The Irony of ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ ‘The Cask of Amontillado’(Poe, 173) is a revenge story that involves two men named Fortunato and Montresor. Our main antagonist is Montresor, who fools and triumphs over the drunken prideful fool Fortunato. Edgar Allen Poe uses irony in a setting and action to foreshadow the demise of Fortunato. He uses a lot of foreshadowing along with verbal irony, dramatic irony, and situational irony to show Fortunato’s misfortunes which eventually lead to his death. The first aspect of irony, in the story is of the characters name Fortunato. It is derived from the word “Fortun” which means fortunate. This makes it an ironic name to have for a man that is about to an unfortunate fate. Fortunato is definitely …show more content…
The book describes him as “ He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells”(Poe, 174). His costume is also ironic because it shows how he considers the night a joke. So, when he gets chained to the wall, naturally he assumes it is a harmless prank. But, in reality his foolishness has led to his death. In the Explanation of: The Cask of Amontillado they state “Further, we are told that Fortunato "wore motley," the garb of a fool. From this point on, Montresor turns the accepted structure of the world upside down, makes a fool of Fortunato, and inverts the relationship between the symbolic and the literal”(LitFinder Contemporary …show more content…
So although Fortunato believes he will ultimately reach a cask of wine, he actually meets his casket. In conclusion, in the story of ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ by Edgar Allen Poe, Poe uses irony and foreshadowing throughout the story to allow the reader inside knowledge on what is about to happen. Throughout the story examples of verbal, dramatic, and situational irony can be found easily and help with foreshadowing for what is going to happen. Works Cited Poe, Edgar Allen. The Norton Introduction to Literature. W.W. Norton & Co. New York, 2017. Print. "Explanation of: The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe." LitFinder Contemporary Collection, Gale, 2000. LitFinder, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=lincclin_sjrcc&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CLTF0000000780CE&it=r&asid=e64e00c540ab7cfb7ca8e9c07963beb6. Accessed 1 Feb.