In “Cask of Amontillado” the author drops a lot of irony throughout the story that creates suspense for the reader. The narrator has planned revenge on another character, Fortunato who is unaware of the idea which introduces dramatic irony. When the narrator coincidentally runs into Fortunato he smiley says, “My dear Fortunato you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking today!” (Poe 59). The audience knows that the narrator despises Fortunato and by him say he is luckily met lets the reader know that Fortunato isn't and is in some sort of danger and he is obivious of what we know. The narrator starts to talk about this wine called Amontillado which is the start of his plan knowing that Fortunato is a wine expert and can’t resist
In this chapter, Foster discusses irony. When Montresor is attempting to bring Fortunato into his catacombs, he makes several ironic statements. For example, he says that Fortunato’s “health is precious” (Poe 868). As well as this, Fortunato himself states that he “shall not die of a cough” (Poe 868). These two statements are ironic because Montresor is pretending to care about Fortunato’s health and life, when in reality, he is about to kill him. To add to this, Fortunato admits that he won’t die from a cough, unbeknown to the fact that he will instead die from his friend. Also, another ironic part of the story is the fact that Fortunato came to the catacombs for wine, but his own intoxication led to how easily he was killed. If it hadn’t been Carnival, and if he hadn’t been so heavily drunk, he might have been able to at least attempt to escape his inevitable death. Also, if he had been sober, he may have realized how foolish it was to follow Montresor to the catacombs when his story wasn’t exactly adding up. These are a few examples of irony in “The Cask of Amontillado.”
Verbal irony occurs when speakers or writers say the opposite of what they mean. One example of verbal irony in The Cask is when Montresor first sees Fortunato at the carnival. This is ironic because Montresor acts like he is pleased to meet Fortunato but he really is not. For example, Poe writes, “My dear Fortunato you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking today” (237) Moreover, what Montresor really means is that the meeting is lucky because it presents a good time to murder Fortunato. Another reason that Montresor acting like he is pleased to meet Fortunato is ironic is that Montresor wants to murder Fortunato. Montresor is mad because of Fortunato’s unknown insults toward him but is acting nice. Montresor is acting nice so that he can disguise his motives to kill Montresor.
“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is a mystery that offers great suspense and interest. This is because of the irony that Poe creates and the setting that makes a dangerous mood and foreshadows the victim’s death. In the beginning of the story, the narrator meets a man named Fortunato at an Italian carnival with the intentions for murdering him in the foreseeable future. The narrator talks with Fortunato saying, “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met,” (1). These first words spoken by the narrator show verbal irony because the narrator is not really saying that they met luckily. In fact, as I stated before, the narrator was planning this encounter, with the plan ending with Fortunato’s death. This proves to be suspenseful for the reader because they want to discover Fortunato’s actual fate while wishing they could tell Fortunato of the
Irony in Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game and The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe
The Cask of Amontillado is an eloquent story narrated from the murderer’s point of view. Montressor seeks revenge against Fortunato for numerous insults the reader can only imagine. In order to determine the severity of the apparent injustices, Fortunato himself must be understood. Montressor describes him as being “rich, respected, admired, [and] beloved,” as well as “a man to be … feared” (Poe 274-276). Fortunato was a flawed individual, however. His greatest imperfection was his love for wine. Fortunato’s “connoisseurship” (274) of wine resulted in his intoxicated state throughout the short story. His physical and mental capacities were impaired by his drunkenness, and as a result, he was unable to resist Montressor’s lure into the catacombs.
Wood, Kerry.” Literary Analysis : Irony In ‘ The Cask Of Amontillado’ by Edgar Allan Poe.”Humanities 360. Helium, Inc., 9 Nov 2007. Web.17 Mar 2014.
For example, Montresor expresses concern about Fortunato and says, "Come, I said, with this decision, we will go back; your health is precious. Montresor does not want Fortunato to die from anything other than his own plan of slow death by asphyxiation. Symbolism in "The Cask of Amontillado" This story by Poe has numerous examples of symbolism. For example, the manner in which Fortunato is dressed is ironic for a man with societal prominence. Fortunato is a man of stature who is “rich, respected, admired” (Baym).
