The Use Of Irony In Fortunato

Decent Essays
Poe exemplifies the use of verbal irony to convey dark humor in the story. The victim’s name “Fortunato” (37), meaning fortunate one, portrays irony in his interactions with Montresor, which leads to his tragic death. Montresor encounters Fortunato and greets him: “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met” (37). Fortunato believes Montresor derives pleasure in meeting him however, Montresor despises Fortunato and takes into account a signal to carry out his mischievous

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    The Narrator, whose name is Montressor is French for ‘my treasure’, which is ironic since Montressor is poor and bankrupt. Fortunato’s name is Italian for ‘fortunate’, and it is also ironic since he dies. Poe deviates from romanticism through arabesque, and creating a somber mood to provoke emotion. Arabesque also aided him in developing psychological horror, as the ornateness used create an unsettling sense of obsession. This further reveals the darker aspects of human nature as Poe…

    • 1036 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To start off with, Poe develops his eerie and ominous mood through his suspenseful irony. He illustrates Montresor acting like a friend towards Fortunato, who worries about his health when he keeps coughing as if he were ill. It is very ironic because Montresor asks questions like "How long have you had that cough?" and says "we will go back; your health is precious.” (Poe 347). This adds to the irony because the audience knows that Montresor has this whole elaborate plan to murder Fortunato, yet he shows all these caring actions towards him.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Evil That Men Do Both Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” and Flannery O’Conner’s “A Good Man is Hard to find” are horror stories exploring the darker side of human nature. In both stories two men commit murder for personal reasons. While each story uses similar characters, with similar traits that set the overall theme, they differ in the ways that each character is affected by them. Montresor comes from a former powerful noble house and plans on killing Fortunato.…

    • 997 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Un-Fortunato It’s ironic how the one only Fortunato turned out to have an unfortunate ending. In Edgar Allen Poe’s the revenging short story of “The Cask of Amontillado” verbal irony is used to foreshadow Fortunato’s death. While Montressor and Fortunato are in the catacombs, Fortunato picks up a bad cough from the nitre encrusted on the walls.…

    • 216 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Situational irony is when events turn out the complete opposite of what one is expecting. The very name “Fortunato” plays an immense role in situational irony, because despite his name meaning “lucky” or “fortunate”, he ends up being imprisoned for life behind the walls of Montresor’s catacombs. Another example of situational irony is when Montresor explains to his attendants that he will “not return until the morning” (237), and he gives them “explicit orders not to stir from the house” (237) in his absence. For this reason, Montresor knows that his attendants will not be at home and that his house will be empty when he returns with Fortunato. This is ironic for one will expect the attendants to listen to the master’s orders, especially when they are so explicit, but their actions defy expectations.…

    • 1242 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It is ironic because according to Behind the Name, Fortunado means fortunate in Italian and this character is the exact opposite of that. Montressor, the main character, ends up killing Fortunado to make him feel the pain that Fortunado made him feel. Throughout the story Poe keeps writing in a way that makes it seem as though Montresor is concerned about Fortunado’s well being. Poe writes, “we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; … we will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible” (545).…

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Cask of Amontillado In Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Cask of Amontillado" is loaded with irony especially several examples of verbal irony. When the reader sees the irony, it lets them know that something is going to happen towards the end of the story. A big part in the story that shows irony is before Fortunato's death. He suffers from a cold, which therefore means he is sick.…

    • 384 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In “The Cask of Amontillado”, by Edgar Allen Poe, the distinct forms of irony; situational, verbal and dramatic irony are utilized in order to develop the extremely dark mood. The example of situational irony can be observed almost immediately in the story, which is Fortunato’s jester clothing that he is wearing for Carnival. “He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells” (1) Fortunato's light hearted attire sharply contrasts from his fate that he will soon face. This contrast makes for a deranged and dark mood, and makes the events of the story even more disturbing. The occasional “jingle” of the bell on Fortunato’s hat also provides brief relief, which is quickly shattered when the…

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Edgar A. Poe shows situational irony in the realistic fiction story The Cask of Amontillado. Situational irony is the incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result; it includes all instances when the speaker or doer is acting on a misperception of the situation. One of the main character's name is “Fortunato” (Poe 1) which means good fortune but he gets the opposite of good fortune. Fortunato is a rich and cocky man but his luck quickly changes when he insults the wrong person who in this story is Montresor. Fortunato thinks he is the best and very fortunate but when he makes fun of Montresor, Montresor seeks revenge and he does this by luring Fortunato into his catacombs and chaining him up…

    • 157 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The way Edgar Allan Poe uses these different types of irony makes the story more unique as you read this story. What if Fortunato never offended Montresor in the first place? Would he have died either way though, that’s a good…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Friends think that insulting each other is funny, but the other friend might not he might take your jokes offensive and not as a joke. Being Fortunato you would never think that your friend Montresor who cares about his friend to taste wine at his vaults and then kill you. Certainly, Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of the Amontillado” uses irony, because Montresor pretends to care about his friend Fortunato, Montresor wants revenge on Fortunato for making fun of him, and Montresor wants Fortunato to taste his wine Amontillado at his vaults. To begin, Edgar Allan Poe’s uses irony in “ The Cask of the Amontillado,” because Montresor pretends to care about his friend Fortunato. Montresor has been made fun of by Fortunato, but Montresor is quiet about it.…

    • 659 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    “I killed a hundred and five bears in less than a year,” said Davy Crockett. I don’t think the story Perilous Adventures On The Hunt is true for this reason and many more. Davy was quite the bear hunter, but a lot of his story was a tall tale. You will learn more as you continue to read this essay. The first thing that doesn’t seem right to me is he left his son at the camp ground all day without checking on him.…

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dramatic irony can also be represented when Fortunato tells Montresor not to worry about his health when he quoted that his cough was merely nothing, and when Montresor replies “True-true.” The reader knows that Montresor knows that Fortunato will not die this way. Lastly verbal irony can be identified when Montresor opens a bottle of wine and toasts Fortunato to his long life but he his actually toasting to his…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Montresor Irony Analysis

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In beginning, Montresor reveals he wants to seek vengeance yet Fortunato is not aware of what is going on. The first instance we see irony is when the Montresor tells Fortunato "my dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkable well you are looking to-day" (Poe lines 29-30)! This statement is ironic because Fortunato is not lucky to find Montresor because he will be lured to his death eventually. Fortunato thought he was lucky because he would be able to try the Amontillado.…

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    say “Verbal irony is nonliteral language that makes salient a discrepancy between expectations and reality” (286). In other words this is when someone says something and they mean the opposite of what was said. A few examples of when Poe uses this type of irony is seen when Montresor tells Fortunato that they should leave the catacombs; for his health was more important than sampling the expensive wine that Montresor had told Fortunato that he had found. Another time that the reader sees this type is when Montresor asks Fortunato about his cough he replies “the cough is nothing; it will not kill me” Montresor responds saying “True-true” (3). These are verbal for that fact that Montresor could not be more worried about his health he is about…

    • 1197 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays