What is the symbolism in "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

The narrator describes the ceiling of his cell as having a panel painted with a figure of Father Time, a traditional anthropomorphized representation of the passage of time. Traditionally, he is a bearded figure who carries a scythe and some timekeeper, like a clock or an hourglass.  In the story, however, there is a moving pendulum, as if symbolically marking off the time the prisoner has left. At closer inspection, the pendulum does not simply swing, it is a large razor, which will ultimately, and literally, take the life of the prisoner.

The pit, the other threatening feature of the cell, is a yawning abyss meant to symbolically represent the abyss of hell.

As the pendulum moves ever closer to the prisoner, he stops struggling and begins to think of it as a "bauble"—or toy—as if his torturers are symbolically toying with him psychologically.

The fact that the prisoner is being tortured in the context of the Inquisition might be symbolic in that it could reveal attitudes Poe had about religion. Poe scholars tend to agree that he was not a practicing Christian in most periods of his adult life, and by revisiting the horrors of the Inquisition, Poe could be reminding readers of the Church's brutality.

What is the symbolism in "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

There are several symbols in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum":

• The candles - At first the seven candlesticks resemble angels who may have come to help the narrator as they surround the seven black robed judges; however, they soon fade from his view. They may, then, symbolize his flickering, waning life as he is condemned by the judges.
• The pit - At first the narrator escapes the pit, but after he is able to escape from the pendulum, the walls push him toward the pit, much like the fall into Hell. 

"The pit, typical of hell, and regarded by rumour as the Ultima Thule of all their punishments."

• The pendulum - The swinging pendulum represents the inexorable passage of time. Shaped like a scythe of Father Time, the rhythm of this pendulum resembles the heart beat of the narrator.
• The moving walls - The walls seems to close in on the victim, pushing him toward the pit. This pit symbolizes the unknown horror of the Inquisition. Its depth does not permit the victim from seeing its shape or knowing what is inside it.

Only at the last second is the narrator saved by the French.

What is the symbolism in "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

This story is full of symbolism.  One could view the entire story as one man's descent into hell (the pit functions as a symbol obviously), then his progression into purgatory (the pendulum serving as a way to pass time or work off his sins), and then finally his ascension into heaven (the French soldiers freeing him symbolic of heaven by the sudden light shining into the gloom and the sound of horns heralding his release).

How many events occur in "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

When one reads a short story, one can think of it in terms of the story arc, that is, the rising action, climax, and falling action. These events are related to the plot and follow the development and resolution of the conflict. Another way to think of a story is to follow the story line, that is, to follow the events of a story in chronological order. This will give an understanding of what happens in the story, whereas following the plot helps one understand why things happen.

In Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Pit and the Pendulum," the main events unfold as follows:

1. The narrator is tried and sentenced.

2. The man wakes up in a dark dungeon; he tries to determine how large it is and what its features are by walking around the perimeter.

3. The man falls asleep, then wakes to continue his exploration. He trips and finds his face hanging over the edge of a pit.

4. The man drinks and sleeps from the drugged liquid. When he wakes up he can see the cell. He finds himself strapped to a low table.

5. The pendulum above him begins to swing and slowly descend for days. 

6. When the blade gets very near his chest, the man escapes by rubbing meat on his bonds, which causes the rats to chew through them.

7. Upon his escape, the pendulum is withdrawn upwards. The walls begin to heat up and close in on him.

8. Just as he is about to be forced into the pit by the moving walls, he hears noises, and the walls are drawn back. He has been rescued by General LaSalle.

Much of the story involves the thoughts of the man as he undergoes the psychological agonies involved in the torture. The main events are relatively few and straightforward; the suspense occurs as the reader participates with the main character in the fears and mental torture his captors inflict on him. 

What is the setting of "The Pit and the Pendulum?"

This story is set during the Spanish Inquisition. This began in the late 15th century and lasted until the early 1800s. This story supposedly takes place in the early 1800s when Napoleon was in power in France. The Spanish Inquisition was a campaign undertaken by the leaders of Spain. The intent was to maintain Catholic orthodoxy (belief and practice) and to convert non-Catholics, such as Jews and Muslims, to Catholicism. The Inquisition is historically known for its repression, censorship, and sometimes torture and execution of the people who were deemed to have committed crimes against the faith (Catholicism). This occurred in Spain and other Spanish territories such as the Canary Islands, Naples, and Spanish lands/colonies in North and South America. The narrator reveals that this particular event is in Toledo, Spain. 

