Fortunato’s Misfortunes in “A Cask of Amontillado” In Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “A Cask of Amontillado” the diabolical narrator, Montresor, has only one goal in mind. He seeks to get revenge on his “friend” Fortunato. Montresor composes a plan use Fortunato’s ego to ironically lead him to his death. Fortunato is supposedly a wine expert; however, this expertise will ultimately equip Montresor in his plan to kill him. Poe’s dark short story is filled with irony. “A Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe has irony in almost every line of the story and shows that Fortunato’s misfortunes ultimately lead him to his death. Poe uses irony in “A Cask of Amontillado” before the story even starts within the title. The word “cask” is meant …show more content…
When Montresor is asking Fortunato to come and taste the wine, he appears as if he is concerned for Montresor’s health. Montresor says, “My friend, no. It is not the engagement, but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted. The vaults are insufferably damp. They are encrusted with nitre” (Poe 393). The reader knows that it would not make sense for Montresor to actually be concerned about Fortunato’s health when his end goal is to kill him. Montresor is playing to Fortunato’s ego, and he knows that Fortunato will think that he is the only one who will be able to identify the wine. Montresor uses this tactic all throughout their journey down the catacombs. “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” (Poe 393). Montresor is complimenting Fortunanto and playing to his ego. He knows Fortunato will not agree to turning back. He tells Forunanto that he is a man to be missed and that he cannot be responsible for his illness; however, the reader knows that Montresor is going to be responsible for his death. “A Cask of Amontillado” is filled with dramatic irony, and the reader knows what Montresor says is …show more content…
While traveling through the catacombs, Fortunato does a gesture to see if Montresor recognizes the symbols of the brotherhood of the masons. Montresor does not recognize it; however, he continues to tell Fortunato that he indeed is a mason. When Fortunato asks for a sign Montresor shows him a trowel which is used by brick masons. Fortunato thinks it is a joke, but he has no clue that Montresor will later be using that trowel to brick him into his own grave. Also verbal irony is when Fortunato drinks the wine and says, “I drink to the buried that repose around us”, and Montresor replies “and I to your long life” (Poe 394). Fortunato is drinking to the dead people around him, but he does not know that soon he himself will be among the dead. Montresor drinks to Fortunato’s long life; however, he knows Fortunato’s life is going to end shortly. Poe uses verbal irony all throughout “A Cask of Amontillado”. In Edgar Allen Poe’s gothic short story “A Cask of Amontillado” irony is used throughout the entire plot. The untrustworthy narrator is only out for revenge, and uses irony to trick his friend into trusting him. Fortunato is anything but fortunate in this short story, and the use of irony in almost every element of the story creates a suspenseful tale for the
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
In “The Cask of Amontillado” irony plays a vital role in the story. One example of verbal irony can be seen when Montresor first sees Fortunato at the carnival and says “My dear Fortu...
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.”
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.
“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
In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor made up in his mind that he would carry out his act of revenge on Fortunato. Whatever offense Fortunato committed against Montresor drove him to the brink. The hatred inside was somewhat poetic. Montresor schemed to every detail how to carry out his revenge. The setting of the story is a dark, gloomy night at a celebration during carnival season. Montresor would be detailed in describing the monetary status of his enemy, his wardrobe or costume he wore to the celebration. He would set the mood as cheerful. Despite the ill feelings he has towards the now drunken Fortunato, Montresor pretends to care for his company to lure him towards his cunning plan. He strokes Fortunato’s ego and his love for wine to draw him towards the cellar. The dark, damp halls, the claustrophobia, and the human skeletons lying about the earth were all a foreshadowing of Motresor’s plan for the drunken Fortunato. It enhanced suspense to the story, building up to the climax which would be Fortunato entering into his grave. As they further enter the hal...
In the passage "The Cask of Amontillado” the characters have a unique relationship that is certainly one-sided. Irony is defined as the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies to opposite, usually used as sarcasm or as a hypothetical meaning. Fortunato and Montresor are explained by how their relationship is so different from one verses the other. In the story "The Cask of Amontillado" Edgar Allen Poe explains a lot about situational, dramatic and verbal irony.
Wood, Kerry.” Literary Analysis : Irony In ‘ The Cask Of Amontillado’ by Edgar Allan Poe.”Humanities 360. Helium, Inc., 9 Nov 2007. Web.17 Mar 2014.
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 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.”
Dramatic irony is used when we know, or draw a conclusion of, what will happen to Fortunato, although he continues his descent into the catacombs in pursuit of the Amontillado. The sense of revenge reaches its highest peak when Poe uses irony for Montresor to inform us that he will smile in Fortunato's face while using his wine to lure him into the catacombs to taste his imaginary Amontillado. During this scene like a fool in his costume while Montresor is leading him to his death bed. This whole time Montresor plays very innocent.
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.
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 first literary device used by Poe in his short story “The Cask of Amontillado,”
The first thing that I found ironic in Poe’s story is its title, “The Cask of Amontillado”. Without reading this story, it was difficult for me to understand why Poe used this title. However, after I read it, it was sensible for the author to use this title, because this “Cask of Amontillado” plays an important role in the story. As I have mentioned before, this title is ironic, but why? The reason is quite simple; in the story, this “Cask of Amontillado” is a shill, which is used by Montresor in order to attract Fortanato to fall into a trap. Then, as a result, Fortanato was killed by Montresor. In other words, it can also state that Fortanato was killed by a “Cask of Amontillado”. At this point, the author depicts Fortanato’s life ironically since it seems that the value of Fortanato’s life is just as equal as a bucket of wine.