ACE Paragraph In the short story, “The Cask of Amontillado,” Edgar Allan Poe, the author, uses several different types of irony. At the beginning he comes right out and says,”…I vowed revenge,” which tells the reader he will do anything that must be done to seek revenge, (209). Later in the story he tells the reader who he is seeking for revenge from. This unfortunate character is Fortunato. While Fortunato was under the influence, Montresor took advantage of his befuddled behavior. Speaking in a pleasant and seductive manner, Montresor tries to lure him into trap by saying things like, “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met…” (210). The sarcasm in his voice puts Fortunato under a false sense of comfort. This is an example of verbal and dramatic
irony because the reader knows Montresor wants revenge, and the reader can see that he needs to be kind to Fortunato in order to fulfill his plan. Nevertheless, he continues to use the term, “My friend,” because he needs to let Fortunato know that his insult has been forgiven, but this is a lie and is hidden by dramatic irony. The overall irony of the story, is when Montresor traps Fortunato in the small enclosed area, leaving Fortunato to die a slow and painful death. This is not situational irony to the reader, but it is to Fortunato, who believes they are going to look at the wine in Montresor’s cellar to see whether or not Montresor made a good purchase. In this unfortunate part of the story, he then is chained to the wall, and block by block he kisses his life away.
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.”
“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is a mystery that offers great suspense and interest. This is because of the irony that Poe creates and the setting that makes a dangerous mood and foreshadows the victim’s death. In the beginning of the story, the narrator meets a man named Fortunato at an Italian carnival with the intentions for murdering him in the foreseeable future. The narrator talks with Fortunato saying, “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met,” (1). These first words spoken by the narrator show verbal irony because the narrator is not really saying that they met luckily. In fact, as I stated before, the narrator was planning this encounter, with the plan ending with Fortunato’s death. This proves to be suspenseful for the reader because they want to discover Fortunato’s actual fate while wishing they could tell Fortunato of the
Poe's, The Cask of Amontillado is a story about fear and revenge. The story begins with Montressor's vow of revenge, foreshadowing future actions. "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could; but when he ventured upon insult vowed revenge..." Montressor had to be sure not to raise suspicion of what he was going to do Fortunato. Montressor knew that Fortunato had a weakness that he could use towards his advantage.
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.
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most celebrated writers in American literature. He is well known for his style of writing which is dark and morbid in nature. Poe makes use of irony as well as foreshadowing in many of his stories including the short story “The Cask of Amontillado”. For the most part, Poe's descriptions in his writings are haunting and realistic. Some often speculated that Poe derived his unique style of writing from his personal life struggles. His stories are written with deep emotions that make his audience feel a connection and they can create an image of themselves experiencing what is happening in his writing. Poe dedicated most his stories into specific categories which stayed within a genre and those who admire his work are never mistaken for someone else’s. Another American writer, whose writing manifests her life experiences, is Kate Chopin. Chopin is late 19th century writer who used her writing to voice her dissatisfaction of current principles of the time. In her time, women had fewer rights and they were not considered equal to men. Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is about how someone can be stuck in a miserable and unsatisfying reality because of other’s thoughtlessness, oppression, and domination. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” and Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” share similar elements of irony, foreshadowing, and symbolism. In addition to using similar elements of writing, Chopin and Poe are greatly influenced by their struggles with their own personal life and society. Both author’s stories reach out to their audience not only about what they have witnessed and experienced, but also revealing to them to how the society were in the past.
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.
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)
Hess, Julie R. "Poe's Use of Irony in "The Cask of Amontillado"." Writing for the Arts and Humanities. December 2, 2005. http://www.webpages.shepherd.edu/jhess02/TheCaskofAmontilladobyPoe.htm (accessed January 30, 2014).
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.
In the short story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe the main character, Montresor, is plagued with insanity. The story is set in the brilliant city of Italy during the Carnival festival sometime in the 18th century. Over the course of time, Montresor has been planning revenge against his enemy Fortunato for insulting him and the night portrayed in the story is the night that he put his plan into action. Dramatic irony is displayed through the entire story because the reader is very much aware of what Montresor is planning to do, but the character, Fortunato, is not. Montresor clearly expresses his insanity when he lures Fortunato into his trap, pretends to care about his well-being, and eventually murders him.