...The Pit and The Pendulum is arguably one of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest works. The Pit and The Pendulum spins a web of insanity over the main character during the Spanish Inquisition. The setting of the story helps shroud it in the theme of fear, torture, and madness. The pit, i believe symbolizes humanity's fear of the unknown, it can also represent the gate to hell, seeing how this story is set during the Spanish Inquisition this theory is highly plausible. Also the psych of Poe himself can be used as an example of an effective horror tone and atmosphere. But this story isnt just horror is it? No this goes much deeper than that by addressing the malleability of the human mind. In the text it states that the narrator witnesses a trio of white candles turn into angels and then shift to his tormentors. What sets this story apart is that it instills a feeling of terror into the reader with its heavy emphasis on the senses of the narrator, unlike poes other works such as the Tell-Tale Heart and The Raven which rely on the supernatural element typical of horror stories. The pendulum which filleted anyone unlucky enough to be caught in it’s wake, symbolizes the fallibility of humans as a whole and the march of time till death. As the narrator describes it as swinging by every one second. This helps create an extremely tense atmosphere during the scene in which the narrator is tied down with the pendulum swinging by every one second, Poe masterfully executed this in a way that you...
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...The Pit and the Pendulum. The pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe involves the story of the man who is facing death in every moment. It is a thriller and is very imposing. The story is told by an unnamed narrator who talks about the experiences in a pit in Spain. The story is about how he manages to escape death when it was right upon him. It shows the emotions that he goes through and what he feels when he is looking death in the eye and his joys when he manages to escape from the jaws of death. The story runs through the emotions felt by a person that was about to die and was perplexed about how he should die but still had the will to survive. He goes through many difficulties in his bid to survive. Many very fascinating ideas strike him and he manages to pull things that he would not have dreamed. For instance, when he puts a mark on the wall to make sure he is not going round and round when he could touch the walls. He had the presence of mind to know that he will go round and round till infinity if the pit was circular and he hence left a mark on the wall. He similarly decided to jump off the pit than being squashed to death. That as a choice he would have never had to make in any other circumstance. In this story, Poe shows an irony- an irony where a person becomes that what he hate the most. The captors of the narrator were the Spanish and in the time of the Spanish inquisition the church was against science and hence no scientific activities were tolerated. The main reason...
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...1 The Pit and the Pendulum By Edgar Allan Poe I WAS sick—sick unto death with that long agony; and when they at length unbound me, and I was permitted to sit, I felt that my senses were leaving me. The sentence—the dread sentence of death—was the last of distinct accentuation which reached my ears. After that, the sound of the inquisitorial voices seemed merged in one dreamy indeterminate hum. It conveyed to my soul the idea of revolution—perhaps from its association in fancy with the burr of a mill-wheel. This only for a brief period, for presently I heard no more. Yet, for a while, I saw—but with how terrible an exaggeration! I saw the lips of the black- robed judges. They appeared to me white—whiter than the sheet upon which I trace these words—and thin even to grotesqueness; thin with the intensity of their expression of firmness—of immovable resolution—of stern contempt of human torture. I saw that the decrees of what to me was Fate were still issuing from those lips. I saw them writhe with a deadly locution. I saw them fashion the syllables of my name; and I shuddered because no sound succeeded. I saw, too, for a few moments of delirious horror, the soft and nearly imperceptible waving of the sable draperies which enwrapped the walls of the apartment. And then my vision fell upon the seven tall candles upon the table. At first they wore the aspect of charity, and seemed white slender angels who would save me; but then, all at once, there came a most deadly nausea over...
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...Time In “The Pit And The Pendulum” He wished time would go faster, he wished he already dead. The short story “The Pit And The Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe is about the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition. He faints and awakens in a dark dungeon to experience the slowest, most painful, and most terrifying death at all. In the story, Poe uses many words in reference to time to show that time is passing. At the head of the story, “I was sick to death of the torture.” Shows time is passing. The Punishment from the judges is repeated again and again to make the narrator sick of it. Also, there are many used of transition words show the time had passed. Such as “then...”, “Soon...”. Likewise, The quote in the second paragraph “...would they keep me for months in the dark dungeon?” shows the time passed and the narrator had been imprison for a long period. Moreover, “When I woke.There was a dim light in the room.” in paragraph eight reveals time is passing. The narrator uses the uncertain time to create the feeling of time passing. It suggest that as time is passing in the dungeon, He’s just waiting for his death to come. In addition, In paragraph eleven, “ I slept, I woke, Days passed.” tells that time passed in six words only. The punishment was passing very slowly. The inquisitors’ punishment was the slowest, most painful, and terrifying death at all. Those inquisitors are doing what exactly they wanted. Furthermore, the narrator uses sensory detail of sight...
