“No One Attacks Me with Impunity: Irony and Symbolism in “The Cask of Amontillado””
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” was published in the November of 1846, in a magazine titled Godey’s Lady’s Book. The piece of short fiction consists of Montresor confessing to and narrating a murder he committed many years prior, and is filled with dramatic irony and foreshadowing. The story, set in Italy, examines the conflict between two noble houses; that of Montresor and the rival Fortunato. The story concludes with Montresor immuring Fortunato in the tunnels where his ancestors are buried. This theme of premature burial is mirrored in a few other of Poe’s stories, including “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839). Unlike the horror invoked …show more content…
From the introductory narration, the reader is aware that Fortunato will suffer, and the dialogue supports that fact. As Fortunato’s death is premeditated by Montresor, the latter’s speech serves to hint to the reader of the outcome, while Fortunato remains unaware of the hidden meanings behind Montresor’s words. A prime example of this is Fortunato’s declaration that he will not die of a cough, to which Montresor responds only “True—true,” before drinking to Fortunato’s long life. Montresor knows all too well how his enemy will die, and is certain it won’t be from a cough. Other examples are easily found throughout the text, such as the coat of arms of the Montresors, and Fortunato’s forgetfulness as to their motto. Fortunato forgetting the arms of Montresor’s family is yet another of the “thousand injuries of Fortunato I [Montresor] had borne,” and the irony of the situation is mirrored by the motto of his house, “nemo me impune lacessit,” the translation of which is “no one attacks me with impunity,” or “no one can harm me unpunished.” Fortunato‘s disregard for Montresor’s ancestry is another injury to the man’s pride, and the irony of the story’s ending is reflected in Montresor’s family motto. Charles N. Nevi argued that “the story only concludes when irony is no longer possible,” meaning that only once Fortunato becomes aware of the true …show more content…
Elena Barban, in her essay discussing the motive of Montresor’s murder, quotes G. R. Thompson in his assumption that Montresor is narrating the story on his deathbed. Whether he tells the story to a descendant, a friend, or even Luchesi, his fellow wine connoisseur, he mentions nothing that suggests guilt, especially with the comment that, upon Fortunato’s death his heart grew sick, but only from the dampness of the tunnels. Another likely possibility is that Montresor is narrating directly to Poe, or even Poe’s rival, Thomas Dunn English, who used Poe as a character in a satirical story about alcoholism, titled “The Doom of the Drinker.” This rivalry opens the possibility that the thousand injuries that Fortunato committed against Montresor are really an allegory based on English’s insults towards Poe. Irony is shown in this real world situation as well, as “The Cask of Amontillado” exemplifies every literary technique that Poe had celebrated in a review written under English’s name of another short story. In very different ways, both English and Fortunato learned that none may attack either Poe or Montresor with impunity. There is irony present even in the character’s names, Montresor, or “my treasure” symbolizing the man’s lineage,
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” was published in the November of 1846, in a magazine titled Godey’s Lady’s Book. The piece of short fiction consists of Montresor confessing to and narrating a murder he committed many years prior, and is filled with dramatic irony and foreshadowing. The story, set in Italy, examines the conflict between two noble houses; that of Montresor and the rival Fortunato. The story concludes with Montresor immuring Fortunato in the tunnels where his ancestors are buried. This theme of premature burial is mirrored in a few other of Poe’s stories, including “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839). Unlike the horror invoked …show more content…
From the introductory narration, the reader is aware that Fortunato will suffer, and the dialogue supports that fact. As Fortunato’s death is premeditated by Montresor, the latter’s speech serves to hint to the reader of the outcome, while Fortunato remains unaware of the hidden meanings behind Montresor’s words. A prime example of this is Fortunato’s declaration that he will not die of a cough, to which Montresor responds only “True—true,” before drinking to Fortunato’s long life. Montresor knows all too well how his enemy will die, and is certain it won’t be from a cough. Other examples are easily found throughout the text, such as the coat of arms of the Montresors, and Fortunato’s forgetfulness as to their motto. Fortunato forgetting the arms of Montresor’s family is yet another of the “thousand injuries of Fortunato I [Montresor] had borne,” and the irony of the situation is mirrored by the motto of his house, “nemo me impune lacessit,” the translation of which is “no one attacks me with impunity,” or “no one can harm me unpunished.” Fortunato‘s disregard for Montresor’s ancestry is another injury to the man’s pride, and the irony of the story’s ending is reflected in Montresor’s family motto. Charles N. Nevi argued that “the story only concludes when irony is no longer possible,” meaning that only once Fortunato becomes aware of the true …show more content…
Elena Barban, in her essay discussing the motive of Montresor’s murder, quotes G. R. Thompson in his assumption that Montresor is narrating the story on his deathbed. Whether he tells the story to a descendant, a friend, or even Luchesi, his fellow wine connoisseur, he mentions nothing that suggests guilt, especially with the comment that, upon Fortunato’s death his heart grew sick, but only from the dampness of the tunnels. Another likely possibility is that Montresor is narrating directly to Poe, or even Poe’s rival, Thomas Dunn English, who used Poe as a character in a satirical story about alcoholism, titled “The Doom of the Drinker.” This rivalry opens the possibility that the thousand injuries that Fortunato committed against Montresor are really an allegory based on English’s insults towards Poe. Irony is shown in this real world situation as well, as “The Cask of Amontillado” exemplifies every literary technique that Poe had celebrated in a review written under English’s name of another short story. In very different ways, both English and Fortunato learned that none may attack either Poe or Montresor with impunity. There is irony present even in the character’s names, Montresor, or “my treasure” symbolizing the man’s lineage,