When the story begins, the narrator finds himself imprisoned. He recalls his trial and conviction by the Inquisitors. He notes that he has been sentenced to death. He finds himself being carried down into a tomb (pit). This is the first of two rooms that he will be mentally and physically tortured in. He is eventually rescued by the French General Lasalle and his army, enemies of the Inquisition. This would have taken place in the early 1800s (during Napoleon's reign) but Poe takes some artistic license with these historical facts and figures. The Spanish Inquisition technically ended in 1834. 

Who are the characters in "The Pit and the Pendulum" and how many are there?

The characters of the "Pit and the Pendulum" are as follows. We can confirm only two, plus an unknown number of captors and rats:

The narrator: The narrator has no name, but he has been arrested and imprisoned by the Inquisition and will be subjected to torture meant, ultimately, to kill him. He is kept in a dark room with a deep, round pit in the center that is filled with water and rats.

His captor(s): These are shadowy, elusive figures, whose existence is primarily confirmed by what they do while the narrator is passed out. He finds they have left bread, water, and meat that he can eat. He also finds himself bound by straps to a board. A pendulum, obviously set in motion by his captors, swings lower and lower, threatening to slice through his body.

The rats: When he rubs meat on his straps, the rats come and chew the straps off, which allows him to escape the pendulum.

General LaSalle: At the end of story, General LaSalle, who has come to liberate people from the Inquisition, saves the narrator from falling into the pit and drowning.

Who are the characters in "The Pit and the Pendulum" and how many are there?

There is one main character in "The Pit and the Pendulum"--the unnamed narrator who is the recipient of the torture. The captors of the narrator appear briefly, but indirectly. A trapdoor is opened and a light shines down on the narrator, so we can assume that his captors or a guard is checking in one him.

Other minor character are the rescuers at the end of the story, but they are only mentioned very briefly. You could also consider the rats as characters--they help the narrator achieve his goal of getting untied from the bench. The pit is such a strong force that it could be considered a character as well.

What is the theme of "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

What is the theme of "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

This story by Poe is one of sheer terror because it concerns a man who is at the mercy of other people.  The narrator has been accused of something by the Spanish Inquisition and is being tortured to confess.  The horror continues because the man will feel that he his agony will be over by dying, but then he'll wake up again and some new torture awaits him.  He is tortured, then revived, then tortured again - horrible mental games are played upon him.

As far as a theme, I would say that the theme of this story is the horror of torture and being at the mercy of cruel people.  Fortunately, the man is saved at the end when Toledo is captured, but he has to undergo some horrible things prior to this happening.  His isolation and utter dependence on other people is definitely a theme within this story that should be further explored in a close read of the tale.

Be sure to check the links below - Good luck!

In "The Pit and the Pendulum", what is inside the pit?

We know, from the narrator's description, that it is very deep pit with water at the bottom, for when he throws a rock down it, "for many seconds I hearkened to its reverberations as it dashed against the sides of the chasm in its descent; at length there was a sullen plunge into water".  He narrowly misses falling into it, and is worried that more than just drowning would be at stake:  "Neither could I forget what I had read of these pits—that the sudden extinction of life formed no part of their most horrible plan."  So, it would be a slow, tortuous death somehow.

Not only is there water in the pit, the narrator later hints that rats have lived down there, and thinks, "“To what food...have they been accustomed in the well?”, insinuating that they are used to eating human flesh.  Altogether, not a very sunny situation, and enough to scare the most stalwart of people...

Who is the narrator of "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

The narrator of the story is an unidentified man who has been "tried" and imprisoned, in the city of Toledo, during a time of "inquisition."  This would imply that the narrator (who tells the story in a first-person limited perspective) has been found guilty of some manner of religious crime.

During this period of the inquisition (centered in Spain) the most common crime to be sentenced to death for was being Jewish or being a "new Christian," which was considered close to being Jewish.  Burning was the method of choice, and around 13000 were put to death during this period.

The narrator is an intelligent man, and crafty (as evidenced by his escape.)  Beyond that, not much energy is given to describing the character.

