The Cask of Amontillado Group

Question:

cellie
cellie
Student
College - Junior

What does the word "pipe" mean  in Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado?"

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Posted by cellie on Friday October 23, 2009 at 7:27 PM and tagged with carnival, fortunato, montresor, pipe, the cask of amontillado.

Answers:


  1. tjskrzat Teacher
    High School - 11th Grade

    A pipe is a large barrel of wine.  You are probably referring to when he says he received "a pipe of Amontillado."  Montresor is telling Fortunato that he has a large amount (a "pipe") of a rare kind of wine in order to seduce him into the cellar.

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    Posted by tjskrzat on Friday October 23, 2009 at 7:38 PM

  2. lit24
    lit24 Teacher
    Doctorate

    eNotes Editor

    More specifically, a 'pipe' is a wine cask having a capacity of 126 gallons or 2 hogsheads (478 liters).

    One evening, during the Carnival season the narrator Montresor meets Fortunato and lures him into his cellars by lying to him saying that he had received a cask of a rare wine called Amontillado and that he would like Fortunato to certify its genuineness:

    It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend......I 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."

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/cask-amontillado/essays-criticism
    http://www.enotes.com/cask-amontillado/summary
    http://www.wordnik.com/words/pipe/definitions#century

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    Posted by lit24 on Friday October 23, 2009 at 8:12 PM