ngs are imbedded in the heel.". Even more appropriate is Montresor's family motto, translated as, "No one wounds me with impunity". Such a visual depiction and mental conviction due to family honor and history creates all the more impetus in Montresor to carry out the punishment that Fortunato deserves for wronging him, and more likely the family honor. When Montresor finally captures Fortunato in the catacombs, the climax of his precisely calculated deed, he revels in the sound of Fortunato's chains rattling, and "that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labors and sat down upon the bones". However, his satisfaction soon turns to apprehension when suddenly "a succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting from the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me violently back". He hesitates at this moment, when his revenge is sweetest, when he should bask in the suffering of his "enemy", and finds himself contemplating the shrill screams of his captive! He does eventually compose himself and takes a few more moments of pleasure from his captive's struggles, but his apprehension returns just as he places the final brick. He "struggled with its weight", showing his confusion at the path his revenge is taking. The little pleasure he did derive from Fortunato's suffering is further dulled when Fortunato asks Montresor to finish jesting with him, and return to the palazzo with him. To the shock and chagrin of Montresor, Fortunato does not even seem to accept that he is burying him alive! Before he should change his course of action, a riddled Montresor places the last brick as his "heart grew sick - on account of the dampness of the catacombs.". Montresor, although successful in his settling of the score with Fortunato, falls short of what he had said and hoped his act of revenge would be. He achieved his revenge, but at a cost to him, the "redresser". He is left with such a guilty conscience that he is forced to ...
