He must “not only punish but punish with impunity”. Another words, not only must he enact revenge for the insults he has endured from Fortunato, but he must do it in such a way as to not get caught.
Is he successful? Considering that Fortunato dies at the end we can assume he was at least successful at the revenge part. Whether or not he did it without getting caught is really left to our personal hypothesis as to whether or not anyone saw him -unlikely, considering the 1) madness of the carnival season..lots of drunk people, 2) the fact that Montressor dismissed all his servants. It is my belief that he did not get caught. Consider: Montressor’s purpose for revenge was highly personal. “Insults” were an excuse. . “You were happy as once I was”. Montressor was belabored with the pain of loss (a common theme in Poe’s work). He was alone, lonely, and, in most likelihood, let few people knew that. He maintained a cordial, sociable relationship with Fortunato. Why would anyone suspect him of killing him?
Does he feel remorse? For multiple reasons, I believe he does:
· Montressor hesitates: “My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so”. Unlikely! Poe is careful with his punctuation; he does nothing by accident (read Poe’s composition methods…unity of effect, ratiocination). This is not the act of a murderer. This is the act of a man with a conscious who is deeply disturbed by what is happening.
· This is a stretch: Montressor throws the flambeau into the hole…which would remove the oxygen…which would shorten Fortunato’s death…sounds like an act of remorse to me!
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