Examples Of Dramatic Irony In The Cask Of Amontillado

In "The Gift of Magi," Della and Jim sacrifice their prized possessions for each other and for love. Irony is represented in this story when Della and Jim both get each other gifts that mean a lot to each other. However, what they did not realize is that when Della cut her hair to to buy Jim a chain for his watch, she was unaware that Jim was going to sell his watch to buy her combs for her hair. The irony of their gift exchange is monumental as their unconditional love for one another took over for their own personal possession. Jim exclaims, “I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you'll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first." The magi which are described as wise men also signifies irony because Della and Jim's presents were more than wise. They represented that a gift does not need to be expensive to have value. A gift can be more meaningful just by the thought.

This leads to her idea of selling her most prized possession: her hair, to get Jim his present. Meanwhile, Jim decides to sell his most prized possession which was a pocket-watch that was passed down from his grandfather to his father and then to him. He sells that watch and buys Della a set of beautiful tortoise shell combs for her hair. Thus leading to the use of situational irony in which they both receive gifts for something they gave up in order to give the other a gift.

It is known that Edgar Allan Poe was a short story writer, novelist, essayist, poet and an editor. His background created a foundation in short fiction and the effects of it. In Poe’s short story, “The Cask of Amontillado” he tells a short story of great tension and revenge. The author uses many different literary elements in his story including irony.

This is a very essential sentence in the whole story. This being because instead of just telling the readers that Della possesses very long and beautiful hair, O. Henry uses the allusion of Queen Sheba that portraying the fact that her long, beautiful hair would mock even a Queen’s jewels. Knowing this fact we as the readers can now infer that this was Della’s prized possession. Another example of allusion is also on pg. 154 where it states, “Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures piled up in the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at his beard with envy.”

In “The Gift of the Magi”, Della’s highest priority is her love for Jim. She couldn’t bear to let Christmas pass without giving her husband, Jim, a present. She has “only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim” (Henry). Because he is so special, she spends many hours thinking of “something just a little bit near to being worth of the honor of being owned by Jim” (Henry). Della decides that she would

In The Gift of the Magi, Della and her husband both scramble to find money to buy each other a gift. In The Necklace, Monsieur and Mathilde Loisel need money to replace lost jewelry that they borrowed. In each story, it is the absence of money that limits their options. Della had to cut off her hair. Jim sold

Della is thinking about a sacrifice to make in order to receive more money to buy her husband a thoughtful gift just in time for Christmas morning. Henry uses imagery to help the audience visualize and feel Della’s devastating emotions toward being broke, and how she is going to solve her dilemma. The audience can understand and feel how much love Della has for James and just how important it is to make him happy. At this point in the story, Della decided to make a huge sacrifice for James. She rushes out of the house toward Mrs. Sofronie’s Hair Articles store to cut and sell her hair for twenty dollars. Before leaving the house, “...she put it up on her head again, nervously and quickly...a tear or two ran down her face” (Henry 3). The image portrayed from Henry is that Della’s drastic decision will get her the money to buy James the perfect gift even though this upsets her. The audience can feel Della’s agony when she has no other choice but to get rid of her prized possession. She feels that she was giving up her beauty and hopes that James will still accept her. Now that Della has the money, she just needs to find the perfect gift. James also had a prize possession, his golden watch, “...no King had anything so valuable”

In O. Henry's short story “the gift of the magi” the main character is Della. She sometimes play the role of a narrator and sometimes she doesn't. Della is a caring, brave, and finally prioritized. Della is a very nice person who was married and has long hair. Her hair was beautiful and she loved her hair and always took pride into her hair. These are the reasons why I know she is caring, brave and prioritized.

Della and Jim love each other desperately. It's because of Della's love that she makes the rash decision to cut off all of her hair in the hopes of getting enough money worthy of "her Jim." The two things most prized in their shabby little household, besides each other, are Jim's watch and Della's Hair. This information is why I say it was a hasty to sell her hair. For the hair bought a chain to make the watch more presentable; The watch bought combs for Della's hair. The love they had for each other caused them to lose something very precious, and in turn, caused them to love each other even

For instance, Della and her husband had a mutual love and respect for each other; where Mathilde was only in love with the person she wanted to be. During the gift exchange between Della and her husband, they found selling their most prized possession, the purchase of their Christmas gifts was rendered useless since Della no longer had her hair and Jim his watch. However, when Mathilde lost the necklace, both her and her husband spent ten years to pay off the debt. Additionally, Mathilde lost her beauty, “Madame Loisel looked old now. She had become like all other strong, hard, coarse women of poor households. He hair was badly done, her skirts were awry, her hands were red.” The authors in the stories demonstrated the negative effects for seeking items which one could not afford through an ironic twist. However, the irony was predictable in both

For example, almost anyone can relate to them in the way that around Christmas time pope like to buy nice things for their love on s. Both characters in this short story were very loving and caring people. In the beginning of the story, Della and Jim, a young couple struggle to earn money, have undying affection for one another. Although she wasn't very wealthy, she was still willing find a way to get her one true love a present that was worthy of him. "Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling- something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim ( Henry 6)." Dealla is completely dedicated to Jim. She spends most of the time just thinking about what to get him. In her eye she thinks Jim is a special person who deserves the best. All in all, Della and Jim have a really strong love, that it doesn't matter how much they spend on their

She reveals that she has scrimped and saved by haggling with the food vendors but has only managed to save a few pennies after several months. Della was also miserable, but for a different reason. She was not unhappy for herself; she was unhappy because she had so little to buy her husband a present for Christmas. So she sold her hair for a chain to hold his watch, she showed not only love but also self sacrifice. Once he came home he saw her and heard the story and chuckled, because he sold his watch to buy her combs for her hair. So the both gave up something to give the other something, including their

Near the end of the story, the reader is shocked to discover that Jim sold his watch to buy Della the combs she had “worshiped” over. In the end it’s ironic, because neither of them could use the gifts they both sold the reason for, to buy. The irony O. Henry used supports the overlaying theme of sacrifice by instilling in the reader just how much two people in love were willing to give up in order to show it.

In the story, “The Gift of the Magi”, Jim and Della both sacrificed the things they valued for the other person’s wants. Jim sacrificed his watch and Della sacrificed her hair. These items, his watch and her hair, were their most prized possessions. Some people might argue that it was not very wise of them to sell their items and use the money on unnecessary things. Some think that instead of buying each other something, they should have saved that money or used it on something more important than silly gifts. Nevertheless, this was not a frivolous act of spending money, rather an act of love.

We see irony throughout the story. We see this whenever Della runs to the hair articles shop to see how much Mrs. Sofronie would buy her hair for. Mrs. Sofronie said “Twenty dollars.” Della responded by saying, “Give it to me quick.” Della was proud of her hair and you could consider it to be her prized possession. She cut the thing she loved the most about herself because she was determined to find a gift for Jim. She wanted to give Jim a gift that would enjoy and be pleased with. At last, she found the gift for him, she thought that “It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. The gift was a gold watch chain for Jim’s prized possession, the gold watch that his father gave him. The watch chain’s value “was in its rich and pure material. Because it was so plain and simple, you knew that it was very valuable. All goods things are like this.” Della knew in her mind that “It was good enough for the watch.” Later, Della held the watch chain in her hand waiting on Jim to come in. When he walked into the house, he was shocked to see that Della’s hair was gone. Later, he said “I want you to understand me, Dell, nothing like a haircut could make me love you any less. But if you’ll open that, you may know what I felt when I came in.” He threw something tied in paper on the table. Della pulled off the paper and cried tears of joy. It was a comb with jewels that Della saw in a shop window and loved for a long