Fortunato follows Montresor down a long, winding staircase to the Montresor family catacombs. Fortunato then hesitates for a few minutes before entering into the vaults because the niter on the walls gives him a coughing fit. As Montresor remembers it, the scene unfolds as follows:
"It is farther on," said I; "but observe the white web-work which gleams from these cavern walls."
He turned towards me, and looked into my eves with two filmy orbs...
Fortunato follows Montresor down a long, winding staircase to the Montresor family catacombs. Fortunato then hesitates for a few minutes before entering into the vaults because the niter on the walls gives him a coughing fit. As Montresor remembers it, the scene unfolds as follows:
"It is farther on," said I; "but observe the white web-work which gleams from these cavern walls."
He turned towards me, and looked into my eves with two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication.
"Nitre?" he asked, at length.
"Nitre," I replied. "How long have you had that cough?"
"Ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh!"
My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes.
Poe includes this detail to show how weak Fortunato's lungs are. It is dangerous for him to be breathing the bad air in the catacombs. One can imagine that once Montresor walls him up, he will be coughing; thus suffering terribly, with nobody to hear him or help him.
However, the detail serves an even more diabolical purpose for Poe, for it shows how sadistic Montresor's plan is. Montresor says early on that he wants Fortunato to suffer from the revenge Montresor exacts on him. Montresor has seemingly thought of every detail that will increase his enemy's pain.
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