Examples Of Dramatic Irony In The Cask Of Amontillado

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.

To begin with, situational irony is when what happens in a scene is the opposite of what the character expects. For example, the setting of the story is during Carnival, a time of celebration and fun, except that the situation that one of the main characters, Fortunato, finds himself in is anything but. This combined with Fortunato’s court jester costume, contrast with the mood of the story, giving it a full 180, going from cheerful to ghastly. These two examples of irony help create suspense, highlight the truth, and serve as foreshadow to the story.

Dramatic irony also helps foreshadow to future events in the story. For instance, as Fortunato is being tricked by the narrator, Montresor, he begins to get a

nasty cough, but refuses to quit their journey, saying that his cough won’t kill him. This serves as dramatic irony because the reader knows something that the character doesn’t; Fortunato will die, but the cough certainly isn’t what kills him.

Finally, The Cask of Amontillado was chock-full of examples of verbal irony.

Again, Poe uses this branch of irony to foreshadow events to come in the story, by having the characters, usually Montresor, say something but actually mean the opposite. Like, when both men finally arrive to their destination, Montresor toasts to Fortunato’s “long life,” clearly not meaning it, since he’s the one with intentions to murder the intoxicated and overly trusting man. Then, at the end of the story, Montresor ends his tale with “In pace requiscat,” or “Rest in peace.” If Montresor’s able to retell these events with such clear detail, he certainly did not rest in peace. These two final scenes emphasize the truth of the story, and the final line gives a bit more insight to Montresor’s life, giving the story

closure.

This story is an excellent example of putting irony to use in a literary setting, clearly showing how Poe uses the three branches to throw off the reader, keeping them guessing and not sure of Montresor and his intentions. It also serves to make the reader question the narrator: is Montresor reliable or is he actually insane? As more information is revealed, the story becomes more suspenseful, and the reader begins to assume that Montresor might actually be insane. He committed not only murder, but might be actually murdering an innocent man—for the insult might be nothing but a figment of Montresor's imagination.