Plot Summary
At the start of "The Pit and the Pendulum," the narrator, an unnamed recusant, is sentenced to certain death at the hands of his captors during the time of the Catholic Inquisition in Spain. In a daze, largely due to his horror and agony, the weary narrator barely glimpses the black robes and stern faces of the judges who are announcing his fate. He also fixates on seven white candles, which, in his delirium, he imagines are heavenly angels who might possibly save him. The thought of death and its sweet release overwhelms him, and the narrator passes out.
After some time, the narrator awakens and realizes that he is now trapped in interminable darkness. His initial thought is that he is in a tomb, but he gradually realizes that he is probably in some sort of prison cell at Toledo, a place famous for its torture chambers and dungeons. He attempts to measure the boundary of his cell by marking his starting point with a piece of fabric and walking around. However, the prisoner is so fatigued that he passes out again.
On awakening, he realizes that someone has placed a little food and water next to him, which he consumes. He then continues to measure the perimeter of his cell and concludes that it must be roughly around a hundred steps in length. However, when he tries to cross from one side of the cell to the other, he trips. This turns out to be a fortunate accident, for he soon realizes that there is a deep pit in the middle of the room—falling into it entails certain death. Filled with horror and surprise, the narrator drifts in and out of consciousness after having some drugged food and water.
On regaining consciousness, the prisoner can now see his surroundings a little better and realizes that he had previously overestimated the size of his cell. His captors have left some spicy meat close by and purposely withheld water from him as a new method of torture. This food has also attracted a large number of rats. However, the horrified prisoner sees that he has now been bound up and tied to a wooden board, facing the ceiling. He glimpses a painting of Time on the ceiling and notes that instead of the customary scythe in Time’s hand, there is a large pendulum depicted there. As he gazes at the pendulum, he realizes that the bottom of it is actually a sharp, crescent-shaped blade that is slowly descending toward his chest—inevitable doom awaits him. Madness and fear grip the narrator as he awaits his death, mesmerized by the swinging blade.
The prisoner theorizes, in the nick of time, that he can escape by smearing the greasy meat on the straps over his wrists and tempting the hungry rats to chew through them. However, as soon as he frees himself, he observes that the walls of the prison cell are closing in on him. Moreover, the walls are now glowing red-hot—yet another effective torture technique designed to drive him into the pit at the center of the prison cell. Just before the narrator loses his footing and is about to fall into the pit, he hears trumpets and a loud commotion of voices, and he is pulled to safety. General Lasalle and his armed forces have taken over Toledo, and the captive's life is saved.
