Three patterns of irony add a further dimension to the story-that of acute psychological realism, through which we can follow the cruel cunning of Montresor, and watch him destroy Fortunato’s word- the discussion about masons, the Montresor family motto and the buried bones are part of Montressor’s revenge the conversations and the plot of the story are indistinguishable. The victim’s name and his fool’s dress are obvious examples of irony, but the conversational exchanges between the two protagonists are more complex, Montresor encourages Fortunato into the cellar by pretending to discourage him he tells him of its dangers and inconvenience, and then cunningly suggests that Fortunato’s rival Luchesi might be consulted. The story’s tone derives from the patterns of irony that permeate and unify it.

Once Montresor brooding obsessively over his peculiar revenge meets Fortunate who is drunk, but still self-confident and motivated by an arrogant pride in his knowledge of wines, the denouement is in sight Fortunato’s foolish complacency is a perfect complement to Montresor’s cunning and mock humility. The events in the story evolve not out of accidental occurrences, but directly out of characters of the two protagonists. We see things only through Montresor’s ironic, obsessional mind, and he is not interested in reasons for his revenge if any indeed exist, but only in how he carries it out. We never learn the exact nature of the wrong Montresor alleges he has suffered at the hands of Fortunate, and we never need to know because this is not a part of Montresor’s story. Montresor the revenger meets his victim, the ironically named Fortunate, who is drunk and dressed in a clown’s outfit with bells that jangle from the top of his cap. The time of the story is evening, the place Italy during a carnival. The plot of the story is made up of mutually dependent parts that spring inevitably out of Montresor’s craving for revenge. He wastes no time on introductory Preambles the first paragraph establishes the situation, and the reader calls to mind Poe’s dictum that not one word in a tale should be wasted. The revenge theme is common place enough, but it is how Poe treats the theme that makes this story interesting. Poe’s philosophy of the short story deeply influenced his practices as a writer and the critical examination of The Cask of Amontillado (1846) will reveal how he embodied his principles of unity in his own art. The Cask of Amontillado Analysis The Cask of Amontillado Plot His dress or costume a comic sense which is ironic at last. Wine leads him to the grim world of death. He remains totally unaware of his friend’s revenge-motive. Of course he is fortunate ironically to meet his death. Fortunato : The name indicates “fortunate”.

His name in introduced to lure Fortunato to his tomb. He never appears in the plot, but his interest remains embedded in the story. Luchesi : He is familiar both to Montresor and Fortunato and a wine expert. The unique burial is itself a sort of dramatic irony.Ģ. He “vowed revenge.” He deliciously relishes the fortune of Fortunants. Determined in avenging his strange motive, he has a Machiavellian psyche, though he has endured “the thousand injures of Fortunates”. He is a skilled utilizer of the twilight dusk. His predecessors can be detected in the Jacobean Revenge Tragedies of England. A subtle manger of macabre setting and situations, Montresor is a ruthless, quick-witted, planner with careful manipulating power of revenge-taking.

Inmost plot