The Pit and the Pendulum: A Gothic Analysis Gothic literature obviously must get its name from somewhere, and in most cases, the creepy, eerie elements of the story are what make Gothic stories, Gothic. Many stories include these vital Gothic elements, especially “The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe. This story is about a man, the unnamed narrator, being trapped in a prison and sentenced to death by the Spanish Inquisition. Eventually, he is able to escape a swinging pendulum with an axe on the end, and a mysterious dark pit in the middle of the prison when the French Army came and rescued him. This story is a work of Gothicism because of its setting, its elements of horror, and its ability to display the dark side of the imagination.
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The creepy setting, in turn, influences the mood as well. For setting specifically, the entire story takes place in a dungeon or prison of sorts, which is where the narrator was sent to die. The dungeon is mysterious to the reader, because the narrator as well knows little about the room he is trapped in. When the narrator wakes up, disoriented and in a mysterious place, he describes how, while in the room, “The blackness of eternal night encompassed [him],” (Poe). This proves that this story is Gothic because the typical settings of Gothic literature include ancient castles and gloomy landscapes. Also, Gothic characters tend to always want to explore secret passageways and dungeons, so the narrator’s need to discover more about the prison shows his Gothic traits as well. Other components of the story contribute to the typical Gothic setting, like the fact that many terrible, horrible things happen to the narrator whilst he is trapped in the
The creepy setting, in turn, influences the mood as well. For setting specifically, the entire story takes place in a dungeon or prison of sorts, which is where the narrator was sent to die. The dungeon is mysterious to the reader, because the narrator as well knows little about the room he is trapped in. When the narrator wakes up, disoriented and in a mysterious place, he describes how, while in the room, “The blackness of eternal night encompassed [him],” (Poe). This proves that this story is Gothic because the typical settings of Gothic literature include ancient castles and gloomy landscapes. Also, Gothic characters tend to always want to explore secret passageways and dungeons, so the narrator’s need to discover more about the prison shows his Gothic traits as well. Other components of the story contribute to the typical Gothic setting, like the fact that many terrible, horrible things happen to the narrator whilst he is trapped in the