The Pit And The Pendulum Analysis

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

He uses this language to show the audience the main character's mindset and how he felt about potentially dying. “I WAS sick -- sick unto death with that long agony(Allan Poe 1)”. This quote is talking about how his language connects to the theme of people are afraid of death. Poeś use of characterization was valuable throughout the story by showing the main characters language. This language connects to the theme because in this quote he is using his language to show how miserable he was in the jail cell. Another thing that Poe uses to show the theme of people are afraid of death is the main character's

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.

Poe shows an apocalyptic and evil theme in “The Pit and the Pendulum”. Within the story the main character, who is also the narrator, captured by the Spanish Inquisition, falsely accused of a crime he didn’t commit, and sentenced to death. The narrator is placed in front of terrifying, unforgivable judges. Unable to understand what their saying and terrified of the verdict, he passes out. The story actually describes it as, "

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

During “The Pit and The Pendulum” uses the narrator’s fear to show the importance of freedom. When the narrator was stuck in the dungeon in paragraph 5, he said that “The intensity of the darkness seemed to oppress and stifle me.” This quote perfect example of how being trapped, or lacking freedom, causes fear for the narrator. If the narrator wasn’t scared of being trapped in this environment, it would not create any suspense within the story for the reader. In many stories, the characters, or character being in a state of fear often makes the reader question what they are fearful of. In this case, it is the lack of freedom that creates the fear for the narrator. By creating this fear, Poe emphasizes the importance of freedom to the reader, and shows how scary it can be without it.

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

“The Pit and The Pendulum,” is a short story that was written in 1843. It refers to a narrator that’s been sentenced to death through the period of inquisition. The Pendulum and the Pit both symbolize important aspects of the stories meaning. The “Pendulum” symbolizes time and death as the “Pit” symbolizes Death, Suicide, and Easy way out. The incidents in the story result in suspense as to making the story’s deeper meaning significant. Poe uses description to plead the sensory details of the five senses (taste, smell, touch, sight and sound). This would be portrayed at the beginning of the story when the narrator says,

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”

The narrator says, “I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him (Poe 3). Another example is “The disease had sharpened my senses--not destroyed--not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell” (Poe 3). These lines foreshadow what had happened at the end of the story. While reading “The Pit and the Pendulum” it is clear that Poe builds suspense and tension over whether the pendulum is going to kill him or not. Hanging from the figure is a gigantic pendulum with a crescent razor and swinging slowly back and forth. The pendulum is inexorably sliding downwards and will eventually kill him if he can not

In the pit and the pendulum Poe exposes his readers to the feelings of hopelessness and terror that accompany certain, horrific death in a way a more distant narration could not. This entire story takes place inside a pit or prison cell into which the narrator of the story has been thrown. This story was taken place during the Spanish inquisition during the 16th century. The character finds

In Edgar Allan Poe’s story, “The Pit and the Pendulum,” Poe, uses the horror elements of suspense, plot twist, and isolation to add suspense to the story. In the beginning of The Pit and The Pendulum he was guilty for some reason that was not mentioned and woke up in a dark room confused and exhausted. First, suspense is used in the story when Poe wakes up in a dark room not knowing where he is, dehydrated and exhausted. Then Poe is trying to find out where he is and starts walking around and discovers a pit in the ground. After that he falls asleep and discovers that he is tied up and there is something swing closer and closer to him until finally he discovers that is is a pendulum.

For many, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum is a tale about a victim of the Spanish Inquisition. A more rewarding approach is to perceive The Pit and the Pendulum as a poem about salvation. The daily struggle to free themselves from the bonds of their sins afflicts many today. No matter what they attempt or how the try to repeal their punishment, mankind must pay the ultimate penance for their sin: death.

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 is a very remarkable American writer. He is known for his works like The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, & The Fall of the House of Usher. He uses devices, such as anadiplosis, bomphiologia, chronographia, enargia, and others to fully take in the characters. He also uses symbolism and foreshadowing for the readers to grasp the understanding of the stories. Use of literary devices, gives Poe the ability to grasp the reader’s attention so quick.