What is the rising action in "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

Background: During a time when the Spanish Inquisition was taking place, prisoners were being tormented. Poe's narrator is undergoing torture by the Spanish inquisitors.

In "The Pit and the Pendulum," there seems to be one climax after another. The prisoner is in a dungeon. There is a pit at its center. He nearly falls into the pit. Then, as the rats pervade the apartment or dungeon, the smell of the spicy meat attracting them, the prisoner develops an idea to prevent his death from the slowly, lowering, swinging pendulum.

While the reader eagerly anticipates what the prisoner's idea of escape is, the tension or rising action grows. With the pendulum upon him, the prisoner smears the meat on the ropes that bind him, and his ingenious idea liberates his very soul and physical being. While this would appear to be the climax--this moment of scarce escape--the metal walls of the dungeon begin to heat like a fire, forcing the prisoner to the edge of the pit.

The prisoner contemplates putting his body to the walls to burn himself alive. Anything but the pit would be a welcomed death. The prisoner comments that he would rather die in any way other than the pit:

I could have clasped the red walls to my bosom as a garment of eternal peace. "Death," I said, "any death but that of the pit!" Fool! might I have not known that into the pit it was the object of the burning iron to urge me? Could I resist its glow? or, if even that, could I withstand its pressure.

Again the action is rising. Will the prisoner burn himself alive or will he descend to the hell of the abyss? At this very moment, with only and inch of floor beneath him, the prisoner is falling toward the abyss, the hellish pit. The story is at its highest point of interest, the climax, when General Lasalle comes to his rescue and grabs the prisoner as he is falling:

An outstretched arm caught my own as I fell, fainting, into the abyss. It was that of General Lasalle. The French army had entered Toledo. The Inquisition was in the hands of its enemies.

The falling action begins as the prisoner is saved from his torment, from his horrible death. He escaped the pit and the pendulum.

What are the three types of conflict in "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

The most obvious general conflict is that the prisoner (the narrator) is being imprisoned and tortured during the Spanish Inquisition.

After being unconcious for a period of time, he awakes to find himself in total darkness. He eventually stands and carefully navigates around the outer walls, finally realizing how close he comes to falling into the steaming pit in the center of the room. He survives this conflict and discovers something to eat and drink, which revives him somewhat.

Surviving the pit, he reflects on two conflicting ways of death: by physical torture or by "moral" (mental) torture. He determines that the Inquisition has selected the moral alternative.

Once again he eats and drinks, but he soon passes out and determines it is from the drug-laced food. He awakes to find himself strapped to a fixed object and, staring upward, believes that he is watching the ceiling painting moving. It is actually a large scythe that is slowly descending and moving from side to side. As it comes closer, he notices the sharpness of the object and finally sees that it will eventually reach him. How he will escape becomes his next dilemma. The rats that scramble around him will also save him when he coats the strap with food and watches them eat through his binding. He evades the pendulum just as it is about to strike.

Thinking freedom is close at hand, he finds that the walls are now closing in upon him and that the only way out is into the pit. But suddenly the walls recede, and the prisoner is saved by French troops who have liberated the city.

What are the three types of conflict in "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

Conflict types, as used when it comes to literature, describe one of five kinds of conflict found in stories: man versus man, man versus nature, man versus himself, man versus society, and man versus fate/God (this is a bit of an expansion...it seems like when I was in school they only had the first three.)  Anyhow, let's run with the five when looking at "The Pit and the Pendulum."

1. First, man versus man.  I don't think this one so much applies.  There is no one real adversary described in the story.  The things trying to kill him are really traps.  You could maybe make a case that the guy who comes in and ties him to the table would be an adversary, but I don 't think that was Poe's intention.  His real opponents in the story are inanimate.
2. Secondly, man versus nature. This one does not apply either.  There is no "natural" force at work in the story, such as a storm or an avalanche.
3. Third, man versus himself. This one is present, though not totally obvious through Poe's prose.  The main character is reasoably self controlled and doesn't seem to "lose it."  Nevertheless, to overcome the blackness of the "pit scenario" and the dread of the "pendulum" once must come to terms with one's own fear.  So I think this conflict is present, though not explicit (if that makes sense!)
4. Fourth, man versus society. This one is a biggie in the story.  The reason he is being executed in the first place is because he has wronged society (at least as the judges of the inquisition see it.)  That is the crux of the conflict of the story...the man is up against the social structure of the inquisition.
5. Lastly, man versus fate/God. I don't see this one.  Even though the Inquisition was religiously based, it's not really developed in the course of the story.

