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The Pit and the Pendulum

by Edgar Allan Poe

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The Pit and the Pendulum Questions on Narrator's Imprisonment

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The Pit and the Pendulum

In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum," the narrator is imprisoned by the Spanish Inquisition, though his specific crime remains unknown. Initially, he is in a semi-conscious, delirious...

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The Pit and the Pendulum

The narrator estimates his prison's size by feeling his way around in the dark, marking his starting point with a cloth strip. He counts 100 paces, estimating the cell's circumference at 50 yards....

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The Pit and the Pendulum

In "The Pit and the Pendulum," by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator swoons because he is being tortured, and it is so scary that he just faints. He goes in and out of consciousness throughout the story.

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The Pit and the Pendulum

The narrator needs to understand his surroundings to manage his fear and confirm whether he is buried alive, a common fear during the Spanish Inquisition. He measures his cell by tearing a piece of...

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