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The Cask Of Amontillado Rhetorical Analysis

Decent Essays

In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”, the theme of betrayal is evident through the use of irony, foreshadowing, and symbolism. The reader is never told any of Fortunato’s slights against the narrator, but depending on their magnitude his innocence throughout this story may be foolish, just reasonable or utterly expected. Regardless of the reason, Fortunato is completely unaware in these instances of the hatred directed towards him. Montresor, the madman he believes to be his friend, holding only goodwill towards him, has only been cultivating this attitude in order to better trap him. The entire story is based on dramatic irony, with Montresor vowing revenge in the opening sentence, and Fortunato remaining ignorant until his fate (and tomb) had already been sealed. Slightly later Montresor says “"It must be understood that neither …show more content…

After Fortunato performs a hand symbol which apparently marks him as a mason, Montresor remarks that he is as well, jokingly pulling out a trowel, which is to be the primary tool of his enemy’s destruction. Fortunato himself, when Montresor is drinking to his health, says that he drinks to the “to the buried that repose around [them]” (Poe), whom he is about to join in burial and then death. The meaning of Montresor’s motto and crest, which Fortunato forgot, also stand as a warning: “Nemo me impune lacessit” states that none will harm him without retribution, and the arms, a foot crushing a serpent which is biting it, implies as much. Whether these are coincidentally so fitting to the story, were simply a strong influence on Montresor’s character, or may have been fabricated by Montresor, taking advantage of Fortunato’s ignorance to relish in his forthcoming defeat right before him, is not

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