Answer:
. It helps the reader understand that Fortunato is a snake and that Montresor must crush him.
Explanation:
Montresor describes his family's coat of arms as follows: "A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heal."
There is a dramatic irony here. The reader knows that Montresor plans to murder Fortunato, and thus we can infer that, from Montresor's perspective, the huge golden foot in the coat of arms symbolizes Montresor himself, and the snake with its fangs "imbedded" in the heel of the foot symbolizes Fortunato.The foot crushing the snake in the coat of arms foreshadows Montresor's murder of Fortunato.
