“The Amontillado!” I said.
“He! he! he!–he! he! he!–yes, the Amontillado. But is it not getting late?” (81, 82)
Now Montresor is letting the truth be known. Fortunato isn’t seeing any Amontillado. Not tonight, not ever. And finally, Amontillado doesn’t sound nearly as interesting as fresh air.
Quote 17
It was not the cry of a drunken man. (78)
At this point, both of the characters are the closest they have been to sober all night. That Montresor waits until Fortunato is sober to begin torturing him in earnest is probably one of the most terrifying aspects of this story.
Quote 18
Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. (68)
This line reminds us that different cultures deal with death in different ways. Catacombs were an art form. What might be gross and scary to one culture can be beautiful and natural to another.