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The Pit And The Pendulum By Edgar Allan Poe

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The Pit And The Pendulum Literary Analysis In the pit and the pendulum, a short story by edgar allen poe, the narrator is receiving “the sentence—the dread sentence of death”. Soon after the news, he faints and wakes up in complete darkness. After a little exploring, the narrator discovers a large pit and he stumbles to the ground where he falls asleep. Soon after awakening, he finds water and bread. Seemingly drugged, he goes back to sleep. Upon awakening, the narrator finds himself tied to a board under a large swinging pendulum. He discovers the pendulum is razor sharp and will eventually kill him in its slow descent. Rats chew away his bindings right as the pendulum is about to strike. Soon, the walls become red hot and corner the narrator into the pit. With inches of foothold left, the French save him from the prison. In the story, the symbols and text show the themes of life, death, and consciousness. …show more content…

Not only does the narrator shift in and out of these two realms, but is constantly resisting or giving into the other. As the narrator wakes up from fainting he remarks, “ I had swooned; but still will not say that all of consciousness was lost. What of it there remained I will not attempt to define, or even to describe; yet all was not lost. In the deepest slumber—no! In delirium—no! In a swoon—no! In death—no! even in the grave all is not lost. Else there is no immortality for man.” Teetering along the edge of consciousness, the narrator fights to stay awake. And it’s during these unfocused phases when his finests remarks are made, and during which we get the best insights into his

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