Edgar Allan Poe‘s 1846 “The Cask of Amontillade” has syntactic versatility. Poe writes with irony, both dramatic and verbal he foreshadows to Fortunato’s inevitable death; the use of line breaks; tag names; as well as mirroring the two characters themselves All of these literary techniques come together to create one of the most well-known horror stories of all time. “A student would not need to be versed in any foreign languages to notice that Fortunate‘s name is ironic, He is definitely not the fortunate one”. Fortunato‘s name means “fortune“ in Italian. Fortune can be meaning wealth or luck. In one scenario, it references wealth as the reader knows Fortunate is wealthy when Montresor says, “You are rich, respected, admired, beloved” (Pee), In another scenario, it would of course refer to luck considering Fortunate is unlucky. “My dear Fortunate, you are luckily met,” (Poe) in this phrase, Fortunate is not luckily met, It was not luck which brought them together, for Montreser was searching for him, but Fortunate did not know that “you are luckily met” Lruly meant he is going to be very unlucky, very soon In many cases, Poe had a way of mirroring Montreser and Fortunate.
For example, Montresor‘s name translates to “treasure“ Treasure can he meant as precious items or hidden wealth; such as Fonunate’s name means “fortune.” In addition, Montreser repeats what Fortunate says. “‘Nitre?’ he asked, at length. ‘Nitre,’ I replied,” or, “‘The Amentillade!’ ejaculated my friend, not yet recovered from his astonishment, ‘True,’ I replied; ‘The Amontillado.”’ (Poe) Elena Baraban recognizes the syntactic importance the moment when Montreser quickly misleads the reader to believe he is showing remorse when he is actually feeling sick from the “dampness of the catacombs” (Poe). “Indeed, the dash in the middle of the sentence – ‘My heart grew sick — on account of the dampness of the catacombs’ (Poe) — indicates a pause. When Montreser pronounces the first pan of the phrase, the reader may believe that Montresor begins to feel sorry for the poor Fortunato. But when the narrator concludes that his heart is growing sick ‘on account of the dampness of the catacombs,‘ it becomes clear that Montresor feels satisfaction about his monstrous deed even after fifty years.”
Dr. Charles Nevi takes note of a quiet form of irony in the text just as Baraban did: “One fairly subtle example of irony is found when Montresor’s ‘heart grew sick’ near the end of the story, Finally, the reader is lead to suspect, Montresor will show some for what he has done. But Montresor is not sick from remorse nor even from the cruelty of his deed; the dampness of the catacombs has simply become too much for him when Montresor is luring Fortunato into and through the catacombs, Montresor is using a form of reverse psychology Many suggest that the times when Montresor tries to return to the carnival or leave the catacombs, he is doing so because he is feeling remorseful and second»guessing himself. This is not true. By suggesting Fortunato is not well enough to continue on, Fortunato denies it, due to the psychological need to prove Montresor wrong. Just as when Montresor came to Fortunato about the price of the Amontillado, Montresor suggests Fortunato is more knowledgeable about the drink.
This, increasing Fortunato’s self-confidence; this in turn intensifies the need to prove to Montresor that he can help him, “Fortunato is certain the person named Luchresi cannot do justly. Once he has baited him, Montresor makes it impossible for Fortunato to refuse. Fortunato is psychologically trapped before he has even entered the catacomb. Not being able to ‘help’ Montresor would insult Fortunato’s pride and reputation, two things that this man seems to value above all else.” Dramatic irony is when the implications of a situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters, Therefore, Poe uses dramatic irony throughout “The Cask of Amontillado.” For example, “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met,” the reader knows well that it is not lucky in any way for him to have been met, considering the reader knows that Montresor is going to kill Fortunato.
Another moment of dramatic irony would be when Fortunato says, “I shall not die of a cough,” to which Montresor responds, “true true.” This is considered dramatic irony in the form that not only do Montresor and the readers know that Fortunate will not die of a cough, but Fortunato is entirely unaware of what his future holds. Death comes in many forms, but one major form it takes in this story is foreshadowing Poe was skillful in his ways of foreshadowing Fortunato’s death; even so, they weren’t quite hidden, but just enough that Fortunato completely bypassed them without a second thought.
