Pit And The Pendulum Symbolism

Symbolism Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Pit and the Pendulum” is about a man who has been sentenced to death by a panel of black-robed, pale-faced judges. The story takes place during the Spanish Inquisition and the death sentence during this time was painful, horrible, and torturous. Throughout the story, the narrator tries to find ways around the terrible death he has been sentenced to, but not all of his plans work accordingly. There are three very important symbols and they are: the pit, the pendulum, and the King of Terrors. The three of these symbols come together to form an amazing story. First, the pit, which is set in the middle of the dungeon in which our narrator has just been thrown inside, is a symbol for a whole different meaning then it is actually used. After conducting further research, this is a religious metaphor for Catholics who sin, can fall, and this is observed during the original Adam and Eve. When someone falls, they keep falling which means they are going to hell this makes complete sense because the Inquisitors would want to create a “hell” in which their prisoners would fear and die in. The narrator states, “In other conditions of mind I might have courage to end my misery at once by a plunge into one of these abysses; but now I was the veriest of cowards. Neither could I forget what I had

The room had been square. I saw that two of its iron angles were now acute two, consequently, obtuse” (Poe 262). At this point in the story, we have come to the conclusion that the narrator is fed up with the King of Terrors and he decides that he will not let him decide his fate, and he will decide on his own. The King of Terrors is done allowing the narrator to escape his death, and he must be put to death