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...“The sets revel in decadence, come dripping in gothic charm, and no expense is spared when it comes to over the top, ornate garnishing” says Scream Horror Magazine. The Roger Corman film adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s story “The Pit and the Pendulum” is artistically valid even though the film’s storyline bares little resemblance to the original work. The tone in a gothic piece is vital in getting the correct message out to the audience on what the main idea is about. If it is not presented in an understandable manner, the audience will get another idea that wasn’t intended. What I think was a major part in setting the overall tone was the suspenseful style of how the script was written. The dialogue between the characters was filled with questions half of the time and observations. Apart from it creating horror with the setting of the movie and the appearance of outside and inside the building, the plot also contributes into making the story what it is. Edgar Allan Poe incorporates the martyr’s feelings and thoughts in the idea of not knowing what will...
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...THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM BY EDGAR ALLAN POE 7^WYS`f7Taa]e f7 COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Short Story: “The Pit and the Pendulum” Author: Edgar Allan Poe, 1809–49 First published: 1843 The original short story is in the public domain in the United States and in most, if not all, other countries as well. Readers outside the United States should check their own countries’ copyright laws to be certain they can legally download this e-story. The Online Books Page has an FAQ which gives a summary of copyright durations for many other countries, as well as links to more official sources. This PDF ebook was created by José Menéndez. Impia tortorum longas hic turba furores Sanguinis innocui, non satiata, aluit. Sospite nunc patria, fracto nunc funeris antro, Mors ubi dira fuit vita salusque patent. [Quatrain composed for the gates of a market to be erected upon the site of the Jacobin Club House at Paris.] I WAS sick—sick unto death with that long agony; and when they at length unbound me, and I was permitted to sit, I felt that my senses were leaving me. The sentence—the dread sentence of death—was the last of distinct accentuation which reached my ears. After that, the sound of the inquisitorial voices seemed merged in one dreamy indeterminate hum. It conveyed to my soul the idea of revolution—perhaps from its association in fancy with the burr of a mill-wheel. This only for a brief period, for presently I heard no more. Yet, for a while, I saw—but with how terrible...
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...In Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Pit and The Pendulum" the theme is that the fear of the unknown can haunt anyone. The fear of the unknown is the most alarming fear of all because what can not be seen or known is difficult to face directly as Poe writes, "I put my arm forward, and shuttered to find that I had fallen at the very brink of a circular pit." (Poe). The character in this short story is locked in a dark chamber, he trips and falls and knocks himself out. When he awakes he is at the edge of a pit he had not known was there in the dark, and knowing that if he had just kept walking he would have fallen into the pit disturbed him. The fact that the pit was there and he had no idea strikes a deep fear into his body. Not knowing...
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...Rodriguez 1 Aida Rodriguez Mr. Jonathan Martinez English 1302 29 October 2012 Life, Death, and Time At first when reading Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum we realize how the lack of time, we sometimes have, is not such a burden in comparison to the narrators. The narrator is faced with the concept of bravely facing his darkest hour where he discovers how it feels to life with fear and uncertainty about his future and watch while time takes him as a prisoner. The interpretation that can be contended is how Poe uses symbolism to grasp attention to the main conflicts in the story itself. The symbolism we can find is the definitions and roles the story items play when adjusting it to life and its main components. The pit symbolizes death which can also be described to some as hell. The pendulum exemplifies time and its essence when challenging our life or prominent death. Last but not least, the rats, display the possibility of life or heaven. This interpretation simply suggests how even though life and death are opposite concepts; they are both affected tremendously by time. The narrator begins by describing exactly where he is at by trying to discover exactly where he is and what his future holds. Edgar Allan Poe describes, "I was sick - sick unto death with that long agony; and when they at length unbound me, and I was permitted to sit, I felt that my senses were leaving me. Not only was he facing the idea of death itself, he was...
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...The setting in Dark Romantic pieces often set up a very defined mood that most share. There will often be a dark, or eerie mood that is brought on by creepy figures or items. In “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”, the area the story takes place in is Dr. Heidegger’s study. The story summarizes what the story basically looks like, “dim, old-fashioned chamber, festooned with cobwebs, and besprinkled with antique dust” (Hawthorne 228). Later with more detail, Hawthorne’s narrator includes the bust of hippocrates, an oaken closet which a skeleton was slightly poking out of,along with a dusty looking glass with which “the doctor’s deceased patients dwelt within its verge” (Hawthorne 229). When the setting was first stated in “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”,...
