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Irony In Poe's Poe

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Through many of Poe’s works, from his short stories, “The Cask to Amontillado”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, and “The Tell-Tale Heart”, to his poems, “Annabel Lee” and “The Raven”, Poe has established himself as a prolific writer of the genre of Gothic horror in American literature. At the early age of three, Poe was orphaned and sent to a foster family. As he grew older, he had many disputes with his adoptive father, and was disowned. He served in the army before marrying his wife, who would later die at the age of 24, leaving Poe in despair and inspiring many of his works. The reason to how Poe creates a chilling style that is prevalent in many of his works is his repeated use of both repetition and irony. One of Poe’s main literary …show more content…

In the short story, “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor had lured in Fortunato, and now taunts him, laughing at his unawareness of Montresor’s desire to kill him. In the short story, Montresor toasts to Fortunato, stating, “And I to your long life” (Line 41). When Montresor says this, he wishes for Fortunato’s longevity, even though Montresor himself plans to kill Fortunato later. Through this interaction, the reader understands that Montresor is the villain and is horrified by his desire to kill and his lack of conscience. Poe also uses irony in the short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, where the narrator tries to convince the readers of his sanity, while his actions in the story says otherwise. In the story, the narrator states, “If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body” (Paragraph 12). The character believes that he is perfectly sane, which is ironic due to the fact that the actions he commits, such as killing the old man due to his eye, completely contradicts the idea that the narrator is sane, and the hallucinations he hears during the end of the story due to his insanity directly contributes to his confession. This irony shows us that the character is not only insane, but is in denial of the fact that he is insane, contributing to his unhinged and mentally ill

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