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Dramatic irony examples The Story of an Hour
Discuss the theme of revenge in literature
Discuss the theme of revenge in literature
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Irony is the uses of word to express something different from and often opposite to their literary meaning. Irony is used across literary genres to a variety of effects. There are three main types of irony that were often used by many authors. First is verbal irony or the irony that happens when conversational expectation is undermined. Second is dramatic irony or the irony that occurs when audiences know something that the character doesn’t know and the last is situational irony or the irony that happens when a text’s plot takes a completely different turn than both the characters and the audience expect. In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, the story took place in the catacombs. This story concentrated on two characters which was Montresor and Fortunato. Montresor wanted to take a revenge on Fortunato because he was mocking him; therefore, Montresor planed everything out and convinced Fortunato by …show more content…
lift up the name of the great wine, Amontillado. At the end of the story, he accomplished his plan by chained Fortunato in the catacomb forever. In “The Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl, the story was pointing on Mary Maloney who killed her husband by hitting him with an enormous piece of lamb. Mary was first a lovely woman but then turn to be a professional murderer. She went to the grocery to create an alibi and then call the police, acting like everything was normal. At the end of the story, Mary ask the officer to do the favor for her by eating that piece of lamb which he used to kill her husband. Edgar Allen Poe as well as Roald Dahl used irony to reveal conflict in their story; however, their deeper meaning of using irony was different. Some of the great ways to reveal conflict is through irony. In “The Lamb to the Slaughter,” Mary killed her husband and shocked the audience because it was not what they expected. This is an example of situational irony or the irony that happen differently from what the audience expected and also through this irony the conflict was revealed. Also in “The Cask of Amontillado,” when Montresor said, “We are luckily met.” He used verbal irony to reveal conflict between Montresor and Fortunato. For instance, in “The Lamb to the Slaughter,” the officer didn’t realize that Mary was the one who killed her husband. This is an example of dramatic irony in which we know the information that the character doesn’t know as well as the attitude that Montresor had toward Fortunato in “The Cask of Amontillado.” We know that Montresor want to kill Fortunato, but Fortunato doesn’t know about that. Some authors used irony to create mood or suspense to make the story more tasteful.
In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor told his servants that he was not going to come back home. This action is verbal irony because he meant opposite in what he said. It also created a suspense to the story for the audience to think what would happen next. Unlike the story, “The Lamb to the Slaughter,” Mary reaction toward her action for killing her husband is also an irony and it also created an exciting mood to the audience because no one would expect that to happen. Montresor also mention about Fortunato’s cough in “The Cask of Amontillado.” He said that it was going to be bad for Fortunato to stay in the catacomb because of his cough. This is the example of verbal irony that also create a suspense that the cough is not going to kill Fortunato but Montresor does. Unlike the story, “The Lamb and the Slaughter,” after Mary killed her husband she went to the grocery to create an alibi. The author used this situational irony to create an exciting mood to the
audience. Irony is an implied discrepancy between what is said and what is meant. Although both story, “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Lamb to the Slaughter” used irony to show how the protagonist and the antagonist have conflict on each other, but each authors used irony for a different purpose; therefore, irony is being used in so many different ways.
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.”
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
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.”
Irony is the expression of ones meaning by using language that usually signifies the opposite. There are three different types of irony; verbal, dramatic, and situational. Edgar Allen Poe uses verbal and dramatic irony in The Cask of Amontillado to depict a deeper meaning of Montresor’s hate towards Fortunato.
1. Irony is a useful device for giving stories many unexpected twists and turns. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," irony is used very effectively in her story. Situational irony is used to show the reader what is assumed to happen sometimes doesn't. Dramatic irony is used to hint to the reader something is happening to the characters in the story that they do not know about. Irony is used throughout Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" through the use of situational irony and the use of dramatic irony.
Symbolism is something that represents more than what it really is. It is often by authors in their writing to give it more emphasis. For example:" In life there will always be peaks and valleys" meaning in life there will be ups and downs but we should enjoy the peaks and fight through the valleys. Objects can also be a form of symbolism such as The Bible, it represents more than just a book. It represents Life, Church, Religion, and the life of Jesus Christ and what he stood for. Irony is like a twist or words or the opposite of what is intended. For example: Laughing at someone that just slipped and fell, then later you find yourself slipping and falling is a form of irony. Irony is found in real life situations as well as writings. Symbolism is a technique that gives authors a better story and shows objects as more than what they are. They use techniques like this to catch the reader’s attention.
Dramatic Irony is when an author allows the reader to know more than his/her characters in the story. This technique is used by the authors to add suspense to their literature. Edgar Allen Poe created many suspenseful stories using dramatic irony for the purpose of creating themes about human nature. In the short story “The Cask Of Amontillado,” Edgar Allen Poe uses dramatic irony to develop the theme that one should be careful about insulting another because he/she will seek revenge.
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 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.
Irony is used very often by Poe. Irony is when something occurs that is the exact opposite of how it should be or seem. Irony varies in that it may be displayed through someone’s actions or an ironic happening. An example of irony in someone’s action are in the Cask of Amontillado is when Montressor repeatedly seems concerned for Fortunato’s health, even though his real intentions are to kill him. It also may be considered ironic that Poe named the enemy of Monstressor, Fortunato. Being that Fortunato means fortunate or lucky in Italian, it is ironic that he is very unlucky in that he his buried alive in a wall.
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.
Writers often use symbolism in the story to give a more vivid description rather than just saying, pictures are a perfect example. Symbolism is the art of using any object, place, name or anything that represents something rather
Poe uses irony in his story to engage the reader throughout his text, build suspense and create tension. Poe’s story uses information that readers already know and consequently uses irony in order to sustain the readers interest. He uses dramatic irony, since Fortunato is unaware that Montresor attempts to kill him, but the readers know that he will. Montresor reveals early that he is seeking revenge on Fortunato, therefore, when Montresor expresses concern about Fortunato’s health in line 36, "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. (36), the reader already knows his plan. He is just trying to trick him into believing him that he cares about him to gain his trust. He also uses verbal irony, "Enough," he said; "the cough's a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough.” (Poe37), but Fortunato already knows how he will die later on. This example illustrates how vague Fortunato is and has no clue of Montresor’s evil intentions. The situational irony Poe uses in the story is when Montresor kills Fortunato and walks out of the catacombs. Montresor says, “my heart grew sick; it was the
Edgar Allan Poe is a famous writer in writing detective stories and horror stories. One of his horror stories, “The Cask of Amontillado” was talking about how a man took his revenge to his friend. However, to look deeply in this story, I found that this story was not just simply a horror tale about how a man gets his revenge in the safest way. Instead, it also demonstrates much irony in several areas: the title, the event, the season, the costume, the environment, the characters’ personalities, a man’s dignity and cockiness and at the end, the public order. he are
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.