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...In this quote from the “Pit and the Pendulum” you see a detailed description and a clue that the narrator is going slowly but, surely insane. “The pit whose horrors had been destined for so bold a recusant as myself-the pit,typical of hell,...”(69). The more detailed the narrator describes it you can see the brink of which they are about to fall off. Coupled with another quote from the story “An outstretched arm caught my own as I fell, fainting into the abyss”(73). This quote shows the narrator’s insanity as he finally starts to lose hope until eventually he gets...
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...Edgar Allan Poe was born January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe was an American author, poet, and literary critic. Additionally, Poe is an author considered to be an anti-transcendentalist and is well known for his poem “The Raven.” Poe also wrote rather dark stories often circulating around murder, revenge, torture, and insanity. Some of Poe’s short stories include “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” and “Murders in the Rue Morgue.” “And then there stole into my fancy, like a rich musical note, the thought of what sweet rest there must be in the grave” (Edgar Allan Poe, “The Pit and the Pendulum”). But in truth, we all have thought about death and what it will be like. Even before losing someone, death would find it’s way into my thoughts, but having lost a close friend, death is now something that often creeps into my mind. Is it peaceful, painless? Or is it terrifyingly unnumbed? Is there life after death? How can we really know unless we’re dead? We all have that sheer fact to live with of never truly knowing when or how it could happen. In some cases, it can give life a little more adrenalin. But for others, it can lead to fear. Why leave the house if you can fall on the way out? But if you never leave, would you ever become known enough to be remembered? The curiosity of death affects us however we let it. But if we allow it to rule our mind we can lose it. We’ve all thought about death, but we can only imagine what it will be like....
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...Fear according to the dictionary, is the feeling or condition of being afraid. Edgar Allan Poe, the author of many short stories, who based his stories from fear and death. The name Poe brings about mind images of murderer and madmen. The two stories that will be mention in this piece are “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Pit and The Pendulum”. Edgar Allan Poe loved to write and because of his life, he writes various stories about fear. Poe uses life experiences and gothic language to set the mood of fear in each short story. The Pit and The Pendulum is a short story about the narrator who is being sentenced death during the time of the Inquisition. The narrator was losing consciousness and when he wakes, he faces complete darkness. He was confused because execution is usually in the form of hanging. The narrator is belted down on a table with a blade swinging back and forth at the level of his waist or stomach. “ Then the mere consciousness of existence, without thought - a condition which lasted long. Then very suddenly, thought and shuddering terror, and earnest endeavor to comprehend my true state.” “a fearful idea now suddenly drove the blood in torrents upon my heart, and for a brief period I at once more relapsed into insensibility upon recovering, I at once started to my feet, trembling convulsively in every fibre.” The first quote, there seems to be no fear without any thought but what is a more desirable state. The second quotes means the narrator can...
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...seemed white slender angels who would save me; but then, all at once, there came a most deadly nausea over my spirit, and felt every fibre in my frame thrill as if I had touched the wire of a galvanic battery, while the angel forms became meaningless spectres, with heads of flame, and I saw that from there would be no help” (pg. 62-63). This quote is an example of a simile. It shows how the narrator compares the seven candles to seven angels who would help him. Another example of figurative language used in the story was alliteration. The narrator describes the judges using alliteration, “They appeared to me white - whiter than the sheet which I trace these words…” (pg. 62). And finally, the last example of figurative language in “The Pit and the Pendulum” was an allusion. “Weighty rod of brass, and the hole hissed as it swung through the air” (pg.67). Poe...
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...he was gambling to earn money but ended up in deeper debt. This poem could have been written to show Poe’s desire and want to have a family, to be successful in his lifetime. Yet, he never got any of that. Eldorado has a more upbeat tone than to say, The Raven, but there still is a feeling of sadness. Wanting to reach something you always just seem to can’t, and yet never reaching it. Poe had a fascination with death, as depicted in his stories. Most likely because everyone around him was dying, such as his mother, wife, sister, and foster father. He expressed his sadness for death in one of his short stories, The Pit and The Pendulum. “My eyes followed its outward or upward whirls with the eagerness of the most unmeaning despair; they closed themselves spasmodically at the descent, although death would have been a relief, oh! How unspeakable!” (The Pit and The Pendulum). This story...
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...He used this technique in his story “The Pit and the Pendulum.” “It was a wall, seemingly of stone masonry--very smooth, slimy, and cold.” The narrator is describing what he felt when he first stood up and made contact with the wall. This description of the wall gives off a sort of spooky feeling. The descsription helps the rest of the story because it helps give the story the dark and spooky setting. Poe also used a dark and spooky setting in his story “The Fall of the House of Usher” when he writes, “I looked upon the scene before me--upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain--upon the bleak walls--upon the vacant eyelike windows--upon a few rank sedges--and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees--with an utter depression of soul.” The narrator is descirbing his...
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