rsor boldly defies God, damning himself forall time.” Cooney also states that Montersor misses theirony at the beginning of his own confession, “You who sowell know the nature of my soul”(Poe 149). This implies thathe has been confessing to this “priest” for quite a while,but has not been confessing all of his sins; this in turnmakes all of Montersor’s confessions in vain. Cooney alsoshares with us that because of these false confessionsinstead of being instruments of salvation they becomeinstruments of damnation. “Here, surely, is the irony of aconfession without repentance, an irony that makes theentire plan double back upon the doer”(Cooney 196). So nownot only does he have the blood of Fortunato on his hands,but the wrath of God on his head. In Poe’s last line “In pace requiescat,” “let him restin peace,” Montresor prays for the soul of Fortunato, but aswith the telling of his confession Montersor realizes thathe does not accomplish his vengeance on any level. He didnot even achieve the sole requirements for his own brand ofretribution. And now must face his own soul and God because,“Even now, when on his deathbed Montersor confesses all hissins, he is deluded in thinking himself forgiven”(Cooney196). Still, unfortunately, with this small prayer andconfession, for all eternity Montersor will be remembered asa heartless, sadistic executioner. ...
