Corey Macdougall Macdougall 1

Mrs. Jackson

English period 5

The Cask of Amontillado

The cask of Amontillado By Edgar Allen Poe is the story of a man and his revenge. Montresor takes all his revenge out on Fourtunato. Poe creates a great deal of irony to make this a truly horrifying story. He uses verbal irony, Situational irony, and Dramatic irony.

Verbal irony, or the difference between what a character says and what their words actually mean, appears throughout the story. At one point when Fortunato begins coughing, Montresor suggest that they go back. Fortunato replies “I shall not die of a cough. Although the reader may not realize the significance of the comment on first reading the story, he later realizes the great irony of the statement, for Fortunato does not die of a cough but of something much worse. On the way Montresor says, “I drink to your health” Fortunato Knot knowing he was going to be killed in a few minutes drinks with him. Poe’s use verbal irony adds to the horror of the situation.

Poe also uses situational irony or the reversing of expectations to increase the horror in the story. Montresor gives cough medicine to Fortunato it is really wine. Montresor knew he would take it and get drunk. This type of irony is used to give the reader a twist or turn and keep his or her attention.

The third type of irony Poe develops so well is dramatic irony in witch the reader knows something the character doesn’t. When Montresor tries to get Fortunato drunk. We

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know that something is up but Fortunato has no idea. This type of irony sets the story up so that we feel like we are on the inside it makes us a part of the story.

By using irony throughout the story Poe involves the reader from the beginning. As the reader realizes the narrators insanity the reader becomes more and more horrified that one human could torture and kill another. By the expert use of irony Poe turns a simple plot into a suspenseful story of a twisted vengeful mind.

Word Count: 356