Use of Foreshadowing and Irony in The Cask of Amontillado Essay

Everything in “The Cask of Amontillado” is written intentionally. Even Montresor’s attire has a symbolic representation. During the carnival, Montresor wore a motley. “He had on a tight fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.”(Poe 20) According to Trent Lorcher, he states “Fortunato is dressed as a fool, a symbolic representation of what he is.” He is portrayed as an ignoramus and “is masquerading as a fool...” as said by the Weebly Editors.

Dramatic irony is introduced in this text by the readers realizing Montresor's plan for what is to become of Fortunato, but Fortunato being unaware of his intentions. Along with dramatic irony, verbal irony is also introduced and used numerous times within Montresor's words. Montresor expresses concern about Fortunato's health and one of the most memorable lines being in response to Fortunato's coughing fit. He says," Come we will go back; your health is precious." After that staement, Fourtunato replies with," Enough the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough," and Montresor replies back, "True--true." With that all being said," In pace requiescat!" or " Rest in peace!" was the perfect ending of verbal irony to this extremely ironic

In the story Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allen Poe often uses words and actions to imply the opposite of their literal meaning. Poe uses this technique to develop the story by showing what had happened in an ironic way so it made it seem like it was normal to kill Fortunato. The setting is at a carnival, and Fortunato is dressed like fool, which he turns out to be an actual fool when Montresor kills him. Montresor states that no one, injures me with impunity, and that Montresor says that Fortunato is not a freemason, these situations are all ironic when it comes to the end story.

Montresor’s words throughout this story are steeped in irony. When they first meet Montresor says, “My dear Fortunato, you are

Poe also uses irony through the use of the setting in which Montresor conducts his murderous revenge on Fortunato. Montresor choose the day in which no one was home, but rather out celebrating; moreover, it was during the carnival season, which was a joyful time for all. Some would choose a legal route to celebrate this festive time; however, that was not the case for Montresor whose joy was achieved through the death and suffering of the person he loathed. Not only was irony used in the setting, but also in the way in which the character was dressed. The character, Fortunato, was dressed in a costume which is both ironic and symbolic. Poe described Fortunato as “The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress and his head was

This is ironical because of his misfortune – buried alive in a catacomb. Many of Montresor’s words and actions are inundated with irony. At the beginning of the story, Montresor says, “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met” (11) leading Fortunato to believe he is glad to see his friend, but in actuality Montresor is the lucky one because he can follow through with his plot for revenge and murder at carnival time when people are less likely to notice someone missing. Another verbal irony in the story takes place when Montresor says “Come … we will go back; your health is precious” (12) after Fortunato has a coughing fit due to the dampness of the catacombs. Fortunato replies that “I shall not die of a cough” (12) to which Montresor replies “True-true” (12). Montresor knows that Fortunato’s death will be a result of his own doing. Montresor’s initial reaction to the murder is not one of regret but rather his “heart grew sick – on account of the dampness of the catacombs” (15). He does not feel well because of the mustiness in the cellar. Poe’s use of symbols and irony throughout the story draws the reader into the suspense and mystery of why Montresor is committing such

The Cask of Amontillado has a lot of examples of irony throughout the story to foreshadow Montresor's revenge. In the story before Montresor takes Fortunato to his caller he finds him at a carnival dressed as a jester. "He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the comical cap and bells.” This is

Edgar Allan Poe wrote the Cask of Amontillado using many terms and hidden statements that added to the suspense of this revenge story. He writes of two characters using a precise word choice that allows the reader to gain more of a sense of what is going on and understand the plot of the story better.

One example that supports this belief is his “conical cap and bells,” which are worn by jesters whose purpose is to entertain people. The bells’ jingles are also the last sounds that Montresor hears as he finishes trapping him with the wall. Fortunato’s “tight-fitting parti-striped dress” makes him out to be foolish and witty. Another example of symbolism in the story is the setting.

While the word cask means a wine barrel, it is also very close to the word casket, which is where Fortunado ultimately finds himself entrapped in until he meets his demise. A less subtle example of irony is the name Fortunado. When translated to English it becomes “fortunate one.” However, by the end of the story he proves to be very unfortunate due to his death. As I talked about before, Fortunado is dressed as a court jester, however, while his apparel is festive, it does not match the fate that awaits him. Poe also uses dramatic irony in his story. Throughout the entire story, the readers is aware of Montresor’s true motives to kill Fortunado, but are unable to do anything about

“The Cask of Amontillado” is one of Edgar Allan Poe’s sensational short story enriched with great retribution, morbid and horror flavours. Besides having a ‘Dark Mind’, this short story also proves Poe’s expertise in ironic literature. For example, Poe reveals an Italian character named Fortunato, which connotes ‘luck’ or ‘fortunate’. However, at the end of the story, the fate of this character did not exemplify his own name. Another example of an irony is Montresor family’s coat of arms.

”(Page 286) This sentence gives insight to both characters showing that Montresor despises Fortunato and will act in spite of anger and shows that Fortunato is a character to be feared because he is wicked. Montresor makes Fortunato in fact seem like he’s the twisted one in the story which is his point as the narrator because he wants those as readers to feel bad for him but hate Fortunato so we can reason why he killed him. Besides this sentence we don’t get much other understandings of Fortunato’s character which is also due to having the story told by Montresor because again he wants us to perceive Fortunato as an evil

Irony is used in many ways in The Cask of Amontillado. The first being Montresor’s name, which in French Montresor means to show fate. Fortunato’s fate rested in Montresor’s hands. Montresor’s name symbolized the fate of Fortunato, after Fortunato wronged him. In addition, Poe uses Fortunato’s name as a play on words because Fortunato translates to fortunate. Fortunato

In the ghastly and gruesome story “Cask of Amontillado,” by the descriptive and creative writer Edgar Allan Poe, the author regularly utilizes irony to create suspense in an unforgettable tale of vengeance, both in the beginning of the story when Montresor coaxes his unwary fellow nobleman, Fortunato, to join him to find a rare barrel of Amontillado, and later when Montresor and Fortunato toast to his “long” life. Montresor is a nobleman that is clever, critical, insincere, vindictive, and solicitous. His plan is to get revenge on Fortunato by luring and eventually killing him in the extensive catacombs underneath Montresor’s palazzo. The reader knows that, “[Fortunato] did not perceive that [Montresor’s] smile now was at the thought of his

Even from the start of the passage the irony Poe creates intensifies the mood. An ironic moment in “The Cask of Amontillado” would be when Montresor kill Fortunato during a carnival. In the text is states, “...one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season…” (Poe, 1). The author used dramatic irony in this situation to build suspense and tension. A carnival usually is associated with laughter, amusement, and just an overall good time. However, for Fortunato that isn’t what is happening at all. Although, Montresor may be happy, death isn’t a fun thing for Fortunato. As Fortunato slowly walks closer to the end of his life a throughout the passe you hear the jingle of his hat, and how foolish he looks in his jester costume. IN the test it says, “No answer still...There came forthir return only a jingling of the bells,” (Poe, 7). Poe uses Fortunato's outfit, and hat, to show how foolish he is, and to intensity the mood of the story as it jingles in such horrifying situations. The hat Fortunato wars is considered to be humorous, yet nothing about him dying is funny. The blood-curdling mood of the story is developed by having a variety of ironic events occur.