Irony and Edgar Allan Poe Analytical Essay by ABCs

In this article, the writer points out that Edgar Allan Poe is known for his tales of horror and that, as good and thrilling as these tales are, Poe always seems to incorporate another literary technique to emphasize terror within the reader. The writer discusses that "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Black Cat," are excellent examples of how Poe infuses irony with terror to enhance the terror aspect of his stories. In "The Cask of Amontillado," there is a man leading the other to his death by curious means and in "the Black Cat," one must listen to the tale of a madman completely convinced that he is not mad. The writer maintains that each tale creates a sense of heightened fear when one realizes that these stories could be about real people. The stories could survive without the irony but the irony adds another level of terror that catches and keeps our interest. In fact, the irony allows us feel the terror deeper because it is more difficult to forget these narrators. The writer concludes that this is no doubt Poe's intention - to create narrators that linger in the reader's memory long after eyes have left the last words.