Edgar
Allen Poe’s short story, “The Pit and the Pendulum” is one of morbid
description, snakelike suspense, and dark dungeons of despair. The story weaves
in and out of a man’s consciousness, and his steep steps into the arms of
insanity. Faced with certain death and forced through the agony of torture,
Poe’s unnamed character must face the consequences of an unnamed and possibly
harmless ‘crime’. Mysterious in plot and description, Poe’s story loudly
exemplifies the style of Dark Romanticism. This type of Romanticism writing
deals with suspense, psychological struggle, and other dark elements. Poe’s
story exemplifies it in several ways: mood, setting and plot, the psychological struggle of the character,
and the symbolism of human nature.
Poe announces the mood of his story within
the first sentence. “I was sick—sick unto death with that long agony,” (
Poe 263). From the start, we can clearly identify the fact that the main
character is in an intense struggle. As the character continues to describe his
situation, it is made aware to readers that he is being sentenced by terrible
and harsh judges, of which he is very afraid ( Poe 263). Poe also uses
reoccurring terms like agony, death, torture
and horror on multiple occasions,
setting the mood of the story as dark and terrible (Poe 263-275). The thought of the main characters arising
death also makes the story more macabre.
Likewise, Romanticism is also seen in the story’s setting. Poe puts his
character in the brutality of the Spanish Inquisition, one of the darkest times
this world has seen. This was a time
period where Catholics accused others of heresy against the church and many
people were tried, put to death, or imprisoned, making this the perfect time
setting for a Dark Romantic tale (Poe 262). Not
only does Poe’s mood and setting exemplify Dark Romanticism, but his main
character does too. He is a trembling, frightful man, convicted of an unknown
crime, and then thrown into a dungeon of terror. Poe has begun his dark story
at last, and as the plot is played out, more Dark Romanticism is seen within
the pages.
Hidden within
Poe’s plot is not only the story of a doomed man, but also one of a man’s
psychological struggle: one of fear, insanity, and the shadow of death.
Naturally, one of the most defining traits of Dark Romanticism is the discussion
of the human psyche. Poe’s character demonstrates this consistently. As the
protagonist realizes that the pendulum is moving closer to him, he assumes it
will eventually slice him in half. After making this morbid inference, his mind
takes a dark turn . “I saw that the crescent was designed to cross the region
of the heart. It would fray the serge of my robe-it would return and repeat its
operations—again—and again,” ( Poe 270). Days pass, and he comments, “I grew
frantically mad, and struggled to force myself upward against the sweep of the
fearful scimitar,” ( Poe 269 ). Poe’s protagonist begins to lose his mind under torture,
and this demonstrates the psychological element in Dark Romanticism. Another reason for intense psychological
struggle of the protagonist results from
his consistent falls in and out of consciousness. “The narrator's task is
simply to save himself, but in order to survive he must know where he is; the
first crucial task he undertakes is to try to orient himself. However, his
efforts are complicated by his moving back and forth between sleep and waking;
each time he falls asleep, he must reorient himself all over again”, (May).This
continual process of re orientation drives the protagonist to his very edge,
further proving the style of Dark Romanticism.
Literature
of Dark Romanticism also has a lot to tell about human nature. How far will one
man go to save himself? Does hope still lie within the mind of a persecuted
prisoner? This story proves that people will go to great lengths to prevent
death. The main character here rubs his food all over the strap restraining
him, and allows hungry, ravenous rats to pile over his body in hope that the
rats will eat his strap away (Poe 273). These rats come from the terrifying pit,
which the protagonist mentions time and time again scares him immensely—yet he
does this to save himself (Poe 265-275.) Another element mentioned in this
story is hope. Despite his situation, the protagonist still holds a hope within
him. “It was hope that prompted the
nerve to quiver—the frame to shrink. It was hope—the hope that triumphs on the
rack—that whispers to the death-condemned even in the dungeons of the Inquisition,”
(Poe 271).It is human nature that prompts people to face fears in doom and
still hope in the shadow of death.
The symbolistic elements of human nature, the
mood and setting of this story and the psychological details of the protagonist’s
torture are all elements of a strong Dark Romantic style. Poe’s story serves as
a superb example of how a traditional Dark Romantic should be written. “The Pit
and the Pendulum” not only contacts the senses,
but manages to throw the reader into the
character’s terrifyingly real word, leaving a permanent mark in their minds. It
is emotional, haunting, and grotesque, but still extremely satisfying to read.
Poe’s short story is a continued read not only for its twisted plot, but for
the high-quality Romantic style he wrote it in.
May, Charles E.
"Alternate Realms of Reality." In Edgar Allan Poe: A Study of Short
Fiction. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991, pp. 96–97. Quoted as "Dreams and
Reality in the Story" in Harold Bloom, ed. Edgar Allan Poe, Bloom's Major
Short Story Writers. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 1998. (Updated
2007.) Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.
http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin=
BMSSEP39&SingleRecord=True (accessed November 4, 2012).
Poe, Edgar A. "The Pit and the Pedullum." Glencoe
Literature. Ed. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. Columbus: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 263-73. Print.
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