Book Report: The Pit and the Pendulum

“The Pit and the Pendulum” Commentary Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum”, is a short story of the struggled of a prisoner who has been sentenced to death, and placed in a dungeon. The narrator, who is the prisoner, realizes that the dungeon he is placed in is known as the Inquisition. He encounters death multiple times throughout his time in the dungeon. He nearly falls into a large pit, almost gets scythed by a pendulum, and gets pushed to the brink of the pit by burning walls, but merely avoids his end. These lucky aversions with death develop Poe’s theme. He reveals that one should not give up hope because even the direst of situations might end without consequence. This theme is represented most when the narrator depicts his escape from the pendulum, at the climax of the story. The passage starts with the narrator’s hopes to escape, and closes with the reality of his escape. This causes for the passage to have a major role in Poe’s theme and suspense in his plot development. The pendulum that begins to descend to the breast of the narrator begins to enhance Poe’s theme by allowing for the narrator’s feelings to completely emerge. The audience is able to understand the narrator’s thoughts because it is coming from a first person perspective. The narrator’s realization of doom in the passage, inspires thoughts of hope, and allow for his characterization to change from pessimistic to hopeful. This occurs as thinks that “It was hope--the hope that triumphs on the rack” (Poe 6). His new thoughts altogether not only changes his characterization, but also the mood of the scene. The mood then converts from depressing into inspiration.