The Cask of Amontillado - Essay Example

19 February 2007 The Cask of Amontillado In the short story The Cask of Amontillado Poe uses humor and acute irony to create a unique message and unveil the theme of revenge and death. The use of first-person narration forces the reader to participate vicariously in the act of revenge. Poe shows that human beings are often driven by self-destructive impulses. Thesis An abundant use of irony helps Poe to create a story conflict and unveil a true nature of a selfish man consumed with his own worldly success and social status, wealth and power. The irony is used as a stylistic device to unveil contradictions between the world of imagery and reality. The main character, Fortunato, is portrayed as an important and cultured man. His name can be interpreted as "the man of fortune", but the irony is that he is faced with bad luck to have wronged a man with a deathless memory and a commitment to "not only punish, but punish with impunity" (Poe 848). The irony is that Poe does not tell readers the exact offense he has committed, and can make no evaluation upon whether Montressor's revenge is justifiable. "Revenge is a dish best served cold" (Poe 541).Readers cannot analyze and evaluate Montressor's right for revenge. An abundant use of irony is evident in contrasting characters of Fortunato and Montressor. Poe does not directly state that Fortunato is nave or Montressor is a very cunning man. Readers can guess and predict that these characteristics are probably true. He had a weak point - this Fortunato - although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine" (Poe 847). Fortunato's ability to assess and judge situations accurately is questioned at the beginning of the story when he insists upon leaving his family and friends to descend into a damp wine vault in order to answer Montressor's challenge at judging the worth of a cask of wine. Montressor describes: "Putting on a mask of black silk, and drawing a roquelaire closely about my person, I suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo" (Poe 848). His pride is great and he feels he alone is capable of making this evaluation; he pays a terrible price for this arrogance. The uniqueness of the short story is that Poe links two stylistic devices: humor and acute irony which leads to change from what is expected. As the two men proceed along toward Fortunato's ultimate resting place, Montressor's sarcastic remarks and exclamation add ironic details and black humor. He asks Fortunato about his health and long life, reveals his mason trowel when Fortunato mentions that he is a member of the secret Mason society, plays with the Fortunato by telling him that he intends to provide him "all the little attentions in my power" (Poe 852). Also, the irony is that Fortunato is dressed in the suit of a clown to join in the celebration of carnival. This detail gives some hints to readers about true nature and personality of this character. The irony is evident in the setting of the story. During the carnival season, Montresor encounters Fortunato and reports that he has purchased some Amontillado. It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much" (Poe 846). Fortunato becomes anxious to sample the wine in question and deliver an opinion as to its merits; so he is easily led into a niche where he is fettered with chains and immured by Montresor, who has both a trowel and some fresh mortar handy. Fortunato, who has been drinking and coughing, quickly becomes sober and begs to be released, but to no avail. An abundant use of irony is evident when Poe unveils life and destiny of Montressor. Through this character, Poe's portrays a fanatical person who has spent the best part of his life first planning and then executing the murder of Fortunato. Fifty years later, Montressor is still thinking about the corpse that has been quietly rotting in the corner of the wine cellar. All his life, Montressor supposed that he would find satisfaction in revenge upon his enemy, but failed. At the beginning of the story he explains: At length I would be avenged ; this was a point definitively settled - but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved, precluded the idea of risk" (Poe 846). Further, Montressor claims that his "heart grew sick-on account of the dampness of the catacombs" (Poe 854), but this is the first time he has mentioned a sentiment during the long walk to this conclusion. Moreover, the fact that he then "hastened to make an end of my labor" (Poe 854) implies that his earlier zeal has been complicated by the reality of an imminent murder. His haste to leave the scene of the crime is in contrast to the initial complacency with which he savors the telling of his story and the fettering of Fortunato to the back of a wall. When Fortunato is immobilized, Montressor begins the work of sealing him between two stone layers by carefully building a wall directly in front of his victim. At first, Fortunato thinks this is all part of a joke: "we will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo" (Poe 854) but the rows grow higher. The irony is that Montressor is a cold murderer who dreams about revenge but cannot bear a burden of secrecy and misdeeds. Montressor is rational on the surface but raging inside. His need to exact revenge upon Fortunato sharpens his nature to the point where the moral stands of his actions become weak compared to the satisfaction he receives from punishing his enemy. Montressor is a good illustration of a weak personality driven by personal gains only. Behind the mask of friendship, Montressor kills Fortunato cynically. Also, the irony is that he does not use such guns or other weapons, but forces his victim to suffer fro a long time. Montressor explains: It must be understood, that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation" (Poe 846). Although it is possible to say that Montressor enjoys the retelling of this story of the "immolation" of his drunken enemy, it is also true that he has been carrying the memory of this crime inside him for fifty years. The acute irony is evident when this murder has become the obsession of his life and the part of his existence. In sum, Poe skillfully uses irony and humor to unveil a true human nature and the theme of revenge and moral degradation. Poe portrays that it is Fortunato who has for the fifty years continued to punish Montressor, if only as a dead memory from which he is never free. After fifty years of keeping this dark history a secret, walling it up within his own heart, Montressor is compelled finally to write it down, to bring his crime out into the light. Works Cited 1. Poe, E. "The Cask of Amontillado" in Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry, Tales, and Selected Essays. ed. P. F. Quinn. New York, 1996, pp. 846-857. Read More