The narrator's initial affection for animals represents his lost innocence and humanity. Animals are symbolic of purity and love, reflecting the narrator's once gentle nature.

Analysis: In free masonry, 2 columns represent a passageway into an unknown area. It is one of the most well recognized signs of free masonry (Grand Lodge of Rhode Island). The 2 columns are in the story when describing a random cave at the bottom of the catacombs, where Fortunato would be chained up. This shows the gateway to an unknown area symbol.

The beat of a heart is the ultimate symbol of life which makes this situation ironic because all the killer can hear is the man beating heart (life) which is about to take away.

"It is this," I answered, producing a trowel from beneath the folds of my roquelaire" (Poe).

Analysis: In free masonry, construction devices are a symbol of free masonry, and are used to identify as a free mason. . In the story, the narrator was able to prove that he was a mason, and gain Fortunato's trust, because of the trowel.

Analysis: Arches symbolize a gateway. In the story, Fortunato and the narrator go down a passageway with a series of arches into a crypt deep underground, which symbolizes a descension into hell.

Pluto, the black cat, is symbolic of fate and darkness. In Roman mythology, Pluto is the god of the underworld, a name that foreshadows the death, decay, and destruction of the story.

This moment marks the beginning of the narrator's transformation. Alcohol symbolizes self-destruction.

Analysis: Eyes are important symbols, and are described as "pathways to the soul." Sometimes, they are a way to show if someone can divine truth from lie. By describing Fortunato's eyes as filmy, Poe is showing how Fortunato cannot see the clever story the narrator is using to eventually chain him up.

The flight of his "original soul" suggests a loss of moral integrity, replaced by a fiendish, almost supernatural evil that controls his actions. This ties into the Gothic theme of inner turmoil and the blurred lines between sanity and madness.

The image of the cat in the ruins symbolizes guilt and divine retribution. The burned house represents the destruction of the narrator's former life, while the cat, with a noose around its neck, symbolizes both his crime and the inescapable consequences of his actions.

The gallows mark symbolizes death and punishment.

The "Arch-Fiend" refers to Satan, symbolizing ultimate evil. The cry from within the tomb, the cat's voice, symbolizes the resurrection of guilt and the inescapable nature of sin.

The red mouth can be interpreted as a symbol of blood and violence, representing the narrator's crime. The cat becomes an embodiment of fate and retribution, having "seduced" the narrator into acts of murder and ensured his ultimate punishment. This symbolizes the inevitability of guilt resurfacing, no matter how deeply the narrator tries to bury it.

Analysis: This is a symbol of Free Masonry. By the narrator putting on this mask, it shows that he is a free mason. This can also be taken as a metaphor, to show the lie that he was performing.

Analysis: This gesticulation is a symbol of free masonry. This shows that Fortunato is a Free Mason, and because the narrator doesn't understand it, he could be a higher level of Free mason.

Analysis: Each level of the wall shows a different sin, and putting the last block up and trapping the mason inside shows how the narrator turns his back on masonry.

Analysis: The shift of a baby's cry to a shriek symbolizes the loss of purity of innocence from being murdered and entombed.