Examples Of Verbal Irony In The Cask Of Amontillado

Edgar Allen Poe is one of many great American poets and authors. He is much known as a genius at using irony in his stories. “The Cask of Amontillado” is a horror story about Montresor seeking revenge on Fortunato. Fortunato believes Montresor is his good and loyal friend, but in the end he ends up with being walled and chained into the catacombs. There are three types of irony Poe uses in this story: dramatic irony, verbal irony, and situational irony. His goal is for readers to understand Montresor’s “friendship” with Fortunato.

The first irony is verbal irony. Verbal irony is a figure of speech in which what is being said is the opposite of what is meant. There are many examples of this irony throughout this short story. The first irony

is the name “Fortunato.” In this story Fortunato’s name suggests good fortune, or of being fortunate, but he experienced exactly the opposite because he is killed in the end. Another irony is Fortunato following Montresor into the vault, and Montresor makes it seem like he cares about Fortunato’s health, “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” (167). The readers of this story already know from the very beginning that Montresor’s intention was to kill Fortunato. “And I to your long life” (167). Fortunato’s life that he has lived out already, will soon be over. Walking deeper into the vaults, Fortunato begins to cough more and more, and Montresor shows his concern towards Fortunato’s health “Come, we will go back before it is too late. Your cough-“It is nothing” (167). Montresor knows that the more he pretends to care for Fortunato, the greater Fortunato wants to reach Amontillado- his dark fate. Fortunato is blindly being led to his death by somebody who he trusts and admires as a friend, but this person who he thinks is his friend is actually seeking for his own revenge.
The second irony being used in this short story is dramatic irony, which is when the characters do not know something but the people reading the story and watching the play know what is happening.

Fortunato appears with a sick looking “He had on a tight-fitting parti-stiped dress, and his head was surmounted but the conical cap and bells” (165). He dressed like a jester, and soon there was a big joke played on him. “Amontillado!”(165). Fortunato was very excited about tasting the rare wine and continued to search for Amontillado. But little does Fortunato knows, Amontillado is something that was made up by Montresor to set Fortunato up for his unfortunate death. But Fortunato is the one person that thinks Amontillado exists in the vaults of the Montresor family. Fortunato refers to Montresor as his friend. He almost forget what coldness feels like “The cold is merely nothing” (166). and he is right. The coldness will not have any effect on his health in the future because his death is near. He toasts many humans buried in the catacombs, but he does not know that very shortly, he will become one of them. Dramatic irony is used heavily throughout the story, creating more interesting, humorous effects to the story. The death of Fortunato was predicted several times, be never realized it. To him, his enemy Montresor is his dearest friend, and the imaginary Amontillado is just what he has been dreaming for a while. Everything from his perspective is almost perfect, except the

main detail, that he does not exist.
“A moment more and I had fettered him to the granite… Withdrawing the key I stepped back from the recess” (168).

As readers, we can expect Montresor to show Fortunato the Amontillado, but instead of doing that, Montresor chained Fortunato to the wall. Amontillado never existed, and Montresor’s goal the entire time was to lead Fortunato to his death. Fortunato asked Montresor whether he is of the “brotherhood” or the Masons. Montresor replies to him yes, and shows him a trowel as a symbol. In fact, Montresor is a Mason, “With these materials and with the aid of my trowel, I began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche” (169). He used his trowel to build a wall that Fortunato will be stuck behind for eternity. These results are an example of surprising results that are different from what the readers would have expected, they are called situational irony. Montresor very carefully and cleverly planned this revenge on Fortunato. It began with him convincing Fortunato to get Amontillado, Montresor then chained Fortunato to the wall, buried him alive, and gets his revenge he always wanted, without Fortunato being suspicious. At the end of the story, Montresor says to Fortunato “In pace requiescat!” (170) which means “May he rest in peace”. Being buried alive is the most terrible fear of all, and Montresor is haunted forever by the jingling of the bells that follow

him.
Edgar Allen Poe uses many verbal, dramatic and situational ironies throughout “The Cask of Amontillado” to make his story more enhanced in detail. With these ironies, Poe makes the short story a lot more interesting and comprehensive. This brings a certain effect on the reader’s feelings towards Fortunato and Montresor. Readers feel sympathy for Fortunato because he is so naïve, his desire of Amontillado and trust for Montresor. Or they feel the horror of what an evil man Montresor is when he leads his friend into the vault and buries him alive so he can have his revenge.