Pit And The Pendulum

The Pit and the Pendulum is about a man who is sentenced to THE PIT during the Spanish Inquisition. The story starts out as describing his trial and quick sentence to THE PIT. Next as he is in

Finally, the historical setting of “The Pit and the Pendulum," tells us about events that occurred in the Spanish city of Toledo, “the central command from which the religious persecutions of all Jews, Muslims, and accused "heretics" were put on trial” (4). The Inquisition punished, imprisoned, tortured and executed the supposedly heretics in many unbelievable and terrifying ways. It was not abolished until the capture of Toledo by Napoleon Bonaparte and

Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum” is about a man that is put through torture and Hawthorne’s “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” is about a doctor who gives four elderly people a taste of water from the Fountain of Youth. “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” are definitely different as far as content goes but when examined a little more closely clear similarities can be found. Subtle literary devices and themes tie these two seemingly dissimilar stories and authors together.

the government can punish a man by taking away his property, put him in jail, and all his outward possessions but once the State tries to take away or impose on a man’s religion, and then the government is crossing the line. These ideas eventually laid the foundation for American society. In fact one of the main reasons early British settlers came to America was because they wanted freedom of religion, they were tired of the king punishing them for their personal beliefs. This is one of the key philosophies which Locke wrote about in “A Letter Concerning Toleration,” there are many examples in history where this philosophy is ignored and resulted tragedy and atrocities. A good example would be Nazi Germany where the state imprinted their beliefs

Ylla was written as part of a collection of short story, The Martian Chronicles written by Ray Bradbury. The Chronicles tell a tale of humans fleeing earth after an atomic fall out and their experiences with extraterrestrial encounters. The Martian Chronicles were written in the 1950’s by an American author after World War Two. During World War Two the U. S. was running experiments with atomic weapons and eventually used them against Japan. Ray Bradbury is well known for his works such as Fahrenheit 451, I Sing the Body and The Illustrated Man. He won the Pulitzer citation for his works in 2007.

In “The Pit and the Pendulum”, the atmosphere is dark and unsettling. In addition to the setting and characters, there are various other factors that give the story a creepy feel to it. Furthermore, the narrator’s thoughts and descriptions add to the ominous mood of the story. For example, the tale states, “By long suffering my nerves had been unstrung, until I trembled at the sound of my own voice, and had become in every respect a fitting subject for the species of torture which awaited me” (Poe 5). At this point in the story, the narrator, falling into his torturers’ trap, tips on the verge of insanity and begins to lose hope. The reader can easily picture the narrator, cowering against the wall, eyes wide, flinching at the slightest of sounds. Therefore, along with the horrifying aspects of the torture chamber, the unstable narrator and his thoughts create a foreboding and macabre feeling characteristic to gothic

I agree with this quote. It is very important that we prevent people from being persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views. Although it doesn’t occur as often in the United States, it is still a major issue in many parts of the world. I think this relates to my life because I wouldn’t want to be wronged because of my religion or political views. I think this quote is trying to say that cases where people are persecuted or tormented because of their race, religion, or political views should be our main focus, as they are wrong and shouldn’t be happening.

During the entire short story, the narrator is stuck inside of his prison cell that he refers to as an apartment……. The exact time period is not given, however, it is towards the end of the inquisition, around 1834. This is shown when the narrator is saved in the end, because the inquisition is over. Thus, it can be inferred that the character is being punished on religious means. However, the time period and torture the narrator receives do not correlate. The torture the narrator endures would be the kind of torture given during the Middle Ages, year 500-1000. Since the story takes place around the early 1800s, Poe used the historical context of the Spanish Inquisition and old fashioned torture tactics to create his own gruesome nightmare.

For example, the Spanish Inquisition in 1478 drove out all non-Catholics in Spain in an attempt to “purify” the Spaniards. A modern-day example of religious intolerance is in the Middle East. Blasphemy laws are an example of religious discrimination, as blasphemy in this context is essentially the practice of any religion other than Islam. According to Huffington Post, “These laws... often carry with them a mandatory death sentence. Allegations of blasphemy are often presented with no evidence, because to reproduce the evidence would be to reproduce the blasphemy.”

The capability to speak openly and practice the religion of your choice has existed since the birth of the United States of America. Yet in the past decade, more people than ever have caused us to question which first amendment right should be protected more; freedom of speech or freedom of religion. Such events where the two rights are pinned against each other, both seeking to sense a feeling of supremacy, have proved to lead to conflict and even bloodshed.

Additionally, “The Pit and the Pendulum” is a nail-biting narration of a prisoner being kept in a dungeon. Unaware of what his fate will be, the narrator assumes he will suffer death by hanging, until he explores his unlit surroundings and finds he is in a dungeon with a deep pit in the floor and a pendulum like scythe swinging from the ceiling above. Left to die, the narrator is saved in his last moments of despair by General Laselle who has taken over the prison as part of his crusade to end the inquisition. Perhaps one of Poe's most aspirant pieces of writing, the narrator in the “The Pit and Pendulum” never relinquishes himself to what the reader may view as an inevitable, certain death.

Sar and Guzman aren’t the same exact person nor did they have exactly the same political strategies concerning the economy and government. What they did have in common was a general outlook on how power should shift from one place to another. In practice, it shows that Chairman Gonzalo and Pol Pot had very similar methods of externalizing their desires, and both left a disastrous wake in their path.

Stephen King once said, “We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones.” Bram Stroker, H.P. Lovecraft, Mary Shelley, and Edgar Allan Poe may have been a few of the greatest authors of horror to ever live. Out of all of these authors, Poe may have written the most freighting tales. All of his stories are considered horror, but some of them have more horrific qualities than others. “The Pit And The Pendulum” is one of Poe’s most famous works. “The Pit And The Pendulum” by Edgar Allen Poe meets three qualifications of a true horror story.

Edgar Allen Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum uses horror and suspicion to build up not only the storyline, but the persona of the narrator in which is also the prisoner. The characteristics of the prisoner ties within the story to create trippy feelings of fear and unassertiveness of whether or not he is truly safe. From the trials that the prisoner has faced, his characteristic of resourcefulness, pessimistic, and terror are revealed and play a salient part of his slick escape.

The last mile, the end of the road leading to, lethal Injection, electrocution, lethal Gas, firing Squad, or hanging. A consequence of heinous crimes dating back as far as history is recorded. People believe that there is a need to keep the death penalty, just last October there was a vote to reinstate the death penalty in Nebraska. Also national demographics show that the country is pro death penalty and other than one time over 50 years ago they always have been.