Irony in The Cask of Amontillado Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado” is a literary classic for many reasons. The story is complex and full of all kinds of irony. As the reader gets deeper into the story, the relationship between the main characters becomes more and more ambiguous. The story revolves around a revenge, but the reader never gets to know what happened between the two men to warrant a murder as gruesome as this. The story includes several examples of dramatic and verbal irony. The short story is full of verbal irony. Starting from the beginning, everything Montresor says is the opposite of what he wants to happen. A great example of this is when Montresor says “we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible,” the reader knows that the whole statement is false, but Fortunato is so drunk that he does not suspect anything. Montresor says that he …show more content…
Fortunate said something offensive to Montresor and this story is him living by his family motto. It is also ironic that Fortunato is clearly very sick and grows weaker on every step they take toward the Amontillado, and he would most likely die if Montresor would just leave him all alone in the catacombs. Still, Montresor wants to kill Fortunato himself to fulfill his family’s motto. Thinking that Montresor is a mason; Fortunato makes a gesture that only masons recognize. Montresor replies by showing his trowel that he will later use to build the wall around Fortunato. Montresor is indeed a mason; only a completely different mason than Fortunato. Montresor acts literally as a mason when he walls Fortunato in down at the
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.
Within this plot of revenge, Poe uses irony and symbolism to develop his theme of a man who tries to gain absolution for the sin he is about to commit. Irony in "The Cask of Amontillado" Poe
The carnival, a public event, displays Montresor’s actions and feelings towards Fortunato in a public setting. He is very cheerful and still jokes around with Fortunato as if nothing is wrong between them “It must be understood, that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good-will. I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation.” (1118). During their descent into the Montresor’s family catacombs Montresor’s actions begin to show his true feelings towards Fortunato, as he gives him some Medoc even though Fortunato is already drunk. Montresor is not acting bitter towards Fortunato yet because they are not close enough to where his revenge will take place, Montresor shows false friendship in a sense by continuing to say that Luchresi can tell him if the cask of Amontillado is real or a fake to keep him going deeper into the damp catacombs. Knowing that Fortunato will demand that they continue Montresor is leading him to his death by Fortunato’s own hubris to his
The Cask of Amontillado is a short tale of revenge, written by Edgar Allan Poe. The two main characters in the story are Montresor, who is the murderer, and Fortunato who plays a wine connoisseur and the victim. In this dark story, we can see a lot of irony, hate and revenge coming from the main character who has been planning this all along. In this essay I will analyze, examples of irony and foreshadowing used by the writer, symbols and themes, among other things. (Hasanbelliu)
In the opening lines Montresor explains what Fortunato has done to him: ?he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge?(75. The next line Montresor explains that he did not threaten him back and he did not reply to the threats. It was not in Montresor?s nature to do return the threat, ?You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat?(75).
At the beginning of the story, Montresor states his motive to kill Fortunato, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.” Montresor doesn’t specify what Fortunato did to him, but you have to infer that he’s done some pretty serious things to deserve to die. This quote alone doesn’t give enough to create the personality of Montresor; throughout the story, Montresor gives several hints that he will not let anything stop his plan, one of which being his motto. Montresor telling the story for the first time in 50 years shows that he sticks to his word no matter what, which can be good, but then again, he did kill a man in cold blood half a century before he
A well-known writer and poet, Edgar Allan Poe, is extremely familiar with the use of irony. Ordinarily, when a writer uses words that have one explanation, but actually mean the opposite, he is employing irony. Ultimately, this is usually done for humor or to add emphasis. Accordingly, Poe’s use of this literary tool is dramatic and can require the use of critical thinking skills to figure out. The author uses several examples of irony in his story The Cask of Amontillado. Irony is illustrated in this story when Montresor meets Fortunato and expresses that their meeting is quite fortunate despite his eventual fate, when Fortunato is dressed as a fool, and by Fortunato’s name representing “the fortunate one”. These three examples have been selected to best exemplify the author’s use of irony.
In Edgar allen poe's, short story “The Cask of Amontillado” , the narrator, a man named Montresor describes a perfect revenge, and then tells a “true” story of how he succeeded at completing revenge with satisfaction. When Poe wrote this story he used irony, foreshadowing, and mood to engage the audience. One sentence that stood out to me was (line one pg 209), “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” Basically that’s saying, that he planned to get revenge on Fortunato, because he insulted him. The reader must personally wonder what he said to Montresor to make him seek revenge in death. In the next 3 paragraphs i will explain how Poe, used mood, foreshadowing, and irony to make this short story more interesting.
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 Allan Poe placed many examples of symbolism and irony in the “The Cask of Amontillado” that help to develop the themes of fraud, revenge, and pride. All throughout the story, Poe develops the themes in many ways. “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is a story in which its themes and central ideas can be explained as pride and revenge.
Knowing the type of person Montresor can have a manipulative sane personality and can be a crazy balanced person who wants revenge for not getting a smile back. Fortunato was foolish for falling into a trap knowing that Amontillado was not in season however, the mind of a man can easily be beguiled and manipulated. I find Fortunato’s death ironically because his name in Spanish sounds like fortunate, in the start of the story he has virtually everything he wants, but seems to be depressed because he drinks quite often even though there is a festival. To pride yourself in wine a person might have to drink often. In my opinion he responsible, for his own death I find that even if he did not want to die it was his journey that couldn’t been avoided at least he died what was at the most pride full thing in his mind tasting wine, but this wine was literally to die for. In the end he did get the best sip of wine the relief of
First off, the use of dramatic irony in the story allows the readers to recognize Montresor as a malevolent person who finds Fortunato's pain humorous. As Fortunato starts coughing Montresor suggests, "You will be ill, and I cannot be responsible you are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me, it is no matter.
When they arrive at the Montresor estate, Montresor leads Fortunato down the stairs into the catacombs. Down here is where the Amontillado Fortunato is going to taste and where the revenge of Montresor is going to take place. As he get closer and closer, the narrator opens up more and more to how he is going to kill his "friend". It sound like it is a premeditated murder. Montresor seems so inconspicuous that he acts like he cares about Fortunato which is still a part of his plan.
Edgar Allan Poe's strong use of symbols throughout "The Cask of Amontillado" is what makes this story worthy of examination. The clever use of these devices by the author to shape this horrifying and gripping short story has made this piece be regarded as a classic American horror story, which revolves around the theme of vengeance and pride.
Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Cask of Amontillado,” is a thrilling and a suspenseful tragedy filled with irony. At the beginning of the story, the protagonist, Montresor explains how he desires for revenge. “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” (233). He warns the reader something unfortunate will happen to the antagonist, Fortunato. The story follows two wine connoisseurs throughout the night as they walk through the dark catacombs. “The Cask of Amontillado,” includes verbal, situational, and dramatic irony, which causes the reader to experience suspense, confusion, and horror.