Examples Of Irony In The Cask Of Amontillado

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Irony in the Cask of Amontillado

A well-known writer and poet, Edgar Allan Poe, is extremely familiar with the use of irony. Ordinarily, when a writer uses words that have one explanation, but actually mean the opposite, he is employing irony. Ultimately, this is usually done for humor or to add emphasis. Accordingly, Poe’s use of this literary tool is dramatic and can require the use of critical thinking skills to figure out. The author uses several examples of irony in his story The Cask of Amontillado. Irony is illustrated in this story when Montresor meets Fortunato and expresses that their meeting is quite fortunate despite his eventual fate, when Fortunato is dressed as a fool, and by Fortunato’s name representing “the fortunate one”. These three examples have been selected to best exemplify the author’s use of irony. …show more content…

The villain, Montresor, has a plot to kill Fortunato in the catacombs. He searches our Fortunato at the carnival and says, “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met” (237), as if this meeting is, in fact, a fortuitous event for both men. Actually, there is nothing propitious about his encounter with Montresor, in view of the fact that Montresor lures him into the catacombs where Montresor can exact revenge by interring Fortunato while he is still alive. Consequently, this is a prime example of irony, as there was nothing beneficial about having met Montresor on that fateful evening. Similarly, this one example can be followed by the visual aspect of Fortunato’s

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