How Does Poe Use Dramatic Irony In The Cask Of Amontillado

In the short story, The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allen Poe uses dramatic irony, Character Actions, and Setting to enhance the ominous mood of the story. The thoughts that Montrouser thinks allow the reader to know more than Fortunato creating dramatic irony. Early in the story, Montrouser thinks about how Fortunato has brought injuries and insults to him. Montrouser thinks, in paragraph one, about how he must get revenge for what Fortunato has done to him and will be avenged. He wants to punish Fortunato for his wrongdoings, but he will “punish with impunity.” Poe continues to write about how Montressour never took revenge and Fortunato never made the wrong right so “retribution overtakes its redresser.” In addition to not making up for

Later in the quote, Poe writes why Montressour has the right to punish Fortunato, “A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser.” This is saying that because Fortunato didn’t make up for what he did and Montressor didn’t take revenge, justified that he could punish him. This creates a very ominous mood through dramatic irony because it leaves the reader in a very unpleasant mood believing that something bad is going to happen. Later in the text, Poe creates an ominous mood through dramatic irony when Montressour is noticing the cough Fortunato has while in the murky caves. Fortunato goes on to respond to Montressours request to go back because he could die in the murky cave with that cold, but he says that

Character actions can tell you who they are and what type of person they are. When the author describes the actions of Montressour he includes an ominous mood within the actions, we can see an example of this when Montressour and Fortunato are having a conversation about being a part of the masons, Fortunato doesn’t believe Montressour is a mason and asks for “A sign.” Montresour then “produces a trowel” from his cloak showing it as the sigh that Fortunato asked for. After this, he “replaces the tool beneath the cloak” and continues on (Poe, par. 62-65). In the quote above we can see Montresour revealing a trowel/mason from under his cloak. This action from Montressour creates an ominous mood by randomly having a trowel in his cloak leaving the reader with a scene of suspicion and something bad yet to come. Next, we see him putting the trowel back into his cloak adding to the mood and suspicion. This gives the reader a hint that this will come back later in the story. Finally, we see him offering his arm trying to comfort him again to continue on towards the amontillado giving the reader a sense of wonder on why Fortunato saw this and does nothing. We can also see character action creating an ominous mood when Poe describes the smile on Montressours face by describing what the smile actually means. Montresour thinks to himself that he hasn’t done anything to “give