How Does Montresor Use Of Irony

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Recommended: Literary analysis of the cask of amontillado story

The first way irony is depicted is in the character’s name, Fortunato. The name “Fortunato”

breaks down into “fortunate” and “lucky one”. However, in the short story, this character

becomes just the opposite. The protagonist, Montresor, seeks revenge for whatever crime

Fortunato has committed against him. As such, Montresor lures him into a trap which leads

him to death. Montresor knows Fortunato’s greatest weakness which is his love for wine and

uses it to draw him to his own death (Poe). He tells Fortunato of a special wine called

Amontillado, making Fortunato hunger for the drink. Montresor leads him to his wine cellar

and drugs him along the way. As Fortunato coughs on the way due to the dampness in the air,

Montresor pretends to care and insists on turning around, but Fortunato refuses saying, “The …show more content…

I shall not die of a cough” (Poe). The irony in his name is

that he ends up dying of starvation and dehydration. Right before Montresor buries Fortunato

alive, he imprisons him in chains, foretelling his bad fortune.

In addition, irony is expressed in the short story’s setting. The story originally takes place

at a carnival. A carnival that has much laughter and gaiety. It shifts from a place of gaiety to a

place of death. Montresor takes Fortunato from the laughter to the exact opposite place.

Fortunato is dressed like a clown for the carnival for he wore, “a tight-fitting parti-striped

dress, and his head surmounted by the conical cap and bells” (Poe). His costume is ironic,

because of where it leads him. The setting of light and a merry life ironically shifts to the

setting of darkness and death.
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