Irony in The Cask of Amontillado, a Story by Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allen Poe's brings us a twisted tale of vengeance and horror in "The Cask of Amontillado." Poe's character, Montresor, acts as our guide and narrator through this story. He grabs a hold of the reader as he tells the story from his own apathetic and deceptive mind to gain vengeance from the weak and dismal Fortunato. Montresor's mentality is disturbing as he uses his clever, humor, ironic symbolism, and darkness to accomplish this.

Two prime examples of dramatic irony occurs when Montresor approaches Fortunato, who is intoxicated during the evening of the carnival. Montresor blissfully capitalizes on his friend’s state. Integrating to the dramatic effect, Poe names the character Fortunato, which designates, one of great fortune. The irony becomes apparent when Fortunato’s unfortunate fate is revealed. Poe’s ingenious utilization of verbal irony is witnessed in a memorable moment in the story, Montresor suggests to his friend that he should head home due to his cough, Fortunato’s responds “I shall not die of a cough.” Montresor’s knowingly replies, true –true.” (Poe 3). In another utilization of verbal irony, Fortunato utilizes the word “Ignoramus” to describe Luchresi; however, it is he who is indeed unaware of what is transpiring around him, and what is going to transpire to him. Montresor has provided Fortunato numerous times with the liberation to go; however, due to his intoxication, Fortunato fails to optically discern the designations Montresor has provided for

Though Fortunato is an intelligent wine expert, his expertise leads him to his death. In Italian the word Fortunato means fortunate, something that he is not by the end of the story. In “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allan Poe uses foreshadowing and dramatic irony and verbal irony to show Fortunato’s misfortunes which eventually lead to his death.

Montresor is trying to lure Fortunato to his vaults by telling him that Luchresi can just come and taste the Amontillado because he knows best. He knows Fortunato will freak out by this statement, and then show Montresor that he is wrong in saying that. Indeed, this leads Fortunato down into the catacombs, just so he can prove Montresor wrong. That 's when Montresor will take his final step in his plan to end Fortunato. This event leads to the most suspenseful part in the short story. The reader doesn’t know what Montresor’s next step is going to be in his plan, along with what stupid move is Fortunato going to take to leading himself closer to his death.

In “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allan Poe tells a story of a man named Fortunato, a professional wine taster, who has foolishly brought death upon himself. Fortunato has managed to anger a man with the name Montresor who has hatched a plan of revenge during a great carnival. To help the reader fully understand Poe uses three different kinds of irony verbal, dramatic, and situational. The verbal being their conversation, the dramatical, when he jokes about his health, and the situational when he is dressed as a jester.

It is often said that irony is the vital literary element to a story because it gives the story character. Whether it changes the mood, creates suspense, adds foreshadowing, engages the reader or something else, irony can do many things for a story.

It is Edgar Allan Poe's intense use of symbolism and irony throughout the Cask of Amontillado that establishes the short story as an indeed interesting candidate worthy of thorough analysis. The skillful use of these devices are utilized by the author to create this horrific and suspenseful masterpiece.

However, Montresor has a characteristic that, not shown prominently, but given through little hints until the end. That secret characteristic is guilt, guilt for wanting to kill Fortunato. Some of those hints show at the carnival, down in Montresor’s catacombs, and even as Montresor is building in the wall to keep Fortunato in to die. At the carnival, Montresor calls Fortunato his ‘friend’. “It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend.” (Poe). In addition, Montresor is talking about Fortunato, with the term friend being used. Another is, “I was so pleased to see [Fortunato]...” (Poe). In this part of the story, Montresor even says himself that he was happy to see his friend, Fortunato. He shows signs of actually liking Fortunato, but for strongly believing in his family motto and arms of revenge, he feels the need to get revenge on Fortunato for what he did to Montresor. Montresor greets Fortunato kindly and with warmth, “[m]y dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day!” (Poe). Montresor

Ultimately, it can be argued that the whole short story has the overall theme of dramatic irony, because Montresor knows all along that he is going to kill Fortunato, and Fortunato is completely oblivious towards the whole situation (Poe 1-6). A specific example of dramatic irony, however, could be when the audience finds out that Fortunato is dressed as a jester, which is also known as a fool (Poe 1). This is ironic, because as the audience, we already know that he is going to be tricked into something fatal. Another example of dramatic irony can be seen through the dialogue between Montresor and Fortunato discussing masonry; Fortunato states, “You are not one of the masons”, Montresor replies with “Yes, yes” (Poe 4). The conversation goes on to where Fortunato asks Montresor to show a sign of him being a mason, where Montresor then presents a trowel, a tool for masonry. This is ironic, because little does Fortunato know, that same trowel that Montresor offers, is the same one that will, figuratively and literally, seal Fortunato’s fate in the catacomb wall (Poe

“Poe”, the master of symbolic writing tells of a murder that had occurred 50 years’ prior of a once known friend named Fortunato, However, Fortunato had insulted Montresor’s family one to many times. The symbolisms used in the story was genius, such as the time setting; The Carnival Season, which symbolizes the time of celebration, renewal, freedom, and secrets. Another symbol of time is the hour in which the plot chooses to act upon its vengeance, “It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season” (Montresor, 237). Next, there is the crafty way names are used in the story to reveal characters and personalities, such as, “Montresor” reminds the reader of “Monster” and “Fortunato” reminds one of “Fortune”. The Montresor’s Family Coat of Arms, reveals to the reader that no one can do anything wrong or questionable to the Montresor’s without punishment or justice repaid. Finally, the symbols used to fully explain everyone in detail, as in, the clothing worn; Fortunato wore a fool’s costume and a jester hat. This leads the reader to believe he was playing a fool but also weighing the scales of justice. The mentioning of masons was a tricky use of two definition of one wording, therefore, symbolizing two separate classes of people within the story. The story is a gothic masterpiece delivered to the reader as only the mind of “Poe” could

Feuds and arguments between individuals who may disagree with or dislike one another are a common occurrence in everyday life, often varying in degrees of intensity, but rarely reaching a point of extremity. However, in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado”, This threshold of extremity is reached by the narrator of the story, Montresor, who explains that his acquaintance, Fortunato, has repeatedly and irreparably insulted him over the course of years, and uses it as justification to take justice into his own hands and seek retribution through murder, despite there being no proof of Fortunato's guilt other than Montresor’s claims. His motive for murdering Fortunato can be attributed to his state of mind, as Montresor’s lack of guilt, empathy, or remorse highlights him as a character with psychopathic tendencies. As the story progresses, Montresor’s cold and calculating nature leaves the audience full of dread and suspense while he lures the oblivious Fortunato towards his inevitable demise. The employment of rhetorical devices such as irony, theme, and structure builds the suspense for the ultimate climax of Poe’s gothic masterpiece.

Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado is thought to be one of his most popular vengeful short novels. The two main characters, Montresor and Fortunato are re-acquainted friends who meet each other at The Carnival. Montresor has intentionally planned to lure Fortunato to his own death by deceiving him to believe that Fortunato is coming to Montresor's family catacombs to taste a fine wine “Amontillado”. After Montresor leads Fortunato into the crypts, Montresor eventually chains Fortunato up in a secluded section and mortars him behind a brick wall while he is still alive. The story ends with Montresor throwing a flaming torch into the small opening while he continues to put the last brick in place, essentially burning Fortunato alive. Edgar Allan Poe creates conflict between characters Montresor and Fortunato which primarily creates the major theme of revenge in this story. Edgar Allan Poe depicts setting in this novel by portraying death by illustrating human bones, within a cold and damp crypt to contribute to the eerie theme of revenge. Montresor's characterization is expressed through the betrayal of his friend, which adds another element to the theme of revenge in this story. In Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe utilizes conflict, setting, and characterization to create a theme of revenge.

Verbal irony is used throughout the short story to show how pride lead to Fortunato’s death. For example, ‘“My dear Fortunato you are luckily met”’(Poe 374). In the beginning when Montresor and Fortunato met at the carnival,it could be called parasitism because Montresor benefits from the death of Fortunato in the end,it was Fortunato who was harmed in the process. Fortunato’s encounter with Montresor was unlucky therefore, showing irony in not only his murder but also in the relation his name has with the meaning of the word fortunate.Verbal irony is also showed before you read the short story, in the title The Cask of Amontillado. An Amontillado is a rare wine that Montresor used to entice Fortunato,knowing that he would not give up the opportunity to taste it. Fortunato’s pride and curiosity resulted in him being buried alive. The cask is where Fortunato's body is buried and the word cask could mean similar to the word ‘casket’.Poe broadened his use of literary techniques and used metaphors to convey the events that occurred between Montresor and Fortunato.

Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “Cask of Amontillado” (1846) shares the confession of a man who committed an abhorrent and nefarious crime half a century ago. Montresor lures Fortunato into the family catacombs under the pretext that he insists on requiring Fortunato's self-proclaimed wine connoisseurship to determine the authenticity of Montresor’s newly attained cask of Amontillado. There, he proceeds to brick Fortunato into a wall of the vaults to perish as revenge for the “thousand injuries” he had presumably suffered at the hands of Fortunato (Poe 3). The story never fails to confound readers as to the motive behind Montresor’s actions. The mystery behind this often leads readers to draw the conclusion that Montresor suffers from mental

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is considered one of his most iconic and well known works, a short story that brought the author fame for his nihilistic outlook on life and his fascination with creating characters with a complex sense of morality. Although just a few pages in length, it tells the story of a man named Montresor who carries out revenge against his wine-loving friend Fortunato. In it, Poe explores the themes of the plot using an expert combination of deep characterization, intricate imagery, and skillful irony. The first literary device Poe uses to craft his story is strong characterization.