The Pit and the Pendulum

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Text Pages 26 –43 The Pit and the Pendulum BY EDGAR ALLAN POE Before Reading During Reading Use the Study Guide on the next page as a way Summary to work through the selection and improve your ’ “ ” Like many of Poe s stories, The Pit and the Pendulum comprehension. (1842) is told through the eyes of one person, the narrator. In this case, the narrator has been sentenced to die by the Spanish Inquisition. After Reading Answer the questions below as a way to deepen Vocabulary your interpretation of the selection. Inquisition—a court appointed by the Roman Catholic 1. What does the narrator fear most? What is your Church in Spain. reaction to his harrowing plight? Explain. dungeon—underground room or cell in which prisoners 2. Which of Poe’s storytelling techniques do you were held. captors—people who have captured a person or thing. consider most effective in creating a sense of fear tomb—grave or other burial place. and desperation? Why? — torture giving of severe pain as punishment or as 3. What do the dungeon and the events of the story a way of forcing people to do something against suggest about the purpose and motivation of the their will. torturers and of the Inquisition itself? staggered—walked unsteadily. clammy vapor—damp, cold air. 4. How do you rationalize the narrator’s feelings of decaying—rotting. hope while facing certain death? If you had been — doom fate or death. tied below the huge swinging blade, do you — monks men who give up all worldly things and lead think you would have had the same reaction? lives of religious duty. Why or why not? pendulum—weight hung at a central point so that it is free to swing back and forth. A tall clock is often timed by a pendulum. frantic—wild. craved—deeply desired. inevitably—unavoidably. despair—feeling of total defeat. gnawing—chewing. brink—edge. (Tested vocabulary used in the online vocabulary quiz is underlined.) ©McDougal Littell. Copying is prohibited. The Pit and the Pendulum 1 Building Comprehension Name The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe Use the Building Comprehension exercise below as a way to improve your comprehension of the selection. Story Map Organizer—Surviving the Event 1 Pit and the Pendulum In the Story Map below, describe the circumstances surrounding the narrator’s imprisonment and the captor’s attempts to impose the death sentence. Setting Event 2 Problem Event 3 Goal Resolution 2 Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe TRM ©McDougal Littell. Permission is granted to copy this page..

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The Pit and the Pendulum
The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe All new material ©2009 Enotes.com Inc. or its Licensors. All Rights Reserved. No portion may be reproduced without permission in writing from the publisher. For complete copyright information please see the online version of this text at http://www.enotes.com/pit-pendulum-text Table of Contents Notes.....................................................................................................................................................................1 Reading Pointers for Sharper Insights.............................................................................................................3 The Pit and the Pendulum..................................................................................................................................4 i Notes What is a literary classic and why are these classic works important to the world? A literary classic is a work of the highest excellence that has something important to say about life and/or the human condition and says it with great artistry. A classic, through its enduring presence, has withstood the test of time and is not bound by time, place, or customs. It speaks to us today as forcefully as it spoke to people one hundred or more years ago, and as forcefully as it will speak to people of future generations. For this reason, a classic is said to have universality. Poe's stories and poems are remarkable, not only for an unusual anxiety about life, a preoccupation with loss, an all-consuming terror, and a unique perspective on death, but also for their rich mixture of beauty, the sensual, and the supernatural. Many readers wonder whether Poe's odd perspectives were the result of his unconventional lifestyle, but the debate over whether drugs or alcohol fueled his imagination and caused his death is inconclusive. Most modern critics recognize the emotional difficulties that Poe experienced in his life, but they also doubt that binge drinking and opium use were the inspirations for his fascination with the macabre.
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