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Pit And The Pendulum Symbolism

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Gabriella Young Mrs. Bates English 10 Adv 10 April, 2023 Literary Analysis of “The Pit and the Pendulum” Imagine watching your death slowly descend upon you. It is how Edgar Allan Poe wrote the character in “The Pit and the Pendulum.”. In “The Pit and the Pendulum” a man awaits death in absolutely awful conditions accompanied in his prison only by large rats. In the story Poe uses senses, symbolism, imagery, and foreshadowing to illustrate the horror and agony of death by torture. Poe uses senses to be able to somewhat feel, see, and hear the same as the character. “A tingling sensation pervading my frame”, “My outstretched hands at length encountered some solid obstruction”, “the tumultuous motion of the heart, and, in my ears, the sound of it beating.”. Poe uses these quotes to help describe what the character is feeling and hearing. It …show more content…

“It was the painted figure of Time as he is commonly represented, save that, in lieu of a scythe, he held a what at a casual, i supposed to be the picture of a huge pendulum such as we see on antique clocks.”. Poe uses the quote to symbolize time and death. For time represents time running out and the scythe will be used to attempt to end his life. Imagery is used to help the reader see what the character is seeing. “Its sweep was brief, and of course slow.”, “I saw several large rats traversing it.”. The quotes above tell the character what the character is seeing to help them imagine it. It describes the size of the rats by saying they are large. And Poe writes that the pendulum sweep was slow. Poe uses foreshadowing to help show an impending doom. “I supposed to be the pictured image of a huge pendulum such as we see on antique clocks.”, “ The sweep of the pendulum had increased in extent by nearly a yard.”. The quotes foreshadow death. The pendulum is used to foreshadow time running out. The sweep of the pendulum is used to foreshadow the way he will

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An example of this imagery the Poe uses is the ebony clock chiming and making the people in the entertainment room go silent in fear. “…. while the chimes of the clock yet rung, it observed that the giddiest grew pale, and more aged and sedate passed their hands

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Taking a first look at these two short stories it seems that they have nothing in common, but surprisingly they have many similarities even though they were written by two different authors’ ” Trap of Gold “ tells a story about a man trying to defeat the urge of greed within himself. “The Pit And The Pendulum” is about a man trapped in a dungeon trying to escape death. “The Pit And The Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe and “Trap of Gold” by Louis L'Amour have many similarities, though they were written by two different authors and involve two different time periods. One similarity between the two stories is that they both face difficulties when trying to escape death. L’Amour states, “ The blow was too weak…

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Poe, who is often known for using challenging and varying sentence structure, uses elements of syntax such as polysyndeton and parallel structure to create a dark and ominous mood. Poe uses syntax in the first paragraph when he starts several sentences with “But in the…” and then names a specific room. This is effective because he describes each room with different features, but each feature has an equally discomforting feeling accompanying it. He uses polysyndeton in the second paragraph when he described the sound the clock made; he wrote, “...there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and exceedingly musical.” The combination of the different qualities of the sound are important because not only does it mirror the complex reaction the characters have to it, but it illustrates the significance of the clock.

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During the Spanish inquisition heretics were tortured, imprisoned in dark cells, and murdered for opposing the Roman Catholic Church. The inquisitors would put their prisoners in dark cells that had a pit in the center. The most common way of tortured was being executed and executions were in high demand during the Spanish inquisition. In his short story, “The Pit and The Pendulum”, Edgar Allan Poe builds suspense with darkens and the use of a pendulum for torturing heretics. Just the thought of being alone in a dark and unknown place gives people goosebumps.

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During the Spanish Inquisition many people were tormented and killed because of their religious beliefs. In Edgar Allan’s Poe gothic tale Pit and Pendulum, is told by an unnamed narrator, takes place in a dungeon at Toledo, Spain. The narrator was sentenced to death because of the difference in religious beliefs. Instead of being hanged, he is tormented physically and mentally in the darkness of the dungeon. Edgar Allan Poe uses darkness, evil, and torture in the short story Pit and Pendulum through the character’s thoughts and actions.

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In the end Poe’s writing represents fear and how it can distort your thoughts and make you take a turn for the worst. Or in some cases, usually more rarely, the better, as in “The Pit and the

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In Poe’s stories, the main characters experience fear, but they all handle it distinctively. Poe uses irony, symbolism, and imagery to show how fear affects the narrator’s mindset, along with their future.     In “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Masque of Red Death”, the main characters try to isolate themselves from evil, but Poe uses irony to show that death is inevitable.

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In “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Poe uses varieties of figurative language, like similes and hyperbole. Furthermore, in “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator uses his “acute hearing” as a sense of hyperbole. For instance, ”But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst(76)”. The narrator makes it out to seem like he has some sort of super hearing where he can hear the actual heartbeat of the old man.

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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.

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Poe uses imagery to explain the atmosphere of fear and the continuous breaking of Usher. Poe portrays the surroundings of the narrator as dark, giving an image of the setting “During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year” (Poe 310). The image of a dark day is installed in the reader by this line. This line also gives the reader the image of being alone on a dark day in the autumn. Poe also uses imagery to make his readers a sense of fear “I know not how it was--but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit” (Poe 310).

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In “The Pit and the Pendulum,” Edgar Allan Poe develops the theme of the passage of time and the uncertainty of life and death through symbolism and suspense. This story is one big symbol of

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“The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy grew warm with the Medoc. We had passed through walls of piled bones, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs.” (Poe, paragraph 50). Through Poe’s writings, he regularly shows strong descriptions which help convey

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In the excerpt Poe also uses the component of character’s internal thoughts to add to the character of the unnamed narrator. For example, In the the last paragraph, when the narrator begins to be agitated by a ringing and Poe writes, “ But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears:” (Poe 26-28) In this quote, the narrator is clearly getting agitated and extremely bothered by a ringing in his ears. This quote portrays the narrator’s dramatic shift in character; he literally becomes the opposite of what his character and composure were before.

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The reader can also see the setting of the catacombs and see how dark and eerie they are. Poe also uses figures of speech to craft his story. One example of this is, “The bells upon his cap jingled as he strode” (pg. 2). This then appears again later in the story, “I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells” (pg. 4).

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