Use of Single Effect in A Cask of Amontillado Edgar Allan Poe's "A Cask of Amontillado" is perhaps the most famous tale of terror ever written. Montresor, the narrator of the story, guides the reader through his revenge on Fortunato. Montresor lures Fortunato into the dark recesses of the family catacombs with the promise of fine wine. At the climax of the story, Montresor chains Fortunato to a wall and seals him forever behind bricks and mortar. In all of Poe's stories he tries to convey "a certain unique or single effect." “A Cask of Amontillado” expresses its dark view of human intentions using elements of irony, foreshadowing and metaphor. The first-person point of view also lends itself to the exploration of Montresor's innermost secrets. The main theme of the story is the deep hatred buried in the seemingly congenial Montresor. This makes it crucial that the story is told with Montresor's thoughts known to the reader. The story simply wouldn't work if it were told from Fortunato's point of view, or from a dramatic/objective angle. An omniscient vision would work, but by only knowing Montresor's thoughts the reader develops a trust in him, and this causes the theme of the story to have a more personal effect on the reader. “A Cask of Amontillado” is full of ironic statements and situations. Fortunato's very name is ironic given his horrific fate. Early in the story, when Montresor divulges his theories of just revenge, he says, “A wrong is not righted when the punishment surpasses its righter.” This is ironic (and a little funny) since Montresor is completely consumed by his hatred for Fortunato. Then, during the descent into the catacombs, Montresor attempts several times to represent... in the center of the card... Montresor's sociable facade, so the catacombs below symbolize the hatred within him. Poe provides explicit descriptions of the disgusting caves. They are "unbearably damp... encrusted with nitre." The "fossiness of the air" almost extinguishes their torches. Poe describes the "white cobweb that shines from the walls of these caves." Clearly Poe's desired effect is to expose the evil that consumes from within. Each of the literary devices used in "A Cask of Amontillado" serves to strengthen Poe's single effect. As Poe himself says in "The Importance of the Single Effect in a Prose Tale," an author "invents such incidents and then combines the events which can best help him to establish this preconceived effect." The use of first-person perspective along with some irony, foreshadowing, and metaphor help provide Poe's unique effect in "A Cask of Amontillado".."