Irony in the cask of amontillado - Essay Example

The Cask of Amontillado is a short story by the famous macabre Edgar Allen Poe. The Cask of Amontillado is filled to the brim with dramatic irony from the initial setting to the Fortunato’s unfortunate end. Montresor is a man who is out for revenge. He seeks out the end of Fortunato’s life for disgracing Montresor and his ancestors. Fortunato, an acquaintance of Montresor, is in a carnival drunk on wine and suffering from a cold, yet he still celebrates in his final hours. When Montresor bumps into Fortunato, he puts on a smile.

Fortunato mistakes the smile as one of friendliness and not from the thought of Fortunato’s untimely demise. Fortunato was dressed in clothing like a jester, in fact, he even had a hat with bells on it. Montresor was dressed in black with a mask of equal color. This symbolizes Montresor as evil and Fortunato as the fool. Montresor comments Fortunato on looking “remarkably well” and asks the drunken man to check his new case of Amontillado for genuity. Fortunato, stricken by his pride upon hearing the name of a rival wine connoisseur, Luchresi accepted the offer.

Fortunato happily followed Montresor to his doom.Montresor led Fortunato to the Montresor to a dark tomb where the bones of Montresor’s ancestors lay untouched. In the musty tomb, Fortunato’s illness becomes worse and he begins to cough uncontrollably. Montresor feigns concern and warns Fortunato about going deeper into the tomb saying that he could die from the nitre. Due to pride, Fortunato refused Montresor’s invitation to leave the cellars saying “I shall not die of a cough.” Montresor took out a wine bottle from a nearby rack and offers Fortunato to drink.

Fortunato took the wine and drank to the dead Montresor ancestors around him. Montresor drank to Fortunato, wishing him a long life.Montresor brought another bottle of wine, flaçon of De Grâve, handing it to Fortunato who quickly drank the wine to his utter enjoyment. He did a hand sign that was exclusively for the Masons, a secretive group of people said to have political power. As a joke, Montresor said that he too was a mason and he took out a trowel from within his coat. Fortunato was thrown back a few steps out of shock when he realized Montresor was not a Freemason but a stonemason, a builder.

Montresor began to seal Fortunato within the damp cellar. Fortunato was starting to recover from his drunkenness and began screaming. To taunt Fortunato, Montresor begins aiding his screams. When Fortunato screams “For the love of God,” Montresor replies “yes, for the love of God.” This dialogue is said to have caused much controversy. What did Montresor mean when he said “Yes, for the love of God”?This scene from the story shows irony since the usage of the statement “ For the Love of God” was not a well-meaning statement.

Rather, it was used as a mockery that also set down the trap Montressor laid down for Fortunato. Indeed, as Fortunato screamed out this final statement , Montresor also felt a pang in his heart , something like guilt. Montresor even tried to query into Fortunato’s plight of which Fortunato did not respond.Some believe that Fortunato has struck a small victory by causing possibly causing Montresor remorse. Montresor mentions that his heart feels ill due to the nitre, but could it also be from regret?

After sealing the wall completely, Montresor replaces the ancestral bones to cover the newly built wall. The murderer then says “In pace requiescat!” which means, “rest in peace.” This is another form of irony since it may mean that Montresor did regret his action and wishes well Fortunato for it is the only thing he could do at that time.