Edgar Allan Poe was an American short story writer and critic who is best known for his genre-founding fantasy horror stories and detective novels. Poe considered himself above all a poet. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Although in most of his works his narrators are unreliable and seem crazy, this is not necessarily because Poe is exorcising his own demons. It is more likely that he was writing the kinds of stories that he knew would attract and retain readers. In the “Cask of Amontillado” we have a classic example of such a story. As in several of Poe's works, and in keeping with the 19th century fascination with the subject, the narrative revolves around a buried person, in this case, building. In this macabre and horrifying tale that describes a carefully planned cold-blooded murder, one can also find several situations in which irony is intertwined in subtle or obvious ways. Irony is a subtle and humorous perception of inconsistency, in which a seemingly simple statement is undermined by its context to give it a very different meaning. In various forms, irony appears in many types of literature, from the tragedy of Sophocles to the novels of Jane Austen and Henry James, but it is particularly prominent in satire, such as in Voltaire and Swift. In its simplest form, verbal irony involves a discrepancy between what is said and what is actually meant, such as in its raw form, sarcasm. The most sustained structural irony in literature involves the use of a naïve or deluded hero or unreliable narrator whose worldview differs widely from the actual circumstances recognized by the author and readers; literary irony thus flatters the intelligence of its readers at the expense of a character (or a fictional narrator). Already from the setting, we can learn that the author's intention is to slip elements of irony among the elements that tell a horror story. The action takes place during carnival, a time for dancing and drinking. Unlike the setting, the crime plot becomes ridiculous. The second element of irony in the writing is the name of Montresor's friend, Fortunato; it obviously derives from “fortunate”. Not only is he unlucky and going to be buried alive, but there is yet another irony: the name Fortunato generally belongs to certain saints and martyrs in the Catholic world, while Fortunato indulges in drinking and debauchery, thus being far from holiness. Montresor meets his friend “at dusk” and he greets him in a very friendly manner, saying “My dear Fortunato, you are fortunately met. How remarkably fit you are today. Montresor's attitude towards is deceptive and ironic: he says that he met him for change and with pleasure, while carefully planning each step until Fortunato's death. Additionally, Fortunato wears a jester costume – “He wore a tight evening dress and his head was topped with a conical cap and bells” and yet Montresor compliments him on his beauty. Then, Montresor lures his friend to his cellar by telling him that he has received a barrel of Amontillado and that he wants Fortunato's opinion on whether the wine is authentic or not. It is well known that a true wine connoisseur should only taste wine on an empty stomach, whereas Fortunato, although enthusiastic, “had already drunk a lot”. They descend together into the "vaults" and the air becomes toxic, the walls of the cellar being "encrusted with nitre". Fortunato's salt and humidity cause seizures..