Irony is an important part of every story. As Thomas Foster writes in “How to Read Literature” that “irony conquers all”. Some authors use irony to develop themes, settings, tone, or add depth to their characters. An example of this is Edgar Allen Poe using irony in "The Cask of Amontillado" to develop different themes, tones, and perhaps some character depth. READ POETRY 846-848 Edgar Allen Poe is skilled at using irony to portray dark themes. Mortality is one of the most important themes in "The Cask of Amontillado". Poe begins the story with irony regarding mortality in the form of Montresor and Fortunato who are at a carnival, a place of celebration, happiness, light, and life. This is in great contrast to what happened later, when Montresor took Fortunato to his family's caves, a place of mourning, sadness, darkness, and the name Fortunato could mean a number of things. Fortunato's name can be seen as an irony, because he ends up being very unfortunate in that he is tricked into following Montresor into the catacombs only to be chained to a wall and left to die. Perhaps another meaning of the name Fortunato is that Fortunato was rich or won things that Montresor did not win. This could give Montresor the motive of jealousy instead of simple betrayal. It is also entirely possible that Fortunato accumulated his wealth by deceiving and betraying Montresor. Montresor's name could be used to show that he is a monster, and it could not have been due to any part of Fortunato, other than bad luck, that Montresor killed him. Montresor might have been crazy and could only imagine that Fortunato had mistreated him over and over again. This would be a possibility because Montresor never stated exactly what Fortunato had done to desire his cruel punishment. It would also work as an explanation for why Fortunato would trust someone Montresor had suffered a thousand wounds