How is horror created in ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’? Essay

In the unequal story The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe, he uses more(prenominal) different techniques to become horror.Poe starts off by stating that the narrator was sick sick unto final stage. The repetition of the word sick here emphasis how bad he feels, too sick unto death suggests that he already feels bid he is dead. expiry is emphasised more with the dread sentence of death. This emphasis on death is telling us that he is metaphoric in on the wholey already dead.Poe accordingly describes the expressions on the black robed judges face as stern contempt of humane torture. This description suggests a wonderful look upon their face. The word torture alike gives a sense of capture, which is also emphasised by permitted to sit as permitted gives a look that soulfulness is keeping authority over him at all time.Death is at a time again emphasised as he describes the darkness as a soul descending into Hades. With Hades being the Greek immortal of the un der gentlemans gentleman it is like the narrator has been enveloped by death. Again it is emphasised by, How at least shall we distinguish its shadows from those of the tomb?, this description tells us that the narrator is non sure whether or non he is dead or quick. Or this could suggest that he is coming to receive the accompaniment that this place is dismissal to be his tomb as there is no escape in sight.The narrator describes how he dares not to employ my vision. This shows us that he is afraid to open his eyes as he is afraid that he will either see some terrible sights before him. Or that he will open his eyes and there will be nothing and he will be dead. When he opens his eyes he describes it as the blackness of eternal night encompassed me. This shows us that his surround all and utterly black, there is nothing to be seen. This suggests horror as many large number are scare offd of what lurks in the dark. He then goes on to say Yet not for a moment did I theoris e myself actually dead, this description tells us that, while he did not actually think he was dead, he had to have felt like that.Poe uses real heart locations that had places of torture during the Spanish inquisition as a description, as well as the condemned cells at Toledo. This use of real life locations gives an insight to how gruesome the torturing that the narrator is going finished however more gruesome as they really exsisted.The theme of dim inclines a large part in creating horror. The narrator first describes how he is terrible in the hope of catching some faint ray of light this shows he is starting to get slightly crazy in the hope of seeing light. He also describes it as a subterranean world of darkness, which is effective as the livelihood was described as fall apart earlier in the story.When the narrator is exploring the inside of the prison, he describes the 1 of the smells as decayed fungus. This is effective as the decaying is the plant last and it fo reshadows the accompaniment that he will also be dying in the dungeon. Foreshadowing is employ again with a sullen plunge into water, which gives horror as we can tell that this is going to be his fate.Sound then comes into play in his story, loud echoes shows us the enormous size of the pit and the dungeon in general. It also comes into play as he trembled at the level-headed of his own voice. This shows that the dungeon is normally passing quiet, or that he is extremely scared to the daub that even his own voice will scare him.Poe once again starts to describe the feeling of death, and how the narrator is starting to accept his fate. He does this by describing how he is resolving there to perish kind of than risk the terrors of the wells, this not only shows us that is has no problem with dying in there anymore, but it also shows us that the dungeon is perfectly terrifying if the narrator decides that he would rather die than venture through it anymore. This is also shown a little later as he describes his catnap as a sleep like that of death, showing that there is no escape and that even in sleep he in time feels like death is upon him.One great use of description is the multi-coloured figure of time that resides on the roof. This symbolism is showing us that the narrators time is up and he will soon die. He then goes on to describe that there is a scythe with the motion-picture show of time. This adds to the circumstance that he will soon die as a scythe is commonly re yielded with the sign of death, as death is usually depicted as a skeleton, which the figures were described to have skeleton forms, with a black robe, which was also seen on the judges, and a scythe. This constant symbolism of death shows us greatly that the narrator has no other choice and he will die.The narrator also describes that he saw enormous rats traversing the floors. The fact that they are enormous also tells us that there were probably people in the dungeons either a longside the narrator or before him, as for them to be big they must have eaten. This theory is slightly hinted upon as the narrator described their eyes as ravenous which suggests that they have eaten human before and recognize him as food. The narrator realises this is but one more of the many things here that could kill him.While Poe referenced to Hades and the netherworld earlier, he does something similar as he described the pit exemplary of hell. This description of the pit, referring it to the afterlife, once again adds to this looming fear of death that has been present throughout the entirety of the story. He also describes it as the Ultima Thule of all their punishments. This means that it is the worst possible thing that they could ever do to anybody, and the fact that the narrator just merely misses it is complete luck. But, as in a place like that there is no luck, it is obvious that it is going to be his fate in the end.The narrator seems to start losing his sanity as he starts smiling at the glittering death of the pendulum coming towards him. But from his point of view he can see the pendulum coming towards his as a source of definite death, and not aimless wandering around the similar corridor for an undetermined amount of time.Poe starts describing the pendulum through personification. He describes how its acrid breath order its way into the narrators nose, and how, as it was descending, it was hissing. These things make you feel like the pendulum itself is alive and wants to kill the narrator.The narrator describes how he had a frenzied pleasure in watching the pendulum come down. Poe reflects this in his writing, plenty steadily down, Down certainly and relentlessly down, Down quieten unceasingly still inevitably down. The repetition of down is showing us how all the narrator can see is the gleaming of the pendulum coming ever so slightly towards him with every swing. The words used in describing the movement of the pendulum down a re also effective. Unceasingly and inevitably tell us that the narrator is starting to get worried at the downward movement of the pendulum.Poe takes reinforcement of the fears of the readers in order to make the story full of horror. This was easily achieved when he writes that the narrators every motion was being undoubtedly watched. This kit and caboodle greatly as it makes it more relatable to the reader as nearly everybody has had the feeling that they are being watched and knows how terrifying it feels. He describes being watched later on as well as he describes that demon eyes were patent upon him in a thousand directions. This adds to the readers fears and makes them uneasy while reading the proportionality of the story.Once again the narrator is starting to come to terms with the fact that he is going to die as even after escaping from the nemesis of the pendulum he says that he had but escaped death in one form of agony, to be delivered unto worse than death in some other. This shows us that he has given up trying to escape as he knows that he will just be given an even worse punishment in the end.Then it is described when the thought of being wiped out(p) by the metal walls as fiery destruction is in argumentation to the description in the chill of the well. These descriptions used make the picking of the pit seem like the worse of two evils, like the coolness of the pit will relieve him from the fiery destruction of the enclosing walls. This shows how larger-than-life the narrator is to survive.Many of the different techniques that Poe used to create horror so that the reader feels more entangled in the story. He uses real places so we feel more drawn into the story. He uses great description of the surroundings so we feel more involved and he gives us the sexual monologue of the character so we can feel more involved and it keeps us wanting more.