So, anyhow, there you are.  Good luck with your class!

Who are the protagonist and antagonist in "The Pit and the Pendulum?"

Before we begin to answer the question, we need to be sure that we have an understanding of the terms at play, here.  First, "protagonist."  This is the character in the story that has a goal that we generally support, and the character that we would like to see succeed in their ambitions.  The "antagonist," on the other hand, is the character that has a goal contrary to the protagonist.  He, she, or it, wants to stop the protagonist from succeeding.

So what does this mean for the story "The Pit and the Pendulum?"  Let's see:

The protagonist is not identified by name.  The story is written in the first person perspective, so we get a clearer idea of who the character is (mentally) than we do of who he is specifically. We don't have a clear idea of what he did to deserve it (the implication, actually, is that he didn't do anything) but he is being punished by "black-robed judges" for the unknown offense.  If he did do something it was religious in nature, as implied by the final sentence of the story which mentions the inquisition.

The goal of the protagonist in the story is simply to survive the ordeal that he finds himself in.  He is the protagonist because the reader wants to see him succeed.  No one (at least not that I know) roots for the blade to cut the guy in half.

Now for the antagonist.  In this case, because of the last line in the story, we understand that the judges are part of the inquisition. Based on the information given, that the story takes place in the city of Toledo, we can guess the year to be about 1485.  The Catholic church was attempting to eradicate "heretics" through grisly means.  They are the antagonists because they have a goal contrary to the protagonist (they want him to die, and he does not want to) and we do not root for them to succeed.

What are the elements of "The Pit and The Pendulum"?

The setting of the story is Toledo, Spain, during the Spanish Inquisition. The narrator has been arrested, tried, condemned, and imprisoned in a cruel and inhumane way.

The conflict, I think, is that of character vs. self. The narrator loses consciousness as a result of his fear several times, and he struggles to control that fear and to remain calm so that he can retain consciousness as well as sanity. He talks about the "agony" of his imprisonment and each of the new terrors prepared for him. He might have opted to jump into the pit, or he could have lapses into unconsciousness due to fear while under the pendulum, but he fights feelings of hopelessness and keeps his head, and this is what enables him to survive.

There is mainly only one character: the unnamed narrator. His judges come and go fairly quickly at the beginning of the story, and General Lasalle, his savior, appears for just a moment to save him at the very end.

The point of view is first-person objective: this means that the narrator is a participant in the events of the story (and uses the first person pronoun "I") and that he narrates the events after they occur (instead of while they occur). You can see that he uses past-tense verbs, which indicate this timing.

What are the elements of "The Pit and The Pendulum"?

The elements of a story are the setting, plot, conflict, characters, point of view and the theme.  In Pit and The Pendulum we have one lone character.  A man taken prisoner, tried, and convicted by unseen men in black robes.  The setting is in a prison, the conflict is how the man can get free from his all most certain death from the pendulum.  The story is written in the first person point of view and the theme is Life vs Death or the struggle for survival.  You can find more details in the link below.

What is the problem in the story "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

There are two main problems, or conflicts, in the story of "The Pit and the Pendulum."  

The first conflict is a man vs. "something else" conflict.  I don't feel comfortable saying that it's man vs. man, because the narrator isn't really fighting another human.  It's not quite man vs. nature either, because he's in a man made environment (cell).  It's also not quite man vs. supernatural, because he is fighting to survive against human torturers.  So, man vs. something else it is.  The narrator is fighting to save his life, or at least extend his life.  The problem is that his torturers want the narrator dead.  They want him to fall into a really deep pit, to be cut in half, or to be squished by burning hot walls.  

The other main conflict is man vs. self.  The narrator must battle with his own mental state in order to find the will to live.  That's especially true at the end of the story, when he starts contemplating jumping into the pit to avoid the crushing hot walls.  

Amid the thought of the fiery destruction that impended, the idea of the coolness of the well came over my soul like balm.

