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Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration to make a point. Discuss the use of hyperbole in "The Cask of Amontillado."

Montresor actually begins the story with an example of hyperbole, a literary device that is also called overstatement.  He says, "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge."  It is unlikely that Fortunato has actually somehow injured Montresor some one thousand times; however, Montresor feels as wounded as though he had.  


Such an exaggeration gives us some immediate insight into Montresor's character: he is on the defensive, perhaps feeling as though he needs to justify his behavior in regard to Fortunato.  By stating that this man had injured him a thousand times, Montresor shares his motivation for committing the murder of Fortunato, and attempts to justify it in one fell swoop.  Had Fortunato not been so offensive, so injurious, then Montresor, he implies, would never have been pushed to this point.  With this hyperbole, Montresor places the blame for his victim's death squarely on his victim's shoulders by claiming that Montresor, himself, had done all he could to put up with the man.

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