Pit And The Pendulum Irony

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

The chaotic life of Edgar Allan Poe is reflected in his work. The stories The Pit and the Pendulum, and The Cask of Amontillado, are both written using Edgar Allan Poe’s life as a reference. They show elements of his dark depressing life where his mother died of tuberculosis and his dad died as well before he was three. He was then raised as a foster child by his two brothers, Francis and John. He then became a writer of short stories which everyone told him was a mistake. It is also unknown how Poe died which adds yet more mystery to his life. As can be seen, Poe’s life was very dark and dim. This mood is portrayed in Poe’s stories as well. In Cask of Amontillado, Poe writes about a man seeking revenge on his friend and ends up changing him up in the catacombs and then sealing him down there with a wall that he built. The Pit and the Pendulum also has dark elements to it. This story revolves around a prison who fights the battle between jumping into the unknown or letting himself be tortured. Edgar Allan Poe’s writing style in The Pit and the Pendulum and The Cask of Amontillado express conflicts developed by dark and claustrophobic settings, develops a dark mood and tone similar to his own life's mood through dark diction and an immersive point of view, and finally develops a common theme of danger of the unknown by using a limited point of view including ominous, unexplained elements.

feel isolated and afraid. Moreover, the narrator of “The Pit and the Pendulum” also experiences

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

The Pit and the Pendulum is a 1961 horror film directed by Roger Corman , starring

In Edgar Allan Poe’s story, “The Pit and the Pendulum.” poe uses the elements of unknowingness, fear, and fight or flight, descriptive words to add suspense to the story. The man within the story is being sentenced to death because of his faith, he is found guilty and then taken to a duongen and tortured, he is put through 3 different ways of tortures before a french general saves him. First when he is laying on the stone table he decides to do this, ¨At length, with a wild desperation at heart, I quickly unclosed my eyes, my worst thoughts, then, were confirmed¨ (Poe #3). The previous sentence shows that he was fearful of the situation he is in. Second when he now knows he can't see he does this, ¨Such a supposition, notwithstanding what we

Finally both authors’ stories are rife with symbolism, specifically dealing with the inevitability of time and age. In “The Pit and the Pendulum” the abyss in the center of the dungeon and the swinging, bladed pendulum represent time. The blade gets closer and closer to the helpless victim and even when he is successful in escaping the pendulum, there is another torture in store. The torture – time- is “most unrelenting.” (9) He cannot avoid his impending death.

In his short story, The Pit and the Pendulum he writes “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” (Poe quoted in Hamilton). The narrator of this story tried to gain the sympathy of the reader, similar to William Wilson, by describing how ill he was and how others were treating him. In another one of his works, The Cask of Amontillado, the narrator claims “The men Fortunato had done me a thousand wrongs. I bore them as best I could. But when he began to insult me, I vowed revenge. You do understand my nature, will know that I spoke no threats aloud. But to myself I vowed to be avenged, sometime” (Poe quoted in Hamilton). Again, he attempted to gain the sympathy of the reader by making Fortunato seem like an awful person, and that he was right to be angry and want revenge. His use of phrases like “a thousand wrongs” and “I vowed revenge” helped to get his point across, that he was extremely angry with

During the Spanish Inquisition, many people who were not loyal to the Church were sentenced to a trial and in many cases, killed or tortured. In The Pit and the Pendulum, the character was standing before the judge, deep in his thoughts. The sentence of death was a common form of punishment during this time, and he was afraid of receiving this cruel fate. As he looked at the faces of the judges deciding his fate, seven tall candles appeared in front of him, resembling the looks of angels who would perhaps save him.

Purpose Statement: To write a 900 word analytical essay over Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories, “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Masque of the Red Death”

As mentioned before, the narrator explains to the reader that he seems to be drugged, which is why his descriptions are untrustworthy, but from his information the reader can determine that the inquisitors are clearly working against him. Throughout the short story, the inquisitors are acting fully behind the scenes but completely controlling the story, causing the central conflict to be man verses man and as the story progresses the conflict becomes more evident. From the narrator's account, the inquisitors have captured the narrator and he has most likely been sentenced to death. The prisoner describes the cell he is being held in and the obstacles he faces, all producing fear inside of him. A common theme found in "The Pit and the Pendulum" is fear, which is also a common theme of many stories of the dark romantic time period.

The Core Beliefs of the Romantics and the Dark Romantics During the Spanish Inquisition, many prisoners, who failed to comply with the Catholic Church or royal authority, were wrenched from their homes only to be sentenced to death in the pit. The pit was described as a dark, lonely, and cold dungeon for these prisoners. They were provided food up to the point of their death by the pendulum, a large swinging blade that slowly descended upon its victims who were tied to a slab on the floor. “The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allen Poe, takes place during the final days of the Spanish Inquisition, just before Napoleon's army rescued the prisoners still trapped in the pit.

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.

As written by William Robert Bittner “the body of the story is an ingenious and carefully reasoned speculation on the difficulties to be encountered in space flight, told in a remarkably realistic manner,” as so to say that what Poe writes in his stories and poems, is what may be coming in the near future. Since the story of the Pit and the Pendulum happens to be based upon torment and torture, the events in Poe’s life being closely resembled to the form of torture and torment. For Poe, this story can be easily found as a reflection of his life. It is a close take on one losing touch with reality. Such torture and torment can be found in Poe’s desires to complete his studies. Yet, with no proper way of funding his desires, Poe begins to take up some undesirable habits. Poe will unfortunately have to quit his education. He does manage to find ways to come up with money; but neglects to support his education. Some insight to Poe’s torments as written by Buranelli, “[Poe excels] in his studies, but they [have] to compete with cards and liquor. [Poe is] not a real gambler, nor [is] he [an] particularly good drinker,” which may cause some conflict between education, money, and destroying his life all together.

Thus being tormented from his inability to succeed and continuing his slow spiral downfall. The one who has brought much torture to Poe’s life is John Allan. Allan can be seen as the judge that tortures Poe’s life in regards to the Pit and the Pendulum. Poe being an adopted child to John Allan, and a burden to care for; may be the reason for Allan’s mistreating for Poe.