“A wrong is unredressed when the retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.” With this cruel vengeance Montresor, with malicious patience and deceptive friendliness, lured Fortunato into the vault and buried him alive in a niche. The reader knows the target to be doomed and watched the drunken man step deeper into the snare.
As usual, Poe was able to portray the criminal mind, with its unrepentant hatred and cruel delight, as if he were a comrade.