Discuss The Irony In The Cask Of Amontillado
Edgar Allen Poe maneuvers an ominous tone in “The Cask of Amontillado” to build and maintain the suspense within the story, successfully leading his readers down a path of expectations before leaving them quivering at Montresor’s demolished sanity. While Poe sets the story during a carnival, opposing it is the narrator’s sinister intentions as he tells his audience: “my smile now was at the thought of [Fortunato’s] immolation”(3). This is dramatic irony since the audience is already clear that Montresor’s contemptuousness towards Fortunato is soon to be resolved with murder while he remains unaware of his fate. The irony here also sets the ominous tone of the story. Additionally, the setting begins the story with mystery; how the man is killed
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Upon encountering Fortunato, Montresor provokes, “‘As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi. If anyone has a critical turn, it is he. He will tell me-,’” before he is cut off due to Fortunato’s pride as a connoisseur in wine(4). The way in which he is able to read Fortunato’s character and precisely identify his weakness indicates what a criminal genius Montresor is. Poe is slowly revealing the dubious mental state of the narrator to intensify suspense as well as elicit questions within his readers regarding Montresor’s sanity. As the story progresses, Montresor says, “‘you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter’”(6). This quotations reveals the immense amount of self pity within his character. Not only this, he is blinded by the thought of murder to the point where he is losing conscious of himself. Finally, at the end, he states “No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in reply only a jingling of the bells. My heart grew sick--on account of the dampness of the catacombs”(10). Montresor's unreliability as a narrator exposes as he identifies his feelings but refutes that the sudden sickening in his heart is nothing to do with remorse, but because of the surrounding environment. This displays his lack in self-awareness and
Upon encountering Fortunato, Montresor provokes, “‘As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi. If anyone has a critical turn, it is he. He will tell me-,’” before he is cut off due to Fortunato’s pride as a connoisseur in wine(4). The way in which he is able to read Fortunato’s character and precisely identify his weakness indicates what a criminal genius Montresor is. Poe is slowly revealing the dubious mental state of the narrator to intensify suspense as well as elicit questions within his readers regarding Montresor’s sanity. As the story progresses, Montresor says, “‘you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter’”(6). This quotations reveals the immense amount of self pity within his character. Not only this, he is blinded by the thought of murder to the point where he is losing conscious of himself. Finally, at the end, he states “No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in reply only a jingling of the bells. My heart grew sick--on account of the dampness of the catacombs”(10). Montresor's unreliability as a narrator exposes as he identifies his feelings but refutes that the sudden sickening in his heart is nothing to do with remorse, but because of the surrounding environment. This displays his lack in self-awareness and