The Cask of Amontillado: Poe's Ironies
THESIS: When approaching a story by Edgar Allan Poe, the reader knows full well what to expect; something grim, shocking, bloody, evil, dark, sinister, and possibly something surprising is bound to happen. It may even be hideously frightening, and that will not be a shock to the senses of an experienced reader of Poe. But the real point of reviewing a Poe short story in the context of literary criticism, the real challenge, is to learn from the master himself. Reading Poe should be more than mere entertainment; it should be a learning experience in terms of how to use irony, how to produce sardonic humor, and how to employ bold and even cold narrative. BODY OF RESEARCH PAPER: In Poe's noted short story, The Cask of Amontillado, the author, as he usually does, plants several powerful (and usually ironic) images in the beginning of the story, as both tone-setters and foreshadowing. In the very first paragraph, "revenge," "insult," and the "thousand injuries" that Fortunato had apparently inflicted on him, are out there for the reader to see. In fact, that first sentence is a powerful hint - "in characteristically precise and logical detail" (Delaney, 2005) - as to what will happen. At the beginning of the fourth paragraph, anoth
His outcry roused the Scots, who fell on the Danes with great fury and slaughtered them," Cervo explains. " The jingling of the bells on Fortunato's cap (jingling bells usually denote festiveness) was ironic; "You are a man to be missed" (foreshadowing, irony); ". And at the very end, Fortunato yells, "For the love of God, Montresor!" begging, finally, for some mercy; "Yes, for the love of God," Montresor answers back to Fortunato, which can be read "ironically, in that his motives might be taken to be pride, amour-propre, indeed anything but the love of God" (Graham 2004). Perhaps the air deep in the cave contains toxins or gases that cause a loss of judgment?The irony of the motto that Montresor uses, "Nemo me impune lacessit" (No one wounds me with impunity) is that Montresor has just described his family arms, as a serpent's fangs imbedded in the heel of a foot. the cough's a mere nothing," Fortunato says, "It will not kill me. " Here the reader finds two more ironies; "ejaculated" is of course Poe using the carnal theme again, but it is ironic because "ejaculation" is what fertilizes the seed and causes new life to begin inside the woman's body, and Fortunato is nearing the completion of his life. It is of course a symbol of the ugly demise that Fortunato is about to experience. So it will be revenge, punishment with "impunity," that the protagonist Montresor will visit about poor Fortunato (an ironic name to be sure in this context). And then, even after Fortunato is chained up and can see the writing on the wall (not intended as a pun), he answers, "The Amontillado!' ejaculated my friend, not yet recovered from his astonishment.
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Allan Poe,
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PAPER Poe's,
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