The Theme Of Death In The Pit And The Pendulum By Edgar Allen Poe

The theme of a piece of literature has a profound effect on how the characters in a story approach and react to conflict. The use of death as a theme in a story is a powerful and popular choice for many great writers. A group of writers called the dark romantics often explored the conflicts of good and evil, the psychological effects of guilt and sin, and even madness in the human psyche, they saw the blackness and horror of evil. There are many great dark romantic writers, one of the greatest in history being Edgar Allen Poe. Poe wrote many short stories that revolved around the ever-present theme of death. The reason for Poe’s theme of writing is reflected through one of his quotes, “Every poem should remind the reader that they are going …show more content…
A good example of this would be the setting in “The Pit and the Pendulum” a story that takes place during the Spanish Inquisition. The theme of death has a large presence in this story, this is because the setting which is in a dark rat infested dungeon with a seemingly endless pit in the middle. In fact the narrator in “The Pit and the Pendulum” is nervous and desperate throughout the story with the threat of death looming so closely over him the whole time. In “The Cask of Amontillado” another short story written by Poe, the main setting is in the catacombs of Paris, where Montresor the protagonist went through with a plan to kill his friend Fortunato. This story is filled with the intention of killing since the beginning, which is shown through the dreary setting of the catacombs. Considering this setting it is prevalent that Poe can use the theme of death in his stories to change the emotions and actions of his characters. Although no death occurs directly in the poem “The Raven” the narrator is mourning over his lost girlfriend in the presence of an ominous raven. The setting of The Raven takes place in the middle of cold December night, in a room lit s single shadow casting candle. In this poem a raven, which is symbolic of death, repeats the ominous word “nevermore” (Poe, 276) creating a dark and …show more content…
In the story “The Masque of the Red Death” the entire plot is leading up to the slow death of Prince Prospero and his guests. In the beginning they were trying to escape death by disease, and they were successful for some time. There was, however an ominous clock that rang every hour foreshadowing the death of Prince Prospero and all his guests (Poe, 1). As it turns out in the end the plot progressed to a point when death caught up with the Prince and his guest and one by one they died. The plot of “The Masque of the Red Death” built up the theme of death so well that from the very beginning, the readers could tell that all the characters were doomed. Another plot line that reflects the theme of death is “The Pit and the Pendulum”, in the beginning, we find out that the narrator is sentenced to be tortured until his death (Poe,1). As the story develops the narrator finds himself in many near death situations, and until the very end he is constantly staring death in the face. Likewise, to similar stories the theme of death had a prominent role in the development of the plot. In addition to those two stories “The Cask of Amontillado” includes a plot that leads up to the death of Fortunato on of the main characters. Although no death happens in the beginning of the short story, Montresor is planning to kill his friend Fortunato, who had previously insulted his family name