Horror Essay: The Pit and The Pendulum
Darkness blocks our view of light, which blocks our knowledge of what is in the light. The darkness is a source of fear and a major element of horror, which is also a main thing in a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. "The Pit and The Pendulum" by Poe is a horror story because the story has a dark setting, the suspense rises very quickly, and the plot is more important than the prisoner. The setting of the short story “The Pit and The Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe, is a horror setting because the dark prison area of the story is very dark and gives the reader a creepy feeling. The main character that is part of the story, the Inquisition’s prisoner, observes in his surroundings on page 6, “The blackness of eternal night encompassed me.” This observation is highly detailed by the narrator, and clearly explains the thickness and denseness of the darkness, which acts a horror element. The darkness frightens the prisoner, which, in this case, continual fright is an element of horror. The setting also gives a creepy resonance with the vocabulary the narrator uses to describe the area in his surrounding perimeters. For example, on page 8, the narrator explains how difficult it is to navigate around the vault by using phrases such as “ In …show more content…
The many events that occur in the story all build the suspense in the story and ask questions such as: What will happen to the prisoner? Will the pendulum kill him? How will he escape the traps of the Inquisition? The suspense also drops suddenly during the story as when the prisoner finds that his prison is lit, however, the suspense jolts to the top immediately when he discovers he has succumbed to another trap set for him, consequently being a large swinging pendulum aiming for his
Darkness blocks our view of light, which blocks our knowledge of what is in the light. The darkness is a source of fear and a major element of horror, which is also a main thing in a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. "The Pit and The Pendulum" by Poe is a horror story because the story has a dark setting, the suspense rises very quickly, and the plot is more important than the prisoner. The setting of the short story “The Pit and The Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe, is a horror setting because the dark prison area of the story is very dark and gives the reader a creepy feeling. The main character that is part of the story, the Inquisition’s prisoner, observes in his surroundings on page 6, “The blackness of eternal night encompassed me.” This observation is highly detailed by the narrator, and clearly explains the thickness and denseness of the darkness, which acts a horror element. The darkness frightens the prisoner, which, in this case, continual fright is an element of horror. The setting also gives a creepy resonance with the vocabulary the narrator uses to describe the area in his surrounding perimeters. For example, on page 8, the narrator explains how difficult it is to navigate around the vault by using phrases such as “ In …show more content…
The many events that occur in the story all build the suspense in the story and ask questions such as: What will happen to the prisoner? Will the pendulum kill him? How will he escape the traps of the Inquisition? The suspense also drops suddenly during the story as when the prisoner finds that his prison is lit, however, the suspense jolts to the top immediately when he discovers he has succumbed to another trap set for him, consequently being a large swinging pendulum aiming for his