A Twist! What makes a good story worth reading, some will say it’s the plots and twists that make it exciting to read. In the stories “Everyday Use”, “Cask of Amontillado” and “A rose for Emily” different styles of irony including verbal, dramatic and situational irony are used to do just that. Dramatic irony in a story occurs when the audience knows something that the characters do not. A great example of dramatic irony takes place in the story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, with the character Dee. Of the two daughters, Dee is the oldest and Maggie is the youngest. At a very young age, Maggie suffers a personal tragedy and endures physical scarring from a house fire, while Dee is a very determined young girl who wants nothing more than …show more content…
Dee appears flashy with her African attire and announces a new name for herself, her way of showing that she has left her old life behind and has started another. She immediately starts rummaging through the mother’s belongings taking things that she feels belong to her. She stumbles upon quilts that were handmade by her mother and her mother’s ancestors. Dee immediately wants to keep them and hang them for display. However, the mother has already given them to the youngest daughter Maggie. This infuriates Dee because she knows that Maggie will destroy them by using them to sleep with. “Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they’d be in rags” (Walker 428), Dee insisted they were not intended for that; that they were priceless. Here is where the irony comes into play. Dee does whatever it takes to escape the life she left behind yet she wants the quilts to preserve the heritage she claims she wants nothing to do …show more content…
The story “The Cask of Amontillado” is about a man named Montresor who is seeking revenge against another man name Fortunato for the many injuries and insults he has caused to Montresor. After concocting his plan, the Montresor seeks out Fortunato at the carnival celebration to carry it out. Fortunato was an expert on wine especially one called Amontillado and here is where the Montresor used this to his advantage by luring him with it and asking his opinions of the newly acquired Amontillado that he had in his vaults. The plan was going well, and the two were down in the Montresor’s wine vaults. The nitre was causing Fortunato to cough constantly but he insisted on continuing even when the Montresor suggest they stop; Montresor knowing that Fortunato would not. He even offered Fortunato a drink to help the cough for he need to keep him alive to be able to kill him. “Drink”, he said “to the buried that repose around us.” “And I to your long life.” (Poe 327) Here the Montresor using verbal irony with Fortunato. Another example would be the cough. “The cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough.” Little did Fortunato know that yes he was going die, and yes it was not the cough that was going to do it. Due to the nitre and the excessive drinking Fortunato was too drunk to even realize that the Montresor locked him to the wall and was about to bury him
In “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allan Poe uses verbal irony to emphasize the evil intentions of Montresor. Poe uses several instances of irony to demonstrate that Forntunato’s death is imminent and Montresor knows all along. One example of irony being used is when Fortunato says “the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough. ”(119)
Fortunato’s ego will not allow his friend to consult Luchesi. He verbally expresses that “Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry.” Therefore, Fortunato tells Montresor that he will come along to the catacombs with him. Another one of Montresor’s intelligent conceptions was to always address Fortunato as friend. By doing this, Fortunato would never doubt him.
The story “The Cask of Amontillado” was great written by Edgar Allan Poe who is a great author himself. The two characters in the story was well explained about themselves Montresor was explained by as his determination, craziness, and thoughts on getting revenge. Fortunato was sick, and determined to see the amontillado; last but not least he was drunk which made him an easy target to kill. I chose to write about prompt number two because I believe that Montresor was more exciting to write about and plus I had more knowledge about. To me Montresor is able to accomplish his plan because he is determined, crazy, and he’s sneaky.
I shall not die of a cough. ”(4) Montresor pretended to care about Fortunato’s health, insisting they go back. The narrator states, “ I placed my
Dee never grasped the meaning of her culture because she went off to become famous and let her family slowly slip away from her life the more famous she got. In the short story, Dee use of the quilts was for them to be hung shows how Dee valued her culture as an artifact and something that needed to be of the past.
Down in the catacombs, Montresor is teasing Fortunato. Then Montresor is starting to put the wall up with Fortunato in it alive, “I had finished a portion of the last and the eleventh ; there remained, but a single stone to be fitted and plastered in. I struggled with its weight ; I place it partially in its destined position.” (page 4) Montresor was killing Fortunato alive, by putting him in the wall and covering it up so that no one will be able to find him. He wanted him to suffer and die a long, slowly death.
Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them”(217). This quote can explain the violent death of Fortunato that Montresor performed. Instead of killing him instantly. Montresor let him die a nice, long, and suffering death.
The Cask of Amontillado Argumentative Essay Edgar Allen Poe is a famous writer who is well-known for his short stories. The Cask of Amontillado is one of Poe’s short stories which is about two men, Montresor and Fortunato. Fortunato did something to Montresor, the act is unknown, but it angered Montresor badly enough to make him feel the need to seek revenge. The story portrays Montresor’s long, drawn out plan to kill Fortunato. In the story, it is clear that he was set on killing Fortunato, because of his actions and emotions shown toward Fortunato.
“Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts! She said. “she’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.” (walker). This shows that dee really wants the quilts but not for the reason her mother wants.
Montresor told Fortunato that he is a “rich, respected, admired, beloved” (86) man. He does not actually think that. When he says he “must not only punish” (83) Fortunato, but he must “punish [him] with impunity” (83), which he does. The first step in Montresor's plan is to get Fortunato to go in the catacombs. He says to Fortunato, “Come, we will go back, your health is precious” (86).
This new outlook on her life caused Dee to place different values on the items with which she had grown up. She wanted to take the items as things to put on display like art hanging on a wall. Dee even wanted the cherished quilts to “hang them” (Walker, 1973) instead of using them as blankets. As she saw it, to use the quilts for their original purpose would destroy them, or as she said, “Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they 'd be in rags” (Walker, 1973).
Montresor is very angry with Fortunato, but yet he knows he must not act in such a hostile way, as to not raise the suspicions of Fortunato. Montresor convincingly asks Fortunato to come down to the catacombs with him to “verify” some wine which Montresor has “bought”. Montresor knows that he must not blow his cover, and the story goes into great detail as to how Montresor keeps luring Fortunato down to
Christine Kerr states “The mother narrator reminisces how Dee always “wanted nice things” even as a tennager.” Throughout Everyday Use, Dee shows a pattern of wanting things, such as her heritage to be shown. This is why Dee changes her last name. Christine Kerr demonstrates how Dee has more than one perspective on things within her family. For example, Dee wants the quilts not just because she thinks her mother and sister don't use them properly, but because she wants to show her heritage, and to own something nicer and maybe has more
Fortunato trusts Montresor enough to get drunk with him traveling through the catacombs, while Montresor has created an extravagant way to get revenge. Montresor plan all along was to bring Fortunato down there and trap him in a corner, so that he can build a wall in his catacombs, slowly
Dee simply wants them for decoration. Her mother and sister know that these items have a deep meaning. These items belonged to their ancestors. In spite of Dee having no knowledge of the churn and dasher the mother gives the items to Dee. Next Dee goes into the bedroom and sees some old quilts she want for decoration.