The short story The Cask of Amontillado was written by Edgar Allen Poe. This story was about a man confessing to a crime of revenge. The author uses Irony, the rules of revenge, and Reverse Psychology to develop this story.
The use of irony was frequently found in The Cask of Amontillado. Instances from the story include the title, the name of one of the characters, and in the scene where Fortunato states that he “will not die of a cough.” The use of irony in the title is a great way to start of the story the title is The Cask of Amontillado and this means a cask of wine and cask is very similar to casket so the title could mean the casket of wine. In the story, Fortunato ends up dying to go after a rare wine and the casket for his death
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was the room to which the wine was supposable. So the title explains the story in three words. Another form of irony in the text was the name of one of the charters. The character’s name was Fortunato which sounds a lot like fortunate. Fortunato was not fortunate though because he ended up dead in the end of the book. The next use of Irony was when Fortunato says that he “will not die of a cough.” This is ironic because he ends up dying of starvation because of Montresor closing him off from the world by building a brick wall. The use of irony in this way adds to the development of the book Also the use of the rules of revenge develops the plot of the book. The rules of revenge are used to allow the reader to understand what the main character did wrong in the story. The primary rule is to not get caught. He ended up getting got by the priest that he was confessing to in the opening scene even though the priest cannot tell anyone else about his sins. The next rule is to not become obsessed with the target or what you are doing. He ends up becoming obsessed and this is known to the reader during the final paragraph when he says that the no one has disturbed the bones since then. The reader can read into this as him going down there often otherwise how would he know that the bones have not been moved since then. Additionally, you have to have the equal amount of pain, so they must know why what and who is doing this to them. Montresor was not able to say these things to Fortunato because Fortunato would not respond and Montresor gets nervous and just ended up pushing the last brick in place. So Montresor never finished the last rule of revenge. So by not following the rules of revenge he ended up not getting his true revenge and this is why at the begging of the story these rules were told to the reader. In the end, he ends up convincing himself that he followed these rules to a “T” but that was reverse psychology on himself. Reverse psychology is used a few times in this story once at the beginning and in the middle.
The first time reverse psychology is used is when the main character Montresor is talking to the priest. Montresor has convinced himself that he followed the rules of revenge and did everything right. However, he has broken all the rules of revenge by talking to the priest which breaks rule one not getting caught. Then breaks rule two by going back to the grave of Fortunato. He breaks the next rule of equal pain because the insult has haunted him even after Fortunato was dead. The other rule he broke was to make sure that the Fortunato knew why and who was doing this to him but he does not get the chance to do this because there was no response from Fortunato when called upon. The next use of reverse psychology is when Montresor says that Fortunato is too sick and that he will go get “Luchresi” instead. This motivates Fortunato to continue on and to show that he is stronger than his sickness. The third time this is used is on Montresor’s own servants he tells them that he will be out all night and tells them to stay at the house to work. But since the servants no that he will be out all night they leave so they can enjoy the ceremonies and
fun. In conclusion, a big amount of the development of the story was from the Irony, Rules of revenge, and Reverse psychology used in the book.
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.”
Poe, Edgar A. "Short Stories: The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe." Short Stories: The
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” irony plays a vital role in the story. One example of verbal irony can be seen when Montresor first sees Fortunato at the carnival and says “My dear Fortu...
Dramatic Irony is irony when the audience knows something which the characters do not. An example of dramatic irony in The Cask is when Montresor expresses concern for Fortunato’s help. This is ironic because everyone except Fortunato knows that Montresor is not really concerned about his health. Montresor says, “Come, I said, with decision, we will go back; your health is precious” (Poe 238). Montresor lying about being concerned of Fortunato’s death is also ironic because, Montresor is concerned about luring Montresor into the catacombs to carry out his murder plan. Fortunato does not want Montresor to die of a cough, but wants to kill him himself. Montresor does not have the slightest clue that Fortunato is planning to murder
Google Dictionary defines irony as, “the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.” Which is just a complicated way to say: “when someone gets the opposite of what they expect.” Simple as that. In The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe utilizes all three branches of irony—situational, verbal, and dramatic— to make his story interesting, suspenseful, and full of foreshadow.
In the ten years following 1836, Edgar Allan Poe established himself as a short story writer, writing the well known stories “The Tell-Tale Heart” in 1843 and “The Cask of Amontillado” in 1846. As dark as his nature was, the two stories were equally dark, one about a man killing an elderly man with a creepy eye, and the other about a rich dude killing someone who insulted him. As both of the tales possess main elements of murder and death, both of them also have elements that link the stories even more such as their protagonists, character motivations, and resolutions.
In the passage "The Cask of Amontillado” the characters have a unique relationship that is certainly one-sided. Irony is defined as the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies to opposite, usually used as sarcasm or as a hypothetical meaning. Fortunato and Montresor are explained by how their relationship is so different from one verses the other. In the story "The Cask of Amontillado" Edgar Allen Poe explains a lot about situational, dramatic and verbal irony.
Set in an unspecified Italian city and an unidentified year, the Cask of Amontillado is a short story that majorly revolves on revenge. Written by the much-celebrated literary expert Edgar Allan Poe, the short story is centered on the narrator who is hell bent exerting revenge on a friend who caused him great pain.
Irony is also used throughout this tale. The use of revenge in this story shows irony. Montressor avenges himself by fooling Fortunato into literally walking into his own grave. Fortunato pursues the "cask" which ends up being his own casket. Montressor even asks Fortunato repeatedly whether he would like to turn back.
"The Cask of Amontillado" is one of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest stories. In this story Poe introduces two central characters and unfolds a tale of horror and perversion. Montresor, the narrator, and Fortunato, one of Montresor's friends, are doomed to the fate of their actions and will pay the price for their pride and jealousy. One pays the price with his life and the other pays the price with living with regret for the rest of his life. Poe uses mystery, irony, and imagery to create a horrifying, deceptive, and perverse story.
In this short story, examples of irony and foreshadowing are presented very often in between lines. One of the very first things that I find as the biggest irony in this short story fiction is the victim’s name “Fortunato”. As I looked up the definition of the name, Fortunato means fortunate which is very ironic due to the fact that he is going to die, and be walled up in the catacombs. Aside from that, I also found a verbal irony at the very beginning of the story when Montresor first sees Fortunato at the carnival and says “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met,” (Poe) .I found this to be very much ironic because, Fortunato is not actually lucky to have met Montresor who is actually going to murder him.
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.
Tolman, Kelly. “Cask of Amontillado Irony.” The Cask of Amontillado. n.p., 21 May 2011. n.pag. Web. 6 Nov. 2011 .
Edgar Allen Poe most commonly known for his short stories, poems, and descriptive language in is writings, also wrote the story of "Cask of Amontillado". Mr. Poe uses several different descriptive words to set the tone for his story. From the very beginning of the story we know that it will be an eerie, sadistic, vengeful story. Mr. Poe speaks of revenge against a drunken jester who hurt his pride and humiliated his narrator.