They greet each other as friends but the reader is made aware that Montresor smiles with vengeance in his heart. This knowledge of Montresor, displayed to the reader but not to Fortunato, is another example of Poe's use of dramatic irony. We know the truth behind the smile whereas the character in the story does not. Montresor states that "[Fortunato] did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation" (473). Amontillado seems impossible for anyone to have received in the middle of the festivities and the drunken Fortunato leaps at the opportunity to sample the pipe. Ironically Fortunato is dressed in the fool's attire and readily plays the part. Henceforth it is a verbal irony that paves Fortunato"s misfortune. Montresor repeatedly attempts to talk his victim out of his own doom, forcing Fortunato to repeatedly beg for his own death. .
Montresor ironically appears to be especially concerned about Fortunato's health. At one point Montresor argues that " your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed." A most memorable dialogue in the tale comes when Montresor again attempts to convince Fortunato to turn back from the unhealthy surroundings, with which he responds, "I shall not die of a cough." "True - true," is the reply of Montresor. It is ironic to note that the reader is well aware that Fortunato shall not die of a cough. Fortunato drinks from a bottle of Medoc and toasts to "the buried that repose around us." Montresor replies with a toast to his victim's "long life." Shortly after this shared drink Fortunato enquires after the Montresor family arms and motto, to which Montresor replies, "A huge human foot d"or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel." "And the motto?" replies Fortunato. "Nemo me impune lacessit" (475). The irony here is Fortunato does not realize that he has insulted Montresor and for this reason does not grasp the importance of the family motto.