How did Montresor Kill Fortunato: Unveiling the Mechanism

The Mastery of Irony in "The Cask of Amontillado"

The irony is used in many stories to add suspense and to reel the reader in. There are three types of irony. Verbal irony is when words are opposite to what they actually mean. Situational irony is the expectation of something happening that turns out to be the exact opposite. Dramatic irony is something grasped by the audience, but the characters do not know of it. In The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe uses verbal, situational, and dramatic irony to depict how Montresor has total control over every single situation in the story.

Dramatic Irony: Fortunato's Oblivious Descent into Doom

Throughout the novel, Edgar Allan Poe uses dramatic irony to show how Fortunato is oblivious to his fate. At the beginning of the story, Montresor declares vengeance on Fortunato: “A thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge”. This quote indicates that even at the start, Montresor has thought out revenge. Fortunato has done something terrible. However, he does not know this and certainly does not know that behind his back, Montresor has planned out revenge. After Montresor and Fortunato have been down in the catacombs for a while, the niter affects Fortunato: “We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchesi— Enough, he said; the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough”. Fortunato’s health is no concern for Montresor. Nonetheless, Montresor acts like his dearest friend and begs for him to go back to safety. Fortunato claims that “the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me”. As we read on, we figure out that the cough will not kill him; in fact, Montresor will trap him and leave him to die, fully taking on responsibility for his death. From the beginning, we figure out that Montresor has a plan for revenge against Fortunato. Montresor is so confident in his plan and himself that he even gives Fortunato many opportunities to leave the deadly catacombs. Fortunato’s pride and Montresor’s genius ultimately lead to Montresor’s plan to succeed.

Verbal Irony: Montresor's Sarcastic Control and Hidden Intentions

Montresor uses verbal irony to add sarcasm and depict his own trickery. After being in the catacombs for quite a while, Fortunato does not feel so good,” Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!” My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes”. Montresor clearly has a hatred for Fortunato for all the insults he has committed. It is strange when Montresor calls him” poor friend”. Fortunato does not see anything of it; after all, Montresor invited him to drink a very expensive wine. The reader knows that this is just part of Montresor’s plan, another way of avoiding suspicion. Montresor picks a wine from inside the walls, and both he and Fortunato give a toast,” I drink,” he said, “to the buried that repose around us” and” And I to your long life”. Fortunato toasting “to the buried that repose around us” is absolutely ironic because Montresor is going to add him to the buried and will, in fact, not have a long life but a life full of suffering. When Fortunato is in trouble, Montresor makes him feel like he is his friend, not a rival. Montresor uses verbal irony to act like everything is normal, not a death trap unfolding. Montresor has perfectly planned out his revenge and is so confident he is even playing fun with Fortunato.

Situational Irony: How Did Montresor Kill Fortunato?

Montresor tricks others and gets his way by using situational irony. To get the servants out of his house, Montresor came up with a plan:

There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honor of the time I had told them that I should not return until the morning and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house. These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to ensure their immediate disappearance, one and all, as soon as my back was turned.

Because Montresor's revenge plan involved killing Fortunato, he did not need any witnesses, which is why he needed everybody out of his house. In order to achieve this, Montresor did not kick them out. However, he told the servants to stay and work at his house while he was at his party. Montresor had complete certainty that the servants were going to disobey him and leave while he was gone. Montresor’s reverse psychology worked out perfectly. Fortunato questions Montressor if he is one of the Masons: “You do not comprehend? He said.”Not I,” I replied.”Then you are not of the brotherhood.”How?”You are not of the masons.”Yes, yes,” I said;” yes, yes.”You were impossible! A mason?”A mason,” I replied.” A sign,” he said.

The Masons are a secret society, and Fortunato does not believe that Montresor is part of this society. Montresor is actually referring to how he is a mason, a builder who works with stone. This is a hint at how Montresor is going to kill Fortunato by chaining Fortunato and building a wall for Fortunato to look at while he slowly dies. Instead of telling the servants they have the day off, Montresor views the servants as not loyal and uses their disobedience against them in order to get his way. This scheme worked as well when Fortunato became suspicious when Montresor said he was part of the Mason. Montresor, without hesitation, unveils the way he is going to get sweet revenge on him by slowly trapping him in the deep catacombs filled with niter.

At the start of the novel, Montresor plans out his revenge and, throughout the story, uses irony and makes Fortunato oblivious and gives Montresor satisfaction. The three types of irony Edgar Allan Poe uses gives the reader a sense of how Montessori is so comfortable in his plan for revenge that he gives hints and jokes about what is going to happen to Fortunato in front of him. The irony in the story gives us insight into how Montresor has absolute control over Fortunato.

References:

1. Poe, E. A. The Cask of Amontillado.

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