Examples Of Foreshadowing In The Cask Of Amontillado

Your best friend insulted you. Do you seek revenge or let it go? Many of us would think no more of it and go on with life, yet Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is a gloomy short story where one character takes the common saying “taste of your own medicine” quite seriously and declares revenge. Set in the damp, dirty catacombs of Italy during the carnival season, the tale revolves around two characters, Montresor, a psychopath who “vowed revenge” against his ‘friend,’ Fortunato, a gullible and prideful man addicted to wine, after withstanding the thousands of injuries Fortunato has caused him. On the other hand, “The Cask of Amontillado” has numerous amounts of foreshadowing and irony throughout, that discreetly helps develop and move the story’s theme of revenge along: showing Montresor’s dark, yet humorous personality and Fortunato’s tragic, inhumane, and ironic end.

Foreshadowing is a key component pronounced heavily throughout the tale that gives the audience clues of the character’s

futures. To commence, Montresor, the narrator, initially informs the readers on his quest at revenge on his friend Fortunato and affirms his lone weak point his pride “on his connoisseurship in wine.” In other words, this statement foreshadows that Fortunato’s one big flaw can possibly end up being the ultimate factors to his fatal destruction. Moreover, once Montresor persuaded Fortunato to visit his family’s old catacombs where he kept a rare, precious bottle of Amontillado he toys with him and pretends to care for his health and well-being pleading:

“Come,” I said, with decision, “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 Besides, there is Luchresi–”
“Enough,” he said; “the cough’s a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough.”
“True–true…”

This conversation Montresor partakes with Fortunato foreshadows yet another ghastly turn in Fortunato’s life by the chilling reply Montresor voices, “True–true…” to Fortunato declaration that he will “not die of a cough.” To explain further, this certain conversation contains foreshadowing because Montresor knows exactly how he, Fortunato, will die, which unquestionably, is not caused by a cough.

Lastly, once Fortunato and Montresor are exceedingly lured deep inside the filthy catacombs, Fortunato initiates to brag of his Mason status and how Montresor is discernably not part of the clan. Whereas Montresor argues otherwise and produces “from beneath the folds of [his] roquelaire a trowel” a sign signifying that he is not at all a Mason but nevertheless, in fact, a mason, a builder in stone. Montresor dark humor in playing with Fortunato shows the exact way, Fortunato will shortly decease, by being bricked alive. To conclude, foreshadowing is another important

part.
Irony plays another chief role in the development of the characters’ and their personalities’. Initially, the reader acquires the knowledge that Montresor, the narrator, has plotted retaliation against Fortunato, “when he [Fortunato] ventured upon insult,” however he is not informed of the fact that he will soon perish shortly. In other words, when the audience is aware of something, the character is not conscious of, it is identified as dramatic irony. Furthermore, Fortunato’s name is as ironic as the story line. To clarify further, Fortunato is the Italian or Spanish form of the word ‘fortunate,’ yet once can observe right away that he is not as lucky as his name proclaims by the conclusion of the story. Additionally, the foreplay or costume that Fortunato settles on sporting the evening of the carnival was ironic: “The man wore motely. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.” Strictly speaking, this carnival Fortunato attended typically allowed people to dress up as the person they would like or aspire to be. Taking that into consideration, Fortunato deciding to dress up as the joker because he would like to fool people was ironic for he declared Luchresi a fool when it came to tasting wines affirming “Luchresi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry.” Yet, by the end of the story Fortunato, himself was not able to notice he was being was fooled and tricked by Montresor causing his joker costume to become ironic. All in all, irony is a major part of the story.
All in all, situations and choices we make in our present life will become ironic and will eventually foreshadows the obstacles and the long journey we will encounter in the future. Then again, perhaps, Fortunato’s fate could have been different if he was humble, not drunk on wine and initially accepted Montresor’s invitation to go back to the carnival. However, either way, both characters, Fortunato and Montresor, can consider the wise and true advice that Michael K. Williams once affirmed, “Revenge is not a positive state of mind or energy to indulge yourself in.”