The Pit and the Pendulum

Why might Poe have chosen the Spanish Inquisition as the diabolical villains of this story? What does a backdrop of religious fanaticism bring to the tale?

Take a look back at the narrator’s early reflections on dreams. How do his ideas about dreams, sleep, and unconsciousness relate to the events of the story?

How might one read this story metaphorically? What kinds of human experiences are like being trapped between two terrible options?

Why might Poe end the story as he does—with the French rushing in to rescue the narrator at the last moment? How does this ending fit in with the story’s bigger ideas?

Read a couple of Poe’s other famous horror stories—“The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Gold Bug” are good places to start. How does “The Pit and the Pendulum” compare to these? What themes do you see threading through Poe’s horror in general?