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A Stylistic Analysis on Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado
Literary analysis of the cask of amontillado edgar allan poe
A Stylistic Analysis on Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado
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In “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allan Poe uses verbal irony to emphasize the evil intentions of Montresor. Poe uses several instances of irony to demonstrate that Forntunato’s death is imminent and Montresor knows all along. One example of irony being used is when Fortunato says “the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough. ”(119)
Edgar Allen Poe uses irony to tell the reader that the foe of the narrator, Fortunato, is going to die but he doesn’t know it. One example of irony is when Fortunato says, “‘the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough’”(Poe, 36). This is an example of situational irony because Fortunato doesn’t know, but when he said that the cough will not kill him, it might lead him to his death when the catacombs he will be sealed in will make his cough deadly. This use of situational irony conveys the theme because even from one insult from Fortunato drove the narrator to take revenge by killing him and he has a dark perspective of how he is going to end Fortunato’s life by making him suffer.
Verbal irony occurs when what is said is different from what is meant. In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” an example of verbal irony is the final line of the story when Montresor, the protagonist, has just killed Fortunato by walling him up in a tomb in the catacombs beneath Montresor’s palazzo. Montresor says, “In pace requiescat!” (214) which in English translates to “May he rest in peace!” This is verbal irony because, as Montresor has just murdered Fortunato, the reader can infer that Montresor does not wish Fortunato to rest in peace, though that is what he said.
Edgar Allen Poe uses irony to create suspense in "The Cask of Amontillado", by using Montresosr plotted revenge against
In the short story by Edgar Allen Poe, there are countless examples of irony to convey Montresor’s unlawful act, while applying an additional layer of irony to sabotage his revenge. An example of situational irony Poe uses in the story is simply the name Fortunato. Fortunato is an Italian name that means good fortune or luck. This is an example of situational irony because his name means the complete opposite of what he actually was.
One form of irony present is situational irony. Situational irony can be defined as expecting one action to happen but the opposite occurs. Poe uses a play of words in a way a few times throughout. The title itself hints us the plot of the story. “The Cask of Amontillado” contains the word “cask” which is means a barrel of wine.
Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado” is the narrative of a man named Montresor who seeks vengeance against a man named Fortunato. Fortunato insults Montresor. Next, Montresor meet Fortunato at a carnival, eventually luring him into the catacombs of his home to bury Fortunato alive. Moreover, different types of irony are portrayed in this short story. Dramatic irony consists of the character in the story knowing less about his or her situation than the reader.
Humans cannot resist the allure of theorizing what the future will bring. Some may view it through rose-colored glasses, hoping for some type of utopia. Others may have a pessimistic view of the future of mankind, hypothesizing when the next world war will take place. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel, whose themes can be compared to those of other dystopian books such as George Orwell’s 1984 or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.
The protagonist, Montresor, plans to seek revenge on Fortunato, who insulted him, by killing him. Poe uses dramatic irony in the first paragraph by writing that Montresor is planning to kill Fortunato and get away with murdering him. Dramatic irony creates suspense, due to only the reader and Montresor knows that Montresor is premeditating Fortunado's murder. Verbal irony is utilized to create suspense when Poe writes of Montresor and Fortunado making toasts, and Montresor saying, "And I to your long life" to Fortunado (Poe 347). Perfectly aware that he is going to murder Fortunado, yet Montresor toasts to Fortunado's long life to make the reader to feel as if Fortunato is going to somehow foil Montresor's plan.
One way Poe uses situational irony is when he starts to describe how Montresor was dress and the what carnival was like. In the story Poe describes how Montresor is dress like a joker. Poe also describes how the carnival is not a fun and exciting place to be. While Montresor was dress like the joker it distracts Fortunato so he does not expect anything horrible to happen to him. Which is not really true because Fortunato is still going to be the victim of a heinous
The paradox of the situation at hand is the use of irony in the following short stories: “Rip Van Winkle," "Young Goodman Brown," and "The Cask of Amontillado.” Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe interject the obvious uses of irony throughout their literatures, yet the simplicity of their satire is blind to the characters at hand. Irving, Hawthorne, and Poe envelope their authorships with situational, verbal, and dramatic irony; all of whom use this rhetorical device in a sense to add some incongruity to the story. Nevertheless, these various authors, who each hold their own unique writing style, have the unbecoming audacity to allude the reader from the expected by giving them the unexpected.
Edgar Allan Poe creates horror and suspense in his use of irony -including verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatic irony-in his short story “ The Tell-Tale Heart”. Verbal irony is when something that is said means the opposite of what is meant. Poe uses verbal irony when he states, “ I loved the old man.” Situational irony is similar. It is defined as when what happens is different from or even the opposite of what we expected.
Verbal Irony is when words are expressed contrary to the truth or someone says the opposite of what they really mean, in other words or to sum it up Verbal irony is sarcasm. Peck uses Verbal Irony commonly in the short story, for example he states,”Then quicker than the eye, she brings the side of her enormous hand down in a chop that breaks the Kobra’s hold on Melvin’s throat…... You could hear a pin drop in that hallway(peck 14)”. This shows that peck used Verbal Irony to express how quiet it was in the hallway.
“The Use of Irony in "The Cask of Amontillado" Edgar Allan Poe is a phenomenal writer and makes many points in his writings. There are three different ways in Poe 's writing of "The Cask of Amontillado" that irony is used: verbal, situational and dramatic. Verbal irony can be seen when Montresor first sees Fortunato at the carnival. Situational irony is also used and can be seen between the meaning of Fortunato 's name and his destiny, as well as Montresor 's response to his own. The last way irony is used is dramatic irony, this can be seen by any reader, this occurs when Montresor tells Fortunato he is also a mason.
Edgar Allan Poe specifically uses a handful of literary elements to his short story, “A Cask of Amontillado” in hopes of bettering his work. Poe literary elements such as situational, dramatic, and verbal irony to further convey the ultimate theme of retribution throughout “A Cask of Amontillado”. Situational irony presents itself throughout Poe’s short story that aids the reader in fully understanding the revenge-fueled moral of the story. In the opening paragraph, the narrator, Montresor, describes his family’s highly honored motto or creed, “I must not only punish, but punish with impunity.” (Poe 108).