How would you describe the setting for "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

I wonder if you are referring to the historical, contextual setting or the actual setting of the prison cell that occurs in the story? To focus on the historical setting, this is Poe's famous story of confinement and imprisonment in an extraordinary prison cell in Toledo, Spain, during the brutal Spanish Inquisition. The Spanish Inquisition was a form of religious court set up by the Catholic Church and the monarchy in Spain during the fifteenth century to accuse and punish those who failed to comply with the church or royal authority. The Spanish Inquisition was famous for bizarre and hideous torture methods that were designed to psychologically torture their victims as well as physically torture them. We can clearly see this in play in the story with the way that the pit and the pendulum is used to psychologically break down the narrator with terror.

The actual story occurs mostly in a prison cell where the torture methods are present. We are given an accurate description of the cell:

The whole circuit of its walls did not exceed twenty-five yards... The general shape of the prison was square. What I had taken for masonry seemed now to be iron, or some other metal, in huge plates, whose sutures or joints occasioned the depression. The entire surface of this metallic enclosure was rudely daubed in all the hideous and repulsive devices to which the charnel superstition of the monks has given rise... I now noticed the floor, too, which was of stone. In the centre yawned the circular pit from whose jaws I had escaped; but I was the only one in the dungeon.

It is here that the story is dramatically played out as by luck and ingenuity the narrator escapes the various deaths that the authorities have planned for him. You also might like to think about how the setting can be said to act symbolically. Some critics argue that the pit actually represents hell, with the pendulum representing time and approaching death. The coming of General Lasalle could be said to represent God's pardoning of the damned.

So, I have described the historical setting during the Inquisition but also the actual setting of the cell where the narrator is imprisoned. Hope this helps!

What is the setting, plot, and who are the characters of "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

The characters include the narrator, a man who is sentenced to die by the Spanish Inquisition, and there are also the unnamed, "black-robed judges" who condemn the narrator to death.

The plot of the story opens with the narrator being sentenced to death by a panel of judges. Upon hearing his sentence, he passes out and is carried into a damp and dark chamber below ground.

The blackness of eternal night encompassed [him].

He wonders if he will starve to death in his dungeon. The narrator tries to map out his chamber by touch, but it seems to be much bigger than he'd assumed. He falls asleep and wakes up to find bread and water beside him. At one point, he falls down and realizes that there is a huge pit into which he almost fell. Once again falling asleep, the narrator awakens to find that he's been strapped down beneath a giant swinging pendulum. He realizes that the pendulum is descending and getting closer to him. He knows that, once his tormentors learned of his knowledge of the pit (into which they must have hoped he would fall), they devised another method of disposing of him. Soon, the pendulum is within inches of the narrator's chest. He rubs some meat that has tempted the rats near him onto the ties that bind him so that the rats will chew through them. He gets free, but he is nearly forced to leap into the pit when he hears the trumpets of General Lasalle's French army entering the city, thus ending the Inquisition.

At one point in the story, the narrator references the other cells of the condemned in Toledo as well as the "Inquisition." Therefore, we can infer that the setting for the story is Toledo, Spain, during the later years of the Spanish Inquisition, which definitively ended in the 1830s.

How would you analyze and interpret "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

Any interpretation of a given work of literature leaves itself open to massive debate, so I can present one of the central ways in which this classic horror story can be interpreted, but please do not let this analysis prevent you from exploring other ways of "reading" this great example of Poe's Gothic fiction.

Key to this analysis is a symbolic interpretation of the events contained within. The story is set during the final days of the Spanish Inquisition, and the first-person narrator hears judges condemn him to death. What he suffers in his prison cell causes massive terror, especially the pendulum, which forces him to watch his death sink lower towards him, literally inch by inch.

These torture methods by some are viewed symbolically, which leads some critics to argue that this short story is really all about a man who dies and almost loses his soul in the pit of hell but is saved by God at the very last minute. Such critics argue that the intense fear the man feels at falling into the pit indicate that it represents hell. The pendulum and scythe represent the time running out for the prisoner and death coming to claim him. The rats that crawl over him symbolise death and decay, as they horrify and disgust the prisoner. Lastly, the trumpet blasts and other apocalyptical sounds eat the end of the short story are strongly suggestive of Judgement Day:

There was a discordant hum of human voices! There was a loud blast as of many trumpets! There was a harsh grating as of a thousand thunders! The fiery walls rushed back! An outstretched arm caught my own as I fell, fainting, into the abyss.

