“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. The first way irony is used would be a form of verbal irony, this is seen when Montresor first sees Fortunato at the carnival and states, "My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met" (237). Poe uses irony in this statement, meaning one thing, but obviously stating another, by being luckily met, nevertheless he does not mean he was lucky in a …show more content…
The final way irony is used is dramatic irony, this can be seen by any reader, this occurs when Montresor speaks to Fortunato and he states he is a mason as well. This was stated to put Fortunato at ease as we are to assume Fortunato was a freemason, Fortunato asks for a sign and Montresor produces a trowel, one of the working tools of a Mason, moreover this seems to convince Fortunato that his friend is a freemason. Montresor may also have been alluding to the plan to wall up Fortunato using bricks and mortar. Montresor was using the word mason as in someone who builds with stone and mortar, because he will be building Fortunato 's tomb, a stone wall. Montresor uses the word mason, not as in a freemason but as one who builds with stone, Montresor builds Fortunato 's tomb. In conclusion to Poe’s writing of “The Cask of Amontillado” there were many ways that irony was used throughout. This phenomenal writer uses all three points of irony in his story. Those points were: verbal irony, situational irony and