me so before?" (third passage, paragraph 4). Why is her question funny to the audience?
Answer: C
The audience knows the answer to her question: her father did not tell her, and sent her in with a story about "a merchant come for his goods" (second passage, paragraph 2). Her outrage is funny because the audience saw the whole mix-up coming. Choice D contradicts Chubukov's joy in the first passage, and choice B invents a refusal that is not in the play.
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Natalya tells Lomov, "I remember now: Oxen Meadows really are yours" (third passage, paragraph 11). Why does the audience laugh at this change?
Answer: B
Earlier she insisted, "Oxen Meadows are ours, not yours!" (second passage, paragraph 12); the only thing that has changed is that she has learned he came to propose. The audience knows why she suddenly "remembers," and Lomov does not. Choice A invents documents she never sees, and choice D invents a plan that is not in the passage.
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Natalya says, "[Aside] I wish I knew how to get him started.... [Aloud] Are you going to start shooting soon?" (third passage, paragraph 17). Who knows what at this moment?
Answer: D
The aside shows the audience what Natalya is thinking: she wants Lomov to get back to his proposal. Lomov never heard her father tell her, so he does not know she knows. The gap has flipped: now Natalya is the one hiding a purpose. Choice A reverses the gap, and choice B forgets that Natalya was told in paragraph 3.
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
As Natalya tries to change the subject, Lomov says, "The more so as I have evidence. My aunt's grandmother gave the land to your father's grandfather's peasants..." (third passage, paragraph 16). What effect does this line create?
Answer: A
The audience knows Natalya has just given in so that he will propose, and here Lomov walks straight back into the argument about who owns the land. We laugh, and we also wait nervously to see whether a new quarrel will break out. Choice B ignores the whole second passage, and choice D ignores that he is restarting the argument.
Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Why would the second passage be much less funny if Natalya knew from the start why Lomov had come?
Answer: C
The comedy depends on the gap: the audience knows this is a proposal visit, and Natalya does not, so her fierce quarrel with her future husband is funny. If she knew, the fight would just be two neighbors arguing. Choice D confuses the cause and the effect: his clothes come from his plan, not from what she knows.
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Natalya interrupts Lomov: "Excuse my interrupting you. You say, 'my Oxen Meadows....' But are they yours?" (second passage, paragraph 10). Why is this interruption funny for the audience?
Answer: B
Lomov's long speech about their families is heading toward a proposal that the audience knows is coming, and Natalya, who does not know, stops it to argue about a field. Later even Lomov admits, "My land is worth little to me" (third passage, paragraph 14). Choice A is wrong because she does not learn about the proposal until the third passage, and choice C invents an insult that is not in his speech.
Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer
Lomov says, "Of course you'll be surprised and perhaps even angry, but a... [Aside] It's awfully cold!" (second passage, paragraph 7). What does the aside tell the audience that Natalya does not know, and how does it add to the humor?
Model answer: The aside tells the audience that Lomov is so nervous that he feels cold: nothing in the scene is chilly (Natalya has just said the weather is splendid), so the cold is his fear about the proposal. Natalya hears only a man who stops in the middle of a sentence. Because the audience knows he is trying to propose and is terrified, his broken "but a..." is funny: we are waiting for the words he cannot get out. Rubric: 2 points for what the aside reveals, what Natalya knows, and why it is funny; 1 point for two of the three; 0 points otherwise.
Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer
At the end of the first passage, Chubukov says Natalya will consent: "She's in love; egad, she's like a love-sick cat" (paragraph 10). How does this line make the quarrel in the second passage funnier?
Model answer: The audience has just been told that Natalya is in love with Lomov and will say yes, so when she argues fiercely with him about the Meadows ("Oxen Meadows are ours, not yours!", second passage, paragraph 12), we know she is fighting the man she wants to marry. She does not know he has come to propose, but we do, and we know how she feels about him, so every angry line is funny. Rubric: 2 points for linking what the audience learned to a quoted line from the quarrel; 1 point for the link without a quotation; 0 points otherwise.
Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer
Write a paragraph of 4-6 sentences: choose the moment in the three passages from The Proposal that you think is funniest. Quote it, explain what the audience knows and what the character knows or believes, and compare it with one other moment.
Model answer: The funniest moment is Natalya's sudden "I remember now: Oxen Meadows really are yours" (third passage, paragraph 11). The audience knows she has changed her mind only because she has learned about the proposal, while Lomov thinks she has finally seen the truth about the land. Earlier, the gap ran the other way: the audience knew he had come to propose (first passage, paragraph 5) and Natalya did not, so she fought him. Now she knows and he does not know she knows, so her sweetness is just as funny as her anger was. Rubric: 2 points for a quoted moment, both points of view, and a comparison; 1 point for a moment and points of view without a comparison; 0 points otherwise.