Such descriptions make us think of the action in deeper, more profound, symbolic terms that help us to see the possibility that Poe could using the sufferings of one prisoner during the Inquisition to talk more widely about the eternal dangers that await us beyond the grave.

In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit And The Pendulum," where do "tall figures" take the narrator?

Remember that the narrator is relating this tale after it has happened. He recalls the "tall figures" taking him down into something. He adds that it is like an "interminableness of descent." The descent is completely silent and this adds to his horror and uncertainty. When his carriers reach the bottom, he struggles to regain his senses. He recalls his trial and sentencing (which happened prior to his descent). He then realizes he is lying on his back. Then he finally opens his eyes, but is unable to see anything because he is in complete darkness. He can only guess if he is dead or in some dungeon, awaiting his eventual execution. He has been carried into a subterranean area with a pit in the middle of it. He lies on the perimeter of the pit in total darkness. Evidently, this first attempt at his execution will succeed if he falls into the pit. He spends what little energy he has trying to determine the dimensions of the room/cave he is in. He miraculously avoids the pit, only to be taken to the next attempt at his execution: the pendulum.

What is the basic situation in "The Pit and the Pendulum?"

The Latin epigraph essentially says that "here" was a place where torturers fed their thirst for innocent blood, but now that the place of torture has been destroyed, life and health will prevail. 

The narrator recalls his situation: he finds himself bound and then unbound, then sentenced to death by the Spanish Inquisition (in the story, it is referred to simply as the "inquisition"). The narrator goes on to recall the trial, his judges, and all that happened to him, with figures carrying him down into some cavern: 

These shadows of memory tell, indistinctly, of tall figures that lifted and bore me in silence down--down--still down--till a hideous dizziness oppressed me at the mere idea of the interminableness of the descent. 

The narrator is to be tortured, mentally and physically. The narrator finds himself on the damp ground. He refuses to open his eyes for fear that he will open them only to find darkness which turned out to be the case: he is in total darkness. He then begins to feel his way around in the darkness to understand the dimensions of his dungeon, first by sticking close to the wall. After traveling the circumference of the dungeon, he decided to cross the middle. He falls and discovers a pit in the center, but avoids falling into it. 

His plight continues as he faces another method of torture: the pendulum. He wakes up to find himself bound on his back as a razor sharp pendulum is slowly lowered down to him. The remainder of the story describes his slow, agonizing wait as he tries to free himself while the pendulum descends upon him. 

What is the main conflict in "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

I think it is possible to classify the main conflict as one of the character vs. self variety. In this story, the narrator must learn to control his extreme—and warranted—anxieties and fears. He knows he's been condemned by the Inquisition and that his fate must surely be death, and he must will himself not to go crazy in this pit. At various moments, he seems to faint, overwhelmed by his fear, and he must battle back to consciousness and critical thinking again and again. He suffers from a "hideous dizziness" and a "vague horror" in his heart, and he "relapse[s] into insensibility" more than once. He decides to figure out the size of his cell and devises a clever way to ascertain its approximate dimensions. He keeps his mind employed, distracting himself from the fears that would otherwise drive him crazy.

Later, when he finds himself strapped under the pendulum, he eventually feels the "keen, collected calmness of despair" and formulates a plan to compel the rats to gnaw through the ligaments that bind him. He again escapes danger, fighting to make the most of his own mental resources under terrible duress. "[H]urried by [his] two-fold escape," the Inquisition prepares another death for him: the walls of his cell are rapidly heated, and they begin to close in so that he will be forced into the pit. He clings to them and screams, and is rescued just a moment later. Had the narrator not fought with himself to maintain his sanity and critical faculties, he would surely have perished before now, but in doing so, he manages to prolong his life enough to be rescued by the French army.

What is the main conflict in "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

The main conflict is that the narrator is being tortured by the Spanish Inquisition. His inquisitors are playing a cat-and-mouse game with him in which he is near the brink of some horrible fate, but then he gets a sudden reprieve, only to find himself in the middle of an even more horrible torture.

Where is the narrator in "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

In "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator is condemned to death in the Spanish Inquisition. After he is sentenced to die, he wakes up and struggles to find out where he is. Everything is black around him, and he fears that he has been placed in a tomb. He has been in dungeons before, but this is the first that has no light.