I believe the two previous answers are too limited in scope. First, Poe built a work that holds up when on every level that language operates. Second, since Montressor is unreliable, he may have felt guilt for his crime, but attempts to cover it: "My heart grew sick -- from the dampness . . . " comes to mind. Poe leaves the question of guilt open to us. If Montresor fails to possess humanity, he is simply a monster; I do not believe Poe wrote such tales. His characters feel the guilt of their crimes. Montresor,too, feels guilt, but tries to cover it with his bricks, literally and figuratively. Of course, he fails to keep it concealed, because he is now revealing it!
He may be talking to God, or the reader, or to himself. Perhaps it is addressed to his contemporaries, many of whom failed to recognize or believe Poe's ability to purposefully compose a story with such mathematical-artistic precision that it holds up on every level possible -- like Shakespeare's work. Poe was a genius. The perfection of this story cannot be ignored. It contains perfect solutions in every dimension language operates, which, no offense, the previous two posts failed to even allude to.
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