To whom is Montresor speaking (fifty years after the murder)?

It is my belief that Poe intended to have his readers
assume that they were reading an English translation of an old letter which had somehow
fallen into the author's hands. The original document could have been written either in
Italian or in French. It might not necessarily have been sent to the person to whom it
was addressed. Montresor might have written this "confession" one night while drunk and
then decided not to send it the next morning. He had kept it among his papers, and it
was found after his death.

Since the story is written in
English, it would detract from the verisimilitude if the reader had to assume that
Montresor was actually speaking to someone but that he was really speaking French or
Italian. Furthermore, the document sounds too precise for a narrative being spoken to
another person or group, especially since the incidents are being remembered fifty years
after they occurred. So in answer to the question "To whom is Montresor speaking?" I
would reply that he is not speaking to anyone but is writing a letter. Otherwise we
would also have to suppose that we are somehow eavesdropping on a man who is living in a
foreign country, talking in a foreign language, and is probably already
dead.

I do not believe Montresor is trying to clear his
conscience after fifty years by confessing to a murder. I do not believe that he even
feels guilty about what he did to Fortunato. In fact, the successful execution of his
plan for revenge seems to have relieved him of the hatred and anger he felt. He hated
Fortunato intensely fifty years ago, but he does not, and cannot, hate him now. At the
beginning of the narrative Montresor talks about the requirements for a successful
revenge. He does not say that a truly successful revenge would accomplish its main
purpose, which is to get rid of the painful emotions that lead a person to
consider committing a murder. But this cleansing of emotions, this
satisfaction, this closure, is the most important part of revenge (providing the avenger
doesn't get caught). When Montresor ends his narrative with the Latin phrase meaning
"Rest in peace," he is being totally sincere, not ironic. He has nothing but good
feelings for Fortunato since he has evened the score with him.