The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe

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The Cask of Amontillado

By: Edgar Allen Poe

 In the story “The Cask of Amontillado” the reader can find a multiple instances of irony throughout the story. The irony comes across in both actions and words and is a major part of this story. Irony is the controlling factor that moves the story along.

To begin with, the setting reveals some irony as it changes from a cheerful carnival scene to a dark threatening cavern.

The name of one of the main characters is Fortunato. A Strange name for someone, but we soon see this is both ironic and an oxymoron. The reader sees there is nothing fortunate about the character Fortunato. “THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. “ This opening sentence foreshadows that the narrator will do something to Fortunato but the reader doesn’t yet know. It also re-enforces the irony of Fortunato’s name.

More Irony can be found when the narrator Montresor greets Fortunato as a friend but is preparing his vengeance as seen in the line “I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation”

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Irony is also found in Fortunato’s clothing. The two characters share a common taste for fine wines and that is the bait that Montresor uses to reel his victim in. Amontillado seems impossible for anyone to have received in the middle of the festivities and the drunken Fortunato finds such an accomplishment to be incredulous. Montresor, prepared for such a response, plays on Fortunato’s arrogance: “He says “As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchresi. If any one has a critical turn it is he. He will tell me --” Fortunato, argues that Luchresi is terrible ...

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