FREE ESSAY ON IRONY IN CASK OF AMONTILLADO

IRONY IN CASK OF AMONTILLADO

Irony in Edgar Allen Poe's
"The Cask of Amontillado"
"The Cask of Amontillado" is a story wherein the reader can find a multiple array of
ironic acts and intentions. There are examples of both dramatic and verbal irony
throughout this clever tale of horror. Even the setting reveals some sense of irony as we
travel from a joyous carnival scene to a dismal cavern of death. It is best to begin with
an analysis of the irony in this tale by following the chronology of the story itself. In
the naming, the dialogue, the characterization, and in the setting of "The Cask of
Amontillado" the irony, as it is woven throughout the tale, becomes self-evident and its
purpose more meaningful.
Prior to the initial meeting between the narrator and Fortunato we are already aware that
there is nothing fortunate about Fortunato. We are alone with the narrator in this
knowledge and we are also aware that whatever will occur in the tale has already passed
by fifty years ago. The irony of his name is revealed to us even before we know what is
to happen to his ill-fated life.
Clearly, Fortunato is a man of good wealth and reputation who has done some harm to our
narrator. The exact nature of their conflict is arguable though evidence within the story
points toward religious tension. Fortunato belongs to a secretive group known as the
Freemasons whereas the narrator, by his description of the events, is positively not a
fellow member. It may be that the narrator belongs to more conservative traditions that
found the Freemasons to be enemies. This is evident when Fortunato is given a bottle of
De Grave by our narrator: "He laughed and threw the bottle upwards with a gesticulation I
did not understand. I looked at him in surprise. He repeated the movement - a grotesque
one" (p. 1570.) That grotesque gesticulation could not be anything other than a secret
code of the Freemasons. When Montresor is asked to display a sign of his membership he is
unable to comply in the proper manner. He takes a trowel from beneath his cloak and
displays the tool instead. Fortunato, believing the gesture to be a joke, assumes that
Montresor is indeed a member. Of course the irony here is that Fortunato, a Freemason,
will eventually be bricked up behind a wall with the use of this trowel. The narrator
will play the part of the mason who puts the Freemason to death by masonry.
When the characters first meet at the carnival the narrator seems outright happy to meet
Fortunato. They greet each other as friends but we are made aware that Montresor smiles
with vengeance in his heart. This knowledge by the narrator, displayed to the reader but
not to Fortunato, gives further evidence to the various manners by which Poe plays the
irony game . We know the truth behind the smile whereas the character in the story does
not: "I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my
smile now was at the thought of his immolation" (p. 1567.) 
With the initial meeting in place, the narrator need only lure Fortunato to his doom. The
two characters share a common taste for fine wines and that is the bait that Montresor
uses to reel his victim in. Amontillado seems impossible for anyone to have received in
the middle of the festivities and the drunken Fortunato finds such an accomplishment to
be incredulous. Montresor, prepared for such a response, plays on Fortunato's arrogance:
" "As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchresi. If any one has a critical turn it is
he. He will tell me --" " (p. 1568.) Fortunato, arguing that Luchresi is terrible in the
knowledge of wines, demands that he must come and taste the pipe for himself. Ironically
Fortunato is dressed in the fool's attire and readily plays the part. 
Henceforth it is a verbal irony that paves Fortunato's misfortune. It seems as if on
every step and turn he attempts to talk his victim out of following him to his lair.
Ironically he appears to be especially concerned about Fortunato's health. The catacombs
are damp and chilly and Fortunato is ill with a cold. At one point the narrator argues
that it is not in Fortunato's best health to follow him to the Amontillado: ""Come," I
said, with decision, "we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected,
admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed"" (p. 1569.)
Little does Fortunato know that his health means nothing to Montresor nor that he will
indeed be missed for a very long time. A most memorable dialogue in the tale comes when
the narrator again attempts to convince Fortunato to turn back from the unhealthy
surroundings, with which he responds, ""I shall not die of a cough." "True - true," I
replied" (p.1569.) It is ironic to note that the reader is well aware that Fortunato
shall not die of a cough. 
They travel further into the catacombs refreshing themselves with other wines whilst
continuing on their journey. Fortunato drinks from a bottle of Medoc and toasts to "the
buried that repose around us" (p. 1569.) Montresor replies with a toast to his victim's
long life. In one instant both hunter and game drink to the walls of the dead. Shortly
after this shared drink Fortunato enquires after the Montresor family arms and motto: ""I
forget your arms." "A huge human foot d'or, in a filed azure; the foot crushes a serpent
rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel." "And the motto?" "Nemo me impune
lacessit"" (p. 1569.) The irony here is plain yet comical; revealing the nature of the
insult and begging the question, was it intentional? Perhaps he does not realize that he
has insulted Montresor and for this reason does not grasp the importance of the family
motto. After all, Fortunato will play the ultimate fool for insulting the narrator with
what Montresor imagines as impunity.
The further that the couple travel into the catacombs the more warnings Fortunato
receives. However, the lure of the remarkable wine is too much for the connoisseur to
resist and he takes no heed to any counsel regarding his health. They finally enter the
last chamber in the vaults wherein they find bones scattered on the floor. We realize
that the bones have recently been placed there and that one of the walls is conspicuously
bare. On the bare wall there is a small entrance, about the size of an upright grave,
that Fortunato is lured to enter. Of course it is with his arrogance and ignorance that
he takes those treacherous steps. He himself has witnessed the trowel that the narrator
has carried with him but he takes no heed of the warning signs. With the final mention of
Luchresi and his taste in wines he steps into the trap. It is somewhat ironic that we
knew something like this would happen and that if Fortunato had only been more aware he
could have understood his predicament. It turns out that the Amontillado that Fortunato
sought out was nothing more than Montresor's victory. 
Regrettably poor Fortunato finds himself chained to the grave that he himself has walked
into. In shock he declares "The Amontillado," with which the narrator responds, "True...
the Amontillado" (p. 1571.) In the tonality of this discourse the reader becomes aware
that Fortunato has a very different understanding of what the Amontillado is than the
narrator does. For Fortunato the Amontillado amounts to the goal of drinking of a fine
sherry after a long walk; a desire that is to be unaccomplished. Montresor, on the other
hand, equates the very same Amontillado with a desire to kill his victim slowly. The
Amontillado is not literally a sherry at all but rather it is the sensational temptation
that would bear Fortunato's doom and Montresor's success.
This is not a fact that is grasped by Fortunato until he is one brick away from his
forced removal from the outside world. As a last attempt at life he releases an eerie
laugh by which he indicates grim humor in what he hopes was an elaborate joke on the part
of Montresor. In dismayed realization he finally begs for mercy from God as well as from
Montresor's humanity: "For the love of God, Montresor!" But there is no sympathy to be
found and his captor ominously answers: "Yes... for the love of God!" (p. 1571.) In this
we hear the echo of the dialogue regarding the Freemason's sign. In the eyes of Montresor
it is for the love of God that Fortunato must be put to death in a place where no fellow
brothers can rescue him. Ironically, Fortunato will die through the use of a previously
symbolic trowel by which he placed so much faith. In the end he appeals to the God that
he deserted in favor of a man-made group only to find that he is in turn abandoned both
spiritually and physically. He will be isolated and undisturbed in the depths of the
catacombs for at least fifty years.
Perhaps it is the last irony that the final words are "In pace requiescat" (p. 1572.)
After all, these are the words of a man on his deathbed who may not rest in peace upon
his own departure. Throughout "The Cask of Amontillado" we find examples of multiple
ironies that are cleverly put together like a great puzzle. The naming of Fortunato is
one such example as is his costume. The many dialogues that occur between the two
characters are also examples of this in that Fortunato never truly understands the
meanings of them. Even the setting is an example as the victim literally walks further
and further into the darkest of catacombs until he reaches his own grave. All in all, it
is a tale that represents the definition of the word irony and one that could be used as
a tool to teach us its elusive meaning.