An Analysis of Edgar Allen Poes The Pit and the Pendulum
In Edgar Allan Poe's tale "The Pit and the Pendulum," much of theimagery is frightening and upsetting. The story opens with the narratorwho has been condemned to death. He observes that there are seven candlesin his line of sight. First he sees them as angels and believes thatperhaps charity is something that will come his way. As he looks at them,however, they change into ghosts or specters and he sees them as havingheads of flame. There is a reason that Poe has begun his tale this way.He starts out with such a frightening concept that the narrator has to dealwith so that he can drag the reader into the nightmarish world that the This is important for the understanding of the tale because if Poe wasnot able to engage the reader's attention and drag him or her into theterrible world that the narrator is dealing with there would be no way tomake the tale as interesting. There is also a great deal of significanceto this because the pit represents much more than just a hole in thedarkness. It has also been likened to the unknown that all men mustsomeday face. The pit is not necessarily death, although some individualsmay see it that way. In general, however, the
Much like the mild but almost frightening urge to jump from the buildingand see if one can fly that many people get when confronted with a tallbuilding to stand on, the pit both terrifies and fascinates the narrator. Most of Poe's stories seek to do this, but the pitand the pendulum does a particularly good job simply because much of whatis alluded to in this story and underlies the tale could be seen assomething that could happen to a human being in almost any society. They can represent many things to many people, but it is clear thattheir purpose is to inflict pain on others and make certain that theanguish and despair that they seem to feel is felt by all others that theycome in contact with. There is much fear that the narrator faces when he thinks about goingnear the pit but he is also fearful of just remaining where he is and neverknowing anything else. For many, they may choose to take the leap rather than spendthe rest of their existence in the darkness being frightened of the pitthat they know is out there somewhere. In the end, the narrator finds his salvationthrough being rescued and not through the considerations of jumping intothe pit. He does not make obvious statements toward thesebooks, but much of the apocalyptic imagery that he uses is tied into thesebooks in some way. It seems that theromantic period in English literature consisted almost entirely ofsuffering. pit represents simply thatwhich is unknown and dark in a world that is normally inhabited by light. Being rescued by the General at the lastminute is likened by some to Isaiah, where the arm of the Lord is stretchedforth to offer salvation. One of the reasons that Poe may use this imagery is to show theFall and indicate the association that he is trying to make between infancyand the divine. One of the most important parts of the story to analyze inhopes of understanding it better, however, is the climax of the story wherethe narrator must confront the pit. Such is the nature of Poe's tale and the nature of most ofthe human experience. Not only doeshe not wish to fall into the pit but he is afraid to acknowledge the factthat it even exists and fears that this acknowledgment of the pit will makeit so real that he will not be able to resist drawing near it any longer.
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