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How Does Fortunato Symbolize In The Cask Of Amontillado

Decent Essays

Edgar Allan Poe’s Dark Strategies
There was never a scarier writer than the mysterious Edgar Allan Poe.One of his many great stories includes”The “Cask of Amontillado”. This is a story of two men that are friends. One of the friends, Fortunato insults Montresor in either a physical or verbal way. Edgar Allen Poe loves to keep reader wondering so he leaves the insult pretty open-ended. Later on in the story, Montresor looks to get revenge on Fortunato in a very clever and deceitful manner. Through his use of carefully constructed foreshadowing, symbolism, and irony, Poe creates a mood that is both chilling and horrifying in “The Cask of Amontillado”. The first element that Poe uses to set the mood of this horrifying tale is symbolism. When Montresor first finds Fortunato, Fortunato is dressed in a clown costume. Poe explains this, “The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting party striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells”(372). This quote helps symbolize that Fortunato is a fool. This is the reason that Poe dresses him in a clown uniform because when most people think of clowns …show more content…

The leading example of irony in the story is the instance in which Fortunato tells Montresor that he does not have the ways of the mason. Poe writes,’”You are not of the mason”’(376). This quote helps promote dramatic irony because in the end the trowel and masonry skills are what kill Fortunato. He builds a wall around Fortunato using his trowel and his superb masonry skills. The last example of irony in the story has to do with the last couple of words that Fortunato utters: “‘He[Luchesi] is an ignoramus”’(377). This quote helps show the dramatic irony of Fortunato thinking that Luchesi is a fool or idiot while he was the fool and idiot throughout the whole story and because of his stupidity he down in the wine cellar about to be walled up and

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