In “The Cask of Amontillado,” the reader can tell the narrator is unreliable. The narrator shows this through his lack of reason for killing Fortunato. Also, the narrator indicates that he is unreliable when he laughs as he kills Fortunato; only a madman would laugh while killing someone. The narration of the story makes it so the reader questions why the narrator killed Fortunato. Another question most readers have is, why is the narrator sharing this story? Also, readers commonly ask themselves, what has happened to make him share this story? The narrator says, “For half of a century no mortal has disturbed them” (Poe 113). This statement by the narrator may make a reader feel that Fortunato’s body has been moved or found. Likewise, it may make a reader feel that the narrator is bragging to someone about getting away with murder because he is possibly on his
Irony and symbolism are tools used in writing to convey individual messages throughout the story. It is Edgar Allan Poe’s intense use of symbolism and irony throughout the Cask of Amontillado that gives this short story its suspense and horror filled theme.
In the story “The Cask of Amontillado”, the author uses lots of verbal irony to emphasize the evil intentions of Montresor.One of the examples of verbal irony in the story that he uses is “The cough’s a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough.” and “true--true, I replied.” The effect of this irony is it that Montresor already knows how Fortunato will die.Another example of verbal irony used in the story was when they did a toast to each other. “I drink”, he said, to the buried that repose around us.”
Dramatic irony is used when we know, or draw a conclusion of, what will happen to Fortunato, although he continues his descent into the catacombs in pursuit of the Amontillado. The sense of revenge reaches its highest peak when Poe uses irony for Montresor to inform us that he will smile in Fortunato's face while using his wine to lure him into the catacombs to taste his imaginary Amontillado. During this scene like a fool in his costume while Montresor is leading him to his death bed. This whole time Montresor plays very innocent.
Edgar Allan Poe is one of greatest American authors and poets. He is well-known as a master of using irony in his story. “The Cask of Amontillado” is a horror story about revenge of Montresor upon Fortunato. Fortunato believes Montresor is his good friend, but he ends up with being chained and walled in to the catacombs. There are three types of irony used in this short story: verbal irony, dramatic irony, and situational irony. Using these ironies, Poe wants the readers to understand about Montresor’s “friendship” with Fortunato.
Edgar Allen Poe uses irony and poetic justice all throughout “The Cask of the Amontillado”. The places where irony and poetic justice hold the most significance are the scenes where, Montresor speaks of the wronging done to him by Fortunato, where Montresor and fortunato speak of the coat of arms, and where at the very end when Montresor traps Fortunato in the catacombs and leaves him to die. These scenes clearly show the use of these two tools that Poe used to tell the story of Montresor and
The first thing that I found ironic in Poe’s story is its title, “The Cask of Amontillado”. Without reading this story, it was difficult for me to understand why Poe used this title. However, after I read it, it was sensible for the author to use this title, because this “Cask of Amontillado” plays an important role in the story. As I have mentioned before, this title is ironic, but why? The reason is quite simple; in the story, this “Cask of Amontillado” is a shill, which is used by Montresor in order to attract Fortanato to fall into a trap. Then, as a result, Fortanato was killed by Montresor. In other words, it can also state that Fortanato was killed by a “Cask of Amontillado”. At this point, the author depicts Fortanato’s life ironically since it seems that the value of Fortanato’s life is just as equal as a bucket of wine.
Poe starts out with a man, by the name of Montresor, wanting revenge on another man, named Fortunato. Most of the story takes place deep in the Montresor family catacombs. As Montresor lures Fortunato into the catacombs, he chains Fortunato up to a small hole in a wall, bricks it over, and leaves Fortunato to die. Even through the traits of anger, hatred, and revenge, as the story progresses on, Montresor, the main character in “The Cask of Amontillado”, starts to show signs of feeling guilty for wanting to murder Fortunato.