Question 18 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Poe writes, "Thus speaking, Fortunato possessed himself of my arm" and "I suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo" (second passage, paragraph 19). Here suffered means "allowed." What does the reader understand that Fortunato does not?
Answer: D
Fortunato grabs Montresor's arm and hurries him along, sure that the visit is his own idea. The reader knows that the vaults are exactly where Montresor wants him, so "suffered," meaning "allowed," shows who is really in control. Choice C takes Montresor's talk of Luchesi at face value, when the reader knows it was a trick, and choice B misses that Montresor is going gladly.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
Fortunato tells Montresor, "Amontillado! You have been imposed upon" (second passage, paragraph 18), meaning "You have been tricked." Explain the dramatic irony of this line and the effect it creates.
Model answer: Fortunato believes that Montresor has been tricked into paying for a fake Amontillado. The reader knows that Fortunato himself is the one being tricked: the wine is bait, and Montresor has vowed revenge (first passage, paragraph 1). The words are true, but about the wrong man, so the line creates suspense, since Fortunato is sure of himself at the moment he is most in danger, and a dark kind of humor. Rubric: 2 points for both points of view and a named effect with a reason; 1 point for the irony without the effect; 0 points otherwise.
Question 20 of 20 · Multiple Choice
A writer wants readers to feel suspense, not surprise, when a trap finally closes on a character. Which choice would do that best?
Answer: A
Suspense comes from knowing that danger is coming and waiting for it, so readers must know about the trap while the character does not, as Poe does in the first paragraph of his story. Choice B creates surprise instead: readers find out at the same moment as the character. Choice C puts the character ahead of the readers, which removes the gap that creates suspense.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
06
Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does RL.8.6 mean?
It means eighth graders explain how a difference between what characters know and what the reader or audience knows creates an effect, such as suspense or humor. Students say who knows what, find the words that show it, and explain what the gap makes readers feel. The standard names dramatic irony as the main example.
What is dramatic irony?
Dramatic irony is when the reader or audience knows something that a character does not. In The Cask of Amontillado, the narrator tells readers in the first paragraph that he has vowed revenge, while his victim thinks he is a friend. From then on, the friendly words between the two men mean one thing to the victim and something else to the reader.
What is the difference between dramatic, verbal and situational irony?
Dramatic irony is about knowledge: the audience knows more than a character. Verbal irony is when a speaker says the opposite of what he means, such as "Great job" after a mistake. Situational irony is when events turn out the opposite of what was expected. RL.8.6 focuses on the first, although one line can use more than one kind.
How is RL.8.6 different from RL.7.6?
RL.7.6 compares the points of view of different characters or narrators with each other. RL.8.6 adds the reader or audience as a point of view and asks what happens when the reader knows more than a character. The focus moves from what each character thinks to what the gap makes the reader feel.
Can dramatic irony create suspense and humor at the same time?
Yes. In The Cask of Amontillado, Fortunato wears a jester's costume while he is being fooled, which is a grim joke for the reader and also adds to the dread. Strong answers name every effect a moment creates and explain each one, instead of choosing only one label.
What is an aside in a play?
An aside is a line spoken to the audience, or to the character himself, that the other characters on stage do not hear. Scripts usually mark it with the stage direction [Aside]. Asides are one of the quickest ways a playwright gives the audience knowledge a character lacks, which is why they matter for RL.8.6.
Is The Cask of Amontillado appropriate for grade 8?
It is often taught in middle and high school, but it is a story of revenge and murder, and the characters drink wine throughout. Tell students before reading that the story ends in a death, and focus the discussion on how Poe builds suspense. The narrator also makes an unfair remark about Italians, which is worth naming as his prejudice.
Does RL.8.6 apply only to plays?
No. The standard says "audience or reader," so it covers stories and novels as well as plays. In a story, a first-person narrator can tell readers something he hides from other characters, as Poe's narrator does, and a narrator who knows everyone's thoughts can show readers a secret that a character never learns.
How do I write about the effect of dramatic irony?
Use three moves: what the reader knows, what the character knows or believes, and what the gap makes the reader feel. For example: "We know Montresor has vowed revenge (paragraph 1), but Fortunato believes he is a friend, so the greeting 'you are luckily met' sounds like a threat and builds suspense." Quote both sides of the gap, not only the character's line.
What comes after RL.8.6?
In grades 9-10, RL.9-10.6 turns to a point of view or cultural experience in literature from outside the United States. In grades 11-12, RL.11-12.6 asks students to tell what a text says directly from what it really means, in satire, sarcasm, irony and understatement, which builds directly on the irony students study here.
07
Related Standards
5 standards
These standards connect to RL.8.6: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.
Before this lesson
RL.7.6Prerequisite
Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of characters or narrators
Lesson coming soon
Alongside
RL.8.3Parallel
Analyze how lines of dialogue or incidents propel action, reveal character or provoke a decision
