In times long ago, when the Roman Catholic Church was in power, there weren't kings, queens, presidents or prime ministers making and enforcing rules. Instead, those in charge were the inquisition. They were not very compassionate, sympathetic people and tortured their victims in the most gruesome ways. The Pit and the Pendulum describes the experience of a prisoner of the Inquisition.
He is first tortured with the loss of his sight, when plunged into darkness, and almost falls into an abyss of death. Next, he is tied up as a bladed pendulum descends toward him, slowly guaranteeing his death. As he escapes this, the steel walls of his cell are heated to a scorching temperature and start closing in on him, thus forcing him toward the chasm. Right before he falls to his death, the Inquisition is defeated and a member of the French army saves his life.
Throughout this whole incident, the reader is subjected to the victims roller coaster of emotions. One second he is hopeful, another scared, another hopeless and another completely blank. This is done so effectively by Poe because he is able to utilize literary imagery so perfectly. From childhood, one is taught the basic five senses; visual (see), auditory (hear), olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), and tactile (touch).
There are many examples of these senses throughout The Pit and the Pendulum. For example,at the beginning of the story, the author begins with a description of what he sees. "I saw the lips of the black-robed judges. They appeared to me white- whiter than the sheet upon which I trace these words- and thin even to grotesqueness; thin with the intensity of their expression of firmness- of immovable resolution- of stern contempt of human torture. I saw that the decrees of what to me was Fate were still issuing from those lips. I saw them writhe with deadly locution. I saw them fashion the syllables of my name; and I shuddered because no sound succeeded." In this paragraph, the description of the Inquisition members is so clearly stated that one can't help but to imagine them; their thin, disgusting lips, mouthing not the narrators name, but our very own. He creates a horrific scene where one can imagine themselves, waiting for those terrible, black-robed figures to sentence us to death. Poe uses the tactile sense to describe what the victim is feeling in his cell. "At first, I proceeded with extreme caution, for the floor, although seemingly of solid material, was treacherous with slime." At the mention of slime, one may automatically think of rocks on the edge of a river bank, barely covered with running water; which produces a slimy, slippery surface. One may imagine that the floor he is walking on is slimy and slippery from the blood of previous victims who've been tortured in the same cell. This description of the tactile sense lets the reader use their imagination to figure out why the cell is slimy.
Another sense used in this story is olfactory. "At the same time, my forehead seemed bathed in a clammy vapour, and the peculiar smell of decayed fungus arose to my nostrils." This is probably the most effective use of literary imagery in this story because although Poe does not say what this odour is caused by, the audience can infer. At the bottom of the abyss there could be a pile of rotting corpses, a monster, a sewer pit filled with rats, a pile of garbage, the severed body parts of previous captives. The possibilities are endless, however there is enough description to allow one to use their imagination.
The auditory sense is used shortly after when the narrator drops a severed brick from the floor into the abyss. "For many seconds I hearkened its reverberations as it dashed against the sides of the chasm in its descent; at length, there was a sullen plunge into water, succeeded by loud echoes." This gives a little more insight on what may be lurking at the bottom of this mysterious pit but doesn't altogether give anything away. Sure there may be water, however what is in the water? How far down is the fall? How big around, in diameter, is the hole? Many unanswered question are left up to the reader to answer.
The only sense not used a lot in this story is the gustatory sense. The main character simply states that "A burning thirst consumed [him]...". This allows those reading this story to feel the unquenchable thirst of the narrator. In all of Edgar Allan Poe's stories and poems there is a significant amount of literary imagery. This story in particular is one of my favourites not only because of that, but because of its hopeful ending unlike many of Poe's other works.
Ideas used from grade seven English class oral discussion
No comments:
Post a Comment