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The Cask Of Amontillado Analysis Essay

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In the short story, "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe, the reader finds out the series of events that leads to a man named Fortunado's death. The narrator and protagonist of the story is a man named Montresor, who had previously been insulted by Fortunado.
Montresor commits murder in the end through acts of manipulation for the sake of revenge. "The Cask of Amontillado" is a story to tell the reader that a person will be punished for their wrongdoings and moral weaknesses. Poe tells this lesson through several creative uses of irony, foreshadowing, and symbolism.

At the beginning of the story, it is made clear that Fortunado is not a very pleasant man. The narrator, Montresor claims "The thousand injuries of Fortunado I had …show more content…

His punishment is death.

Fortunado's death is forshadowed many times. One of the first examples of this is when Montresor pulls a trowel out of his cloak. Strangely, perhaps in his drunk, ignorant state, Fortunado does not question why Mont would have a trowel on his person. Later, the same trowel is used in Montresor's plan to kill Fortunado. Fortunado also overlooks his cough, which is caused by the niter on the walls. He is too blinded by pride and his drunken state to sense the danger of the niter around him, Montresor's strange calm, and the piles of human remains around him. This could be related to how humans often view their sins. They are ignorant of signs that they need to change as they continue through life in ignorant bliss. It is only too late that they realize the error of their ways.

Poe also uses irony to further the impact of this lesson. Not only will those who do wrong be punished; they may be punished in unexpected ways. Fortunado was simply enjoying the festivities of the carnival when karma chooses to strike in the form of Montresor's revenge. Montresor's revenge also comes as a shock to Fortunado, because Fortunado had not seen any sign that his friend would want to kill him. In Fortunado's mind, he had been completely decent and fair to Montresor. The irony in this is that the punishment for his deeds had come from someone he saw as a friend and in a time of celebration. Even as a stone wall was being built around his final resting

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