Edgar Allan Poe’s Use of Symbolism and Irony Edgar Allan Poe is famous for his short stories—I’m sure you’ve done your fair share of high school assignments featuring his work—and there’s a reason he’s so mainstream. Edgar Allan Poe uses a great deal of irony, symbolism, and foreshadowing—evidenced in The Cask of Amontillado by the way he portrays Montresor’s deceitful nature and Fortunato’s drunken obliviousness, developing the plot and along with it, a dark theme of revenge and murder. Immediately, The Cask of Amontillado demonstrates this by describing the scene of a fair, in which Fortunato is dressed in motley and bells—that is, the clothing of a jester, which translates literally by the way that he plays the part of a fool. Montresor, meanwhile, wears a dark “roquelaire”, or cloak, and coaxes Fortunato into his catacombs where the Amontillado supposedly is kept; alongside it, the burials of his ancestors. There are actual piles of bones as they descend into the vault. It is a cellar, but it is also a place of death, and Montresor symbolizes the grim reaper (Course Hero). …show more content…
“Mon treasure” translates from French to “my treasure”, which can be assumed to be his family’s name, Fortunato has laid upon a “thousand injuries”, and is why Montresor seeks revenge. Additionally, “Montre sor” means “to show fate”, and “Fortunato” is Italian for “fortunate”, though he’s anything but, oblivious to how his own fate will present itself