...reader knows something that one of the characters does not. Such is the case in “The Cask of Amontillado” as the story begins with Montresor stating “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge”(510). This statement sets up dramatic irony throughout the story as the reader knows Montresor has sworn revenge on Forunato, while Fortunato believes they are still friends. This irony is evident through the whole story as Montresor pretends to be friends luring Fortunato to his cellar where he would eventually trap and kill him. The irony enhances the brutality of the murder as the reader knows throughout Montresor is planning some revenge while Fortunato believes he is going to sample his friends wine. Secondly Poe weaves verbal irony, a statement in which the meaning that a speaker employs is sharply different from the meaning that is ostensibly expressed, throughout to add humor to the story. The story is filled with verbal irony as Montresor is planning on killing Fortunato so almost every word he speaks is ironic as he convinces Forunato continue into his catacombs to his eventual death. This is seen when Montresor tricks Fortunato into testing his Amontillado by telling him he is bringing it to Luchesi to which Fortunanto replies “Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry” and Montresor replies “[a]nd yet some fools will have it that...
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...because 50 years have passed since he committed the murder. Montressor’s view of the events between himself and Fortunato are bias. Montressor feels he is justified in the murder because Fortunato has injured him many times, however Montressor never gives the reader a specific example of how he has injured him. The bias in Montressor’s story makes his whole account of events unreliable because Montressor could have easily made up the Fortunato has injured him many times, without input from a third party, readers can not know if Montressor is being truthful or not. The truth may also have been skewed because so much time has passed since the events actually unfolded. Readers are told that 50 years has gone by since Montressor murdered Forunato. Over the 50 years it is likely that Montressor justified his actions in his own mind, more and more, as time passed, Montressor also has likely forgotten exactly how the events unfolded, and has modified his story to make more sense to whoever he is telling the story too. Over the 50 years Montressor has likely committed other crimes because, in the beginning of the story Montressor exclaims, “ you who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that gave utterance to a threat” meaning that whoever he is telling the story to knows that Montresor does not have a righteous nature of...
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...After seeing Edgar Allen Poe's name on this story, I knew that I should expect it to be disturbing in some form or another. My expectations were definitely met as I proceeded to read the story. I must admit that the story was confusing at points because of the language. I don't know much about wine and the way that the story was written made it a little bit difficult to understand exactly what was going on. However, once I did figure out what was going on and what the story was about, I realized that this story has a lot to say about relationships and the human condition. The relationship between the two characters in the story seems to be characteristic of many relationships today. They appear to be friends from an outsider's perspective,...
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