The irony in The Cask of Amontillado

The irony in The Cask of Amontillado

Write a 2 pages paper on irony in the cask of amontillado by edgar allan poe. The irony in “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe Introduction Throughout Edgar Allan Poe’s gothic short story, “The Cask of Amontillado there is obvious, subtle, verbal, and dramatic irony. According to fatherryan.org, the author’s “Single Effect” theory in the story is pure irony, and all elements from, setting, to largely every word uttered by Montresor contribute to the ironic effect. The author uses different forms of irony to create suspense, add a sense of macabre humor, and foreshadow the story’s ending (Cummings para.12). This discourse aims to highlight how the writer uses irony to achieve this.

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2. Obvious Irony

There are several instances where the author uses obvious irony in the story. For instance, fatherryan.org notes that Montresor uses the word “friend” to refer to Fortunato. Ironically, he uses this term to refer to a man that he hates so much that he wishes could be dead. Another use of irony is obviously evident in the motto on Montresor’s coat of arms. Ironically the motto is an explicit warning to Fortunato, but Fortunato does not fully comprehend this fact. Other instances where the author uses irony include when Montresor toasts to Fortunato’s long life. Additionally, the masonry dialogue is obvious to the use of irony (fatherryan.org para.4).

3. Subtle Irony

The author also uses subtle irony in several instances. For instance, towards the end of the story, Montresor felt his heart had grown sick. However this was not due to the remorse he felt from the cruelty of his actions, but due to the extreme dampness of the catacombs, which had become too much for him. The subtle irony is also evident almost throughout the story’s dialogue. The story’s conclusion is evidently ironic in the sense that irony fails to be possible any longer when Fortunato is finally aware of everything that is going on (fatherryan.org para.5).

4. Other Uses of Irony

The author uses verbal and dramatic irony in numerous instances in the story to develop suspense, add some sense of macabre humor, and foreshadow the story’s ending. This is evident in the title, Fortunato’s name, Fortunato’s costume, and the author’s reference to mansions. The story’s title, cask, means a wine barrel. It is derived from a similar root word that forms casket, which means coffin. Therefore, the story’s title figuratively represents his casket. Another example of irony in the story is in Fortunato’s name. The name literary translates to luck or good fortune in Italian. Ironically, Fortunato is always unfortunate and headed to his death. Similarly, Fortunato’s costume is ironic because he dresses like a court jester, yet his festive outfit is a contradiction to the ghastly fate awaiting him. On many occasions, the bell on Fortunato’s hat jingles, a rather pleasant comic touch by the author. Last but not least, the irony is evident in Poe’s short story in how he refers to masons. Fortunate enquires from Montresor if he is a mason, referring to a member of the Freemasonry. Indeed, Montresor admits that he is a mason. Nevertheless, he uses the word to imply someone whose profession is building with mortar and stone (because he shall be building a “tomb,” stone wall, for Fortunato (Cummings para.12. Lorceher para. 17).

5. Conclusion

Throughout Edgar Allan Poe’s gothic short story, “The Cask of Amontillado”, there is obvious, subtle, verbal, and dramatic irony. The author uses different forms of irony to create suspense, add a sense of macabre humor, and foreshadow the story’s ending

Homework 2

prepare and submit a term paper on The Changing Role of Advertising in the Mass Media. Your paper should be a minimum of 4250 words in length.

However, whenever one gets a chance to relax, more so the younger generation, it is usually in front of a computer or with their phone or tablet (Kakihara & Sørensen, 2002). People are spending a great deal of time, consuming online content and updating their social media feeds on Twitter and Facebook and as a result, TV and newspapers in their traditional sense are gradually being marginalized. With the emergence of new technologies every other day, the trend of online viewing is growing exponentially as people try to seek out what is most effective and convenient. Today, the internet is improving in its scope and capacity with 4G and LTE networks being the hallmarks of high-speed internet and even these are still being developed to become more efficient (Dahlman & Skold, 2011). The quality of web content is gradually eclipsing TV especially considering that the internet does not force one to conform to a specific type of content.

John Naughton, a writer for the Guardian differentiated TV and internet by categorizing them as push and pull media (Naughton, 2005). According to him, TV has pushed media because a group of producers and directors selects content and relayed to the audience (Gobe, 2010). However, the internet is pulling media since one ultimately gets to choose what they want to see, he claims that when one finds themselves not feeling compelled to conform to online content choice, they are likely not using the internet correctly. In the developed world, people who have had cable TV for most of their lives are today claiming they do not need cable as much as they need high-speed broadband internet.

Furthermore, a study by IBM exhibited that the dependency rate of TV as the primary media providers is falling, as the internet gains popularity (Berman et al., 2009). The scope and influence of mass free to air television, broadcasting have been on a gradual decline. In the past people would all watch the same shows at the same time. however, audiences have become more fragmented because of narrowcasting through cable and satellite services (Keane, 2014). With the arrival of internet protocol television, traditional TV suffered another serious blow. Online video services such as Hulu, Youtube Netflix amazon, and iTunes are becoming popular in various countries threatening TV with redundancy.