The Beauty of Irony in “The Cask of Amontillado” 

Abstract “The Cask of Amontillado” is one of the typical gothic horror fictions written by Edgar Allan Poe。 The whole fiction is full of gothic images, such as black silk mask, damp catacombs and piled skeletons, which are fairly ironic, showing his reflections on the age values。 Its theme includes revenge, death and horror。 Irony is one of the major narrative skills to convey the gothic features。 Irony may be pided into lots of categories and this thesis is mainly focus on the verbal, situational, dramatic irony as well as the beauty and the deeper thoughts on humanity and value behind the irony。 Poe employs abundant irony not only to create the gothic atmosphere, but also to emphasize the theme。 In the fiction, Poe superficially describes the foolishness, arrogance, jealousy, and depravity of humanity。 But actually, he poignantly satirizes the distorted social values at that time。源-于,优W尔Y论L文.网wwW.youeRw.com 原文+QQ75201,8766

Key words: The Cask of Amontillado; irony; beauty; humanity; value

《阿芒提拉多的酒桶》的反讽艺术美

摘  要《阿芒提拉多的酒桶》是埃德加·爱伦·坡经典哥特式恐怖小说中的一篇。小说全文充满了哥特式的意象，例如黑色丝绸面具、潮湿的地下墓穴和成堆的残骸，颇具反讽意味，表现了对时代价值观的考量。小说的主题包括了复仇、死亡、恐怖等等，并而反讽是这篇小说中表达哥特式特征的主要修辞手法。反讽可以分为很多类，而本文主要针对言语性反讽、情境性反讽和戏剧性反讽三个方面展开论述，以及分析反讽背后表现出的美感以及对人性和价值观更深层次的思考。爱伦坡运用了大量的反讽，不仅有助于营造哥特式的氛围，而且升华了主题。在小说中，爱伦坡表面上描述了人性的愚蠢、自大、嫉妒以及丧失，但事实上，他辛辣地讽刺了时代扭曲的价值观。88093

毕业论文关键词：《阿芒提拉多的酒桶》；反讽；美感；人性；价值观

Contents From~优E尔L论E文W网wWw.YoUeRw.com 加QQ7520.18766 

1。 Introduction 1

2。 Verbal Irony in Montresor and Fortunato’s Conversations 3

2。1 Direct Contradictory Irony in Montresor’s Words 3

2。2 Repetition of the Friend Luchesi and Pun of the Mason 4

3。 Situational Irony Combined with the Environment and Symbolism 5

3。1 The Contrast of the Environment between the Carnival and the Vault 5

3。2 The Irony Combined with Symbolism: the Silk, the Flambeaux and the Motto 5

4。 Dramatic Irony Combined with the Unreliable Narration 7

4。1 The Unreliable Context Presented by Montresor 7

4。2 Montresor’s Distorted Value 8

5。 Conclusion 10

References 11

1。 Introduction 

The art of irony in “The Cask of Amontillado” has been variously studied。 The researches will be pided into two groups which can draw the essential lines of demarcation better。 Firstly, the studies which have been done in China will be simply summarized。 Then, there will be some researches from abroad。 论文网

Researches at home mainly focus on the artistic effects which are achieved by the verbal irony, partly by the situational irony and the dramatic irony。 And some of them cover a little about the unreliable narration。 For example, Liu Yan (2008) tries to make an experimental application of speech-act theory to analyze the irony in “The Cast of Amontillado”。 Her analysis is done both from a macro-angle and from a micro-angle, in order to explore the abundant ironic speech acts in this novel。 By this means, ironic speeches are reinforced to reveal its ironic topic thoroughly。 Therefore, the readers and the writer can achieve the spiritual communication and cooperation。 Zhao Wenhui (2008) claims that the irony is the most incisive part of this novel。 This kind of tragic style irony places particular emphasis on the huge differences between discourses and thoughts, concepts and facts playing cruel tricks on characters。 With the aid of homophonic, overstatement, dramatic irony and verbal irony, Poe displays artistic charms to achieve ironical horrible effects。 Li Xuan (2009) asserts that the irony in “The Cask of Amontillado” produces an obvious aesthetic effect, which appropriately displays Poe’s gothic themes such as revenge, horror and death。 She covers three kinds of irony: verbal irony, situational irony and structural irony。 Also, she holds the idea that the biggest irony in this novel is the last sentence。 No one has discovered Fortunato so Montresor remains unpunished。 Wu Liqun (2011) also conveys his opinions on the irony which is very similar to Li Xuan’s。 The irony manufactures horrors from the soul which is exactly what Poe has expected。 Peng Huan (2013), however, describes the effects of irony from the perspective of the unreliable narration。 He believes that the verbal irony is the technique that Poe uses to heighten the unreliability of Montresor’s narration in the story。 This fiction is mainly composed of the dialogue between the two characters。 The discrepancy between the literal meaning and the real meaning in Montresor’s words is a typical kind of verbal irony。 Also, Chen Maolin (2013) claims that the aesthetic beauty of this novel primarily includes two artistic features。 One of them is the employment of the irony which is full of artistic tension between surface and deep meaning, subtle hints and implications, thus the murderer’s insanity and morbidity will be set off for dramatic effect。 Zhang Jiyun (2015) admits that in this fiction, Poe presents an impeccable revenge plan successfully because of unreliable narration。 She attempts to use examples to analyze the protagonists’ unreliability by means of employing irony in the unreliable narration in “The Cask of Amontillado